Do Fences Make Good Neighbors? Getting to Know Who’s Who in CUiC

When United Methodist Bishop William Boyd Grove of Charleston, West Virginia told representatives of nine denominations during a communion service closing their January 20-24, 1999 meeting in St. Louis that God wills that Christian churches dwell in unity, he cited Robert Frost’s poem, “Mending Wall.” In that famous poem, Frost declares that before building a wall, “I’d ask to know what I was walling in and walling out” and casts doubt on the notion that “good fences make good neighbors.”1 Grove’s sermon came after the delegates to the 18th Plenary of the Consultation on Church Union (COCU) approved a report describing the next steps to be taken in an effort spanning almost forty years of trying to find a viable form of church unity. That report recommends that participating churches “enter into a new relationship to be called Churches Uniting in Christ, and that they together inaugurate this new relationship through public declaration and liturgical celebration during the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity in the year 2002.”2 Those who will be asked to concur with this agreement ought to know what they are “walling in and walling out.” They ought to know “who’s who in COCU.” Do they know and embrace these neighbors sufficiently to knock down the fences which have separated them? Or should they continue to talk together over the fences that exist? Who are the participating churches in COCU and for what do they stand? The purpose of this article is to provide clergy and laity in the Presbyterian Church (USA) with a brief historical and theological overview of the participating churches.

Each of these churches must “desire to effect a new relationship among the churches of the Consultation in the near future, by giving visible expression to all marks of communion that are now possible” (Report, p. 3).

Who are the Present Participants?

The majority of the participants in COCU are from the Methodist tradition. Methodism was conceived in England in 1729 when a small group of Oxford University students were ridiculed as “Bible Bigots,” the “Holy Club” and “Methodists” because they spent so much time in methodical prayer and Bible reading. Led by John and Charles Wesley, two sons of a Church of England clergyman, they emphasized the need of sanctification and holiness. These members of the Holy Club held their ground against jeering students and went out to share the gospel and pray with the poor and disenfranchised of English society.

John Wesley attended a religious meeting on Aldersgate Street in May, 1738, where he heard the preacher read Martin Luther’s preface to his Commentary on Romans and felt his heart “strangely warmed” in personal acceptance of the Reformer’s doctrine of justification by faith. Charles had a similar transforming religious experience days later, so that both were hence empowered for a life of preaching and revivalism throughout England, emphasizing conversion and holiness. Subsequently, the Wesleys’ zeal became unacceptable to the staid Church of England. When refused pulpits, they then took their message to the fields and streets, John preaching repentance, regeneration, justification and sanctification in the open air and Charles writing numerous hymns of revival. Their many converts, particularly from among the poor and lowly, required that they organize into societies.

Between 1739-1744, the organizational elements of Methodism were implemented: the circuit system, an itinerant ministry of mostly lay preachers, class meetings and annual conferences. In 1739 Wesley drew up a set of general rules which, with his Notes on the New Testament (1754), Sermons (4 volumes), and Articles of Religion, constitute Methodism’s doctrinal standards. “No motif in the Wesleyan tradition has been more constant than the link between Christian doctrine and Christian living. Methodists have always been strictly enjoined to maintain the unity of faith and good works through the means of grace, as seen in John Wesley’s The Nature, Design, and General Rules of the United Societies (1743).”3 Methodism has “never built theological fences or walls to keep anyone out; they have stressed the great foundation beliefs of Protestantism and offered common theological ground.”4 “Wesley believed that the living core of the Christian faith was revealed in Scripture, illumined by tradition, vivified in personal experience, and confirmed by reason” (Book of Discipline). This “Wesleyan Quadrilateral,” as it is known, thus allows for openness based on personal experience and thought.

