A handbook of councils and churches profiles of ecumenical relationships
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Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in the United States Church Family: Disciples Membership: 830,000 Congregations: 4,200 Pastors: 7,130 Member of: WCC (1948) – NCCC/USA – CCC – DECC – CCT USA Periodical: DisciplesWorld (monthly) Website: www.disciples.org The Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) was established on the American frontier in the early 1800s, through the coming together of two movements: the “Christians” who were associated with Barton W. Stone in Kentucky, and the “Disciples” who were associated with Thomas and Alexander Campbell in western Pennsylvania. Both groups were established as Christian unity movements, seeking to overcome the historic divisions transplanted from Europe and the British Isles to the North American continent, through an appeal to the restoration of the New Testament faith. In 1832, representatives of the two groups came together in Lexington, Kentucky, to form a single movement with a strong evangelistic witness and committed to weekly celebration of the Lord’s Supper, to a rational faith, to congregational leadership, and to Christian unity expressed in freedom and diversity. As a mainline Protestant church in the North American context, much of the life of the Christian Church is focused upon the broad societal and international issues facing all Christians and churches. Wherever possible and appropriate, the programmes of the church are carried out through ecumenical channels and organizations. At its 2000 General Board, the church adopted the following statement of its Mission Imperative for the coming years:
Church Family: Methodist Membership: 858,670* Districts: 10 Congregations: 3,080 Bishops: 10 Pastors: 3,205 Member of: WCC (1948) – NCCC/USA – WMC Periodicals: Christian Index
Website: www.c-m-e.org North America Known until 1954 as the Coloured Methodist Episcopal Church, this church was established in the South of the USA, in an amicable agreement between white and black members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. There were at that time at least 225,000 slave members in the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, but with the emancipation proclamation, all but