Methodism is Arminian in theology, a name based on the reaction against the perceived determinism of Calvinism urged by the Dutch theologian Jacob Arminius in the 16th Century. Arminians insist that divine sovereignty does not denigrate human free will, that each person is able to improve upon the grace given all to respond to the gospel of Jesus Christ, who died to make salvation possible for all humanity and did not die specifically for the elect. Wesley’s accents to Arminianism included the possibility of perfection in this life through progressive sanctification in love. This involved a very narrow definition of sin: “Nothing is sin, strictly speaking, but a voluntary transgression of a known law of God. Therefore, every voluntary breach of the law of love is sin; and nothing else, if we speak properly.”5 The law of love was evident in Wesley’s advocacy of abolitionism, free medical help, prison reform, and literacy through the Sunday School movement. In 1784 Wesley ordained two men as ministers and set apart Thomas Coke as superintendent of the Methodist Church in America. Not until after Wesley’s death in 1791 did the Methodists in England organize into a communion separate from the Church of England.

1. The African Methodist Episcopal Church

The African Methodist Episcopal Church (A.M.E.) is one of the three largest Methodist groups in the U.S. It was organized in 1816 following two decades of tension between white and black Methodists in Philadelphia. In 1787 a number of members of St. George’s Methodist Episcopal Church in Philadelphia withdrew in protest against racial discrimination. Richard Allen, a manumitted layperson, had founded Bethel Church for Negro Methodists in 1793 with the assistance of Bishop William White of the Protestant Episcopal Church, and was ordained a deacon (the first of his race in American Methodism) two years later. In 1816 Allen became the first bishop of the A.M.E. Church.

The organization of the A.M.E. Church was the result of racial discrimination rather than of any theological or doctrinal concern. The A.M.E. Church is a member of the family of Methodist Churches. Its founder, Richard Allen, felt that no religious sect or denomination would suit the capacity of his people as well as did Methodism with its emphasis upon the plain and simple gospel which the unlearned could understand, and its orderly system of rules and regulations which the underdeveloped needed. He felt that “Methodism had what the ‘African’ needed to encourage him to make progress, to worhsip [sic] God freely, and to fill every office for which he had the capability.”6 The church remains committed to Arminian theology as interpreted by John Wesley. Although initially a northern church, it experienced great growth in the South following the Civil War, increasing from 20,000 members in 1864 to almost 400,000 twenty years later. The official home page of the church says, “Today, the A.M.E. Church has 18 active bishops and more than a million members scattered throughout the 50 States in the U.S.A., the Dominion of Canada, South America, West Africa, South Africa and the West Indies,” though information on http://www.adherents.com commonly puts the figure at about 3,000,000 adherents worldwide and 2,000,000 communicant members.

2. African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church

The AME Zion Church was also founded by black members protesting racial discrimination at John Street Church in New York City in 1796. Consequently this group founded the Zion church in 1800 and, apparently not wishing the “undesired influence of Bishop Allen,”7 announced itself to be another national church in 1821 at its first annual conference, where it elected James Varick, who had led the John Street revolt, as its first bishop. The name African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church was formally approved in 1848. Because the church was plagued by controversy in its early years, it only had 5,000 members at the dawn of the Civil War; twenty years later it numbered around 300,000. Today it has over 1,200,000 adherents worldwide, mostly in the U.S., with the largest concentration by far in North Carolina.

3. Christian Methodist Episcopal Church

This body was established in 1870 after the request of black membership was granted to form a distinct body from the predominantly white Methodist Episcopal Church, South. Originally called the Colored Methodist Episcopal Church, its name was changed to the present in 1954. It is Methodist in doctrine, with 800,000 adherents in 3,000 churches worldwide.

Bishop Nathan L. Lindsey of the CME headquartered in Memphis said that they supported CUiC because it would bring churches closer together and move toward “eradicating racism.” He said while the CME “does not condone” homosexual practice, he does not think the fact that the UCC does is a problem. He said, “the differences can be worked out.” In a phone interview he almost seemed to make light of the issue saying, that the UCC does up front what other churches do “in the closet” in ordaining practicing gays and lesbians. He did then call back and emphasize that the CME does not condone homosexual behavior because it is “unbiblical.”

4. United Methodist Church

The United Methodist Church is the result of the 1939 merger of three Methodist bodies (Methodist Episcopal, Methodist Episcopal South and Methodist Protestant churches), and a 1968 union of the Evangelical United Brethren and The Methodist churches. The earlier Methodist Protestant Church had been founded in 1830 in protest against clerical domination and the exclusion of lay input in the Methodist Episcopal Church. The Evangelical United Brethren grew out of two German sects that flourished particularly in Pennsylvania in the early 19th Century and had merged in 1946 in Johnstown, Pennsylvania.

The doctrines of all these bodies were similar, founded in Wesleyan-Arminian theology and episcopal church government. Their preachers often exchanged pulpits and worked together. The only difference was language: German among the Brethren, English among the Methodists. As English became their common tongue, there was no impediment to merger, which occurred in Dallas in 1968, forming the largest Methodist body in America (and second largest Protestant denomination, next to the Southern Baptist Convention) with 8.5 million members in the U.S. and 10 million worldwide.

According to Mark Tooley, at the Institute on Religion and Democracy, The United Methodist Church’s official position on homosexual ordination states, “Since the practice of homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching, self-avowed practicing homosexuals are not to be accepted as candidates, ordained as ministers, or appointed to service in the United Methodist Church.”

Regarding the blessing of same sex unions the church’s position is, “Marriages that celebrate homosexual union shall not be conducted by our ministers and shall not be conducted in our churches.”

Tooley stated that the United Methodist Church is governed by a General Conference of nearly 1000 delegates that meets every four years. The church’s stance opposing homosexual practice dates to 1972. The prohibition against the ordination of practicing homosexuals dates to 1976. Both stances have been upheld by subsequent General Conferences. The 1996 General Conference ratified the prohibition against same-sex unions. There is also a church law against church funding for pro-homosexual advocacy. The church’s Judicial Council functions as a “supreme court” and has upheld the church’s positions on homosexuality when challenged.

The United Methodist Church has 68 active bishops, who are charged with upholding the laws of the church. At least ten of the 50 bishops in the U.S. have publicly stated their opposition to the current church stance against homosexual practice. All bishops have said they will uphold church policy, yet clearly some do so less vigorously than others.

Over 1300 United Methodist clergy (out of about 40,000) have signed a statement in support of same-sex unions. Almost 400 clergy have signed a statement expressing their willingness to conduct same-sex unions.

In 1997 the Rev. Jimmy Creech of Omaha, Nebraska was the first to test the 1996 ban on same-sex unions by presiding over a lesbian union. At his 1998 trial, the required two thirds of the clergy jury declined to convict Creech. However, the bishop of Nebraska declined to reappoint Creech to any congregation. This year a churchless Rev. Creech conducted another ceremony in his native North Carolina and will face another trial in Nebraska, where he retains his clergy status.

In 1998 the Rev. Greg Dell of Chicago conducted a ceremony for two homosexual men. A jury voted in 1999 to remove him from his pulpit until he pledged not to conduct another same-sex union. However, a regional church court ruled that Dell’s punishment could not be indefinite. He will return to his pulpit after a one year suspension.

Early this year 68 active United Methodist clergy from northern California presided over a lesbian union in Sacramento. Numerous retired clergy from elsewhere in the country also participated. Charges have been filed against all of the California clergy but so far no trial date has been set. More recently this year a United Methodist congregation in Houston held a same-sex union on the street in front of its church so as to not violate church law. A clergyman from another denomination presided.

5. Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)

The Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) is an amalgam of two 19th Century American Restorationist groups, the Christians and the Disciples of Christ, that merged in 1832. With nearly a million members in the U.S. and Canada, it is one of the largest faith groups founded on American soil.

Barton Stone was a Presbyterian minister who, after a revival in 1801 in Cane Ridge, Kentucky, formed with others a separate presbytery denouncing all human creeds and appealing to the Bible as the only rule of faith and practice. Stone believed that “deeds are more important than creeds.” After disciplinary action was brought against him, he and his followers dissolved their denominational ties to enter into unity with “the body of Christ at large” and called themselves, simply, “Christians,” a movement that spread across Kentucky, Ohio, and the central states.

Thomas Campbell came to America from Scotland in 1807. He was chastised by Pennsylvania church authorities for refusing to use Presbyterian creeds as terms of communion. In 1808 he and others founded the Christian Association of Washington, Pennsylvania. That group adopted the motto, well-known by Disciples, “Where the scriptures speak, we speak; where the Scriptures are silent, we are silent.” Campbell and others were called “Reformers,” for their desire to restore the Church’s first century roots. This way of life came to be known as the “Restoration Movement.” In 1830 Campbell, his son Alexander, and the Christian Association became known as “Disciples.”

Thomas Campbell’s passion for Christian unity is summed up in his proclamation, “The church of Christ upon earth is essentially, intentionally, and constitutionally one.” This statement is the first and key proposition of Thomas Campbell’s Declaration and Address, a work called by some the “Magna Carta” of the movement that preceded the denomination known as the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).

Campbell’s son Alexander gave the movement its formative theology, urging that each church be autonomous, independent, without creeds, without authority except for the Bible, and without clerical titles. The Lord’s Supper was to be observed weekly and baptism was by immersion for adult believers. Some Disciples “do not accept the doctrine of original sin,” and “are not concerned with speculation about the Trinity.”8 With faith in Christ as Lord being the only requirement for membership, there is great latitude allowed in interpretation and life.

In 1968 the Disciples restructured themselves into a denomination, adopted a representative form of government and the official name Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). Those churches that did not enter into the restructure program are usually designated as “Independent Christian Churches (Churches of Christ).

According to Rev. Richard Bowman, Executive Director of the renewal group Disciples Heritage Fellowship, “The Disciples of Christ Church leadership is clearly promoting acceptance of the gay and lesbian lifestyle and ordination. In view of the large gay and lesbian presence at the General Assembly of the church and in view of the fact that we know of numerous gay and lesbian pastors, this is going to be an open and affirming denomination in the near future unless lay persons voice their concerns to the leadership.”

Bowman continued, “Resolution 9719 was passed at the Denver General Assembly in 1997 that said ‘The Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) has historically affirmed that all persons who are baptized and make the ‘Good Confession’ that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God are members of His body, the church. Thus, there can be no exclusion of persons from the church on the basis of sexual orientation.’”

Bowman explained that the denomination includes local congregations, regional bodies and the national body. Each of the three levels is autonomous. Therefore, the ordination of practicing, unrepentant homosexuals is decided by each region, although there is a clear effort by the national leadership to move the denomination to be open and affirming of practicing homosexuals.

6. United Church of Christ

The United Church of Christ (UCC), which calls itself “a united and uniting church,” was born on June 25, 1957, as the result of a union of four traditions. Two of these were the Congregational Churches of the English Reformation with Puritan New England roots in America, and the Christian Church with American frontier origins. These two denominations were concerned with freedom of religious expression and the autonomy of local congregations and united on June 17, 1931, to become the Congregational Christian Churches. The other two denominations were the Evangelical Synod of North America, a 19th-century German-American church planted in the Mississippi Valley frontier, and the Reformed Church in the United States, founded by 18th Century German-speaking settlers in Pennsylvania and neighboring colonies. The parent churches in Europe were of German and Swiss heritage, conscientious followers of the Reformed and Lutheran traditions of the Reformation, and united to form the Evangelical and Reformed Church on June 26, 1934.

The Evangelical and Reformed Church and the Congregational Christian Churches shared a strong commitment to freedom of religious expression under Christ. Their union forced accommodation between congregational and presbyterian forms of church government. The constitution of the UCC explicitly gives priority to the autonomy of the local church, so congregationalism is the predominant form of government. Thus, the General Synod, which meets biennially, serves in an advisory capacity only; its statements are not binding on any local congregation. Both denominations found their authority in the Bible and were more concerned with what unites Christians than with what divides them. In their marriage, a church that valued the free congregational tradition was strengthened by one that remained faithful to the liturgical tradition of Reformed church worship and to catechetical teaching. A tradition that maintained important aspects of European Protestantism was broadened by one that, in mutual covenant with Christ, embraced diversity and freedom.

The UCC’s website lists its beliefs as follows and in this order (http://www.ucc.org/who/whatis.htm):

• That they may all be one. [John 17:21] This motto of the United Church of Christ reflects the spirit of unity on which it is based and points toward future efforts to heal the divisions in the body of Christ. We are a uniting church as well as a united church.
• In essentials unity, in non-essentials diversity, in all things charity. The unity that we seek requires neither an uncritical acceptance of any point of view, nor rigid formulation of doctrine. It does require mutual understanding and agreement as to which aspects of the Christian faith and life are essential.
• The unity of the church is not of its own making. It is a gift of God. But expressions of that unity are as diverse as there are individuals. The common thread that runs through all is love.
• Testimonies of faith rather than tests of faith. Because faith can be expressed in many different ways, the United Church of Christ has no formula that is a test of faith. Down through the centuries, however, Christians have shared their faith with one another through creeds, confessions, catechisms and other statements of faith. Historic statements such as the Apostles’ Creed, the Nicene Creed, the Heidelberg Catechism, the Evangelical Catechism, the Augsburg Confession, the Cambridge Platform and the Kansas City Statement of Faith are valued in our church as authentic testimonies of faith. In 1959, the General Synod of the United Church of Christ adopted a Statement of Faith prepared especially for congregations of the United Church. Many of us use this statement as a common affirmation of faith in worship and as a basis for study.
• There is yet more light and truth to break forth from God’s holy word. This classic statement assumes the primacy of the Bible as a source for understanding the good news and as a foundation for all statements of faith. It recognizes that the Bible, though written in specific historical times and places, still speaks to us in our present condition. It declares that the study of the scriptures is not limited by past interpretations, but it is pursued with expectancy for new insights and help for living today.
• The Priesthood of All Believers. All members of the United Church of Christ are called to minister to others and to participate as equals in the common worship of God, each with direct access to the mercies of God through personal prayer and devotion. Recognition is given to those among us who have received special training in pastoral, priestly, educational and administrative functions, but these persons are regarded as ministers—servants—rather than as persons in authority. Their task is to guide, to instruct, and to enable the ministry of all Christians rather than to do the work of ministry for us.
• Responsible Freedom. As individual members, we are free to believe and act in accordance with our perception of God’s will for our lives. But we are called to live in a loving, covenantal relationship with one another—gathering in communities of faith, congregations of believers, local churches. Each congregation or local church is free to act in accordance with the collective decision of its members, guided by the working of the Spirit in the light of the scriptures. But it also is called to live in a covenantal relationship with other congregations for the sharing of insights and for cooperative action. Likewise, associations of churches, conferences, the General Synod and the churchwide “covenanted ministries” of the United Church of Christ are free to act in their particular spheres of responsibility. Yet all are constrained by love to live in a covenantal relationship with one another and with the local churches in order to make manifest the unity of the body of Christ and thus to carry out God’s mission in the world more effectively. The members, congregations, associations, conferences, General Synod, and covenanted ministries are free in relation to the world. We affirm that the authority of God as revealed in Jesus Christ and interpreted with the aid of the Holy Spirit stands above and judges all human culture, institutions and laws.

There are 1.4 million members of churches affiliated with the UCC. Most of those in the U.S. are in New England and the Midwest. The UCC is the only body within recognized Christendom which officially allows the ordination of practicing and openly gay individuals. “The United Church of Christ allows its regional units [associations] to determine whether their churches can ordain gays and whether ministers can officiate at same sex unions. Nationally, 273 of its 6,100 congregations have voted affirmatively.”9

7. International Council of Community Churches

In 1950, two fellowships in the Community Church Movement joined in a historic merger, becoming the International Council of Community Churches (ICCC). “At the time, their joining represented the largest interracial merger of religious bodies in America. The new creation was the International Council of Community Churches. Member churches and centers united to be a fellowship of ecumenically-minded, freedom-loving churches cooperating in fulfilling the mission of the Church in the world. As a post-denominational movement for over 40 years, the Council has witnessed and worked for Christian unity and reconciliation in human society.”10

The stated purpose of the ICCC is “to be an answer to Christ’s prayer: ‘That they may all be one’ (John 17), to affirm the worth and dignity of every person, to attend to human need and suffering throughout the world, to seek and share the truth, and to build toward a new world of peace.” It endeavors to do this by affirming “individual freedom of conscience,” protecting and promoting “church self-determination,” proclaiming “that the love of God, which unites, can overcome any division,” and by being “an integral partner in the worldwide ecumenical movement.” It provides “opportunities to further the unity of Christians, the understanding of God-centered religions, the reconciliation of humankind, and to build with God a world of peace and wholeness.” The Council holds an Annual Conference to which every member unit can send two voting delegates, only one of which can be a cleric. There are about 250,000 members in the ICCC.

The ICCC website under “ICCC Local Community Churches” includes, “Light of Christ Community Church” at http://www.SANCTASOPHIA.ORG/Iccc.html. That website lists the “Tenets of Light of Christ Community Church, Inc. as “We Believe:

• In One Almighty Power in the Universe, the Cause of all creation;
• that in the heart of every living form is found a spark of that Almighty Power;
• that each human being can bloom and unfold spiritual potentials and radiate beauty, goodness, and truth;
• that humanity is guided by Great Ones, who are the Saviors of the world
• that Christ is the vision of perfection, the teachings are the path leading to perfection;
• the spirit of each human being is immortal;
• that all humanity is becoming One Family; we love all religions, traditions, nations and races without discrimination of color, creed, or sex;
• that each individual must shine personal light and live a life of honesty, nobility, simplicity, and justice;
• in generosity, in sharing, in giving and receiving in accord with the Laws of Abundance;
• that culture and beauty will unite humanity, that a life of sacrificial service reveals and manifest inner divinity; it is only in giving of your life (making sacred) that one truly Becomes.

When ICCC Executive Director Rev. Dr. Michael E. Livington was asked the denomination’s policy on homosexual ordination, he said that they had no official stance, that it is a local church, autonomy issue for them. He expressed “real disappointment if this CUiC didn’t happen” saying they would be “aggressive” in supporting it.

8. The Episcopal Church

The Episcopal Church is the American branch of the Anglican Communion, a tradition rooted in the Church of England. When the Church of England spread throughout the British Empire, sister churches sprang up. These churches, while autonomous in their governance, are bound together by tradition, Scripture, and the inheritance they have received from the Church of England. They together make up the Anglican Communion, a body headed spiritually by the Archbishop of Canterbury and having some 80 million members, making it the second largest Christian body in the world. There are about 2,400,000 Episcopalians in the U.S., Mexico, and Central America, all under the presiding bishop of the church.

The Episcopal Church came into existence as an independent denomination after the American Revolution. A 1783 conference of Episcopal churches met in Annapolis, Maryland, and formally adopted the name Protestant Episcopal Church– “Protestant” to distinguish it from the Roman Catholic Church, and “Episcopal” to distinguish it from the Presbyterian and Congregational churches. Six years later a constitution was formally adopted and the Book of Common Prayer revised for American use.

Although it subscribes to the historic Creeds (the Nicene Creed and the Apostles’ Creed), considers the Bible to be divinely inspired, and holds the Eucharist or Lord’s Supper to be the central act of Christian worship, “the Episcopal Church grants great latitude in interpretation of doctrine. It tends to stress less the confession of particular beliefs than the use of the Book of Common Prayer in public worship.”11 The articles of the Church of England are generally accepted, but adherence to them is not required. The church “allows for variation, individuality, independent thinking, and religious liberty.”12 The Episcopal Church issued “an extensive report” clarifying its 1994 General Convention declaration that it is “not ready” to enter into covenant communion, together with the Church’s reservations and principles which will guide its continued participation in the process.13 The Episcopal Church has no official position on the ordination of practicing homosexuals but it has long been open to the gay rights agenda. As many as one-half of the dioceses in the church seem to be permitting unofficially the ordination of practicing homosexuals.

Although the Anglican Communion passed a Resolution in 1998 disapproving the ordination of practicing homosexuals as “contrary to Scripture,” a sizeable number of American bishops and dioceses have disassociated themselves from that Resolution.

In 1996 Bishop Walter Righter was charged in a church trial with violating church doctrine when he ordained a practicing homosexual. The court acquitted Righter on the grounds that homosexuality was not a part of the core doctrine of the church. According to Dr. Stephen Noll, academic dean of Trinity Episcopal School for Ministry outside of Pittsburgh, “the Righter case set a precedent by which other bishops could ordain practicing homosexuals with impunity.” Noll observed in a phone interview, “Short of a miracle, the Episcopal church seems set on endorsing homosexuality in a few years.”

Do Walls Make Good Neighbors?

The Presbyterian Church (USA) affirms there is one Church and that visible unity is a good to be sought. “Visible oneness, by which a diversity of persons, gifts, and understandings, is brought together, is an important sign of the unity of God’s people. It is also a means by which that unity is achieved. Further, while divisions into different denominations do not destroy this unity, they do obscure it for both the Church and the world. The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), affirming its historical continuity with the whole Church of Jesus Christ, is committed to the reduction of that obscurity and is willing to seek and to maintain communion and community with all other branches of the one, catholic Church” (Book of Order G-4.0203).

Does the proposed CUiC union further obscure genuine unity in Christ? I think it does. It does morally and theologically.

The United Church of Christ is the only denomination to officially affirm the ordination of practicing homosexuals. Several of the other denominations, like the International Council of Community Churches and the Disciples of Christ, do not have an official position, but leave the decision up to the local congregation or regional bodies. Other groups, like the United Methodist and Episcopal denominations, have official positions prohibiting ordination, but because of their church governance, at times find it difficult to enforce the church law.

The Presbyterian Church (USA) is a confessional church. Those confessional statements, while subordinate to the Scriptures, are nonetheless standards. “They are not lightly drawn up or subscribed to, nor may they be ignored or dismissed” (Book of Order G-2.0200). Freedom of conscience is permitted, but only “insofar as it does not seriously depart from the confessional standards.”

Other members in COCU do not have confessions, leaving what they believe up to the individual, the congregation or in some cases regional bodies. Some churches, like the Light of Christ Community Church, have beliefs which are not Christo/centric, Trinitarian, or even monotheistic.

Other groups exalt human ability at the expense of God’s sovereignty in Arminianism, or subsume the authority of Scripture to tradition and experience.

Many other questions surrounding polity issues and the structural integrity of this union have been raised in earlier discussions. The Methodist and the Episcopal churches both recognize bishops as an ordained hierarchy, while the Presbyterian and Christian churches do not. The Disciples still do not sprinkle infants and each of these denominations employ ministers in church positions differently. These concerns, as important as they are, pale in comparison to the more fundamental concerns of how theological and ecclesiastical life together is to be based. It is far from clear that these concerns have been sufficiently addressed, let alone resolved.

Conclusion

As anyone knows, living with or next to someone who feels free to think as he or she wishes and has standards very different from one’s own can be very difficult. In most cases, it is simply not desirable. As this is true in a neighborhood, it is also true in ecumenical endeavors which call for public expressions of visible unity. The Presbyterian Church already affirms the organic and spiritual unity of the true people of God in the Church, despite its denominational differentiation. While a greater visible unity is a goal to be sought, “the unity of the Church is a gift of its Lord and finds expression in its faithfulness to the mission to which Christ calls it” (G-4.0201). It seems more appropriate to continue to talk over the existing fences as good neighbors rather than knock the fences down and live together in an uneasy tension.

This article first appeared in Theology Matters, Vol. 5, No. 6 (Nov/Dec 1999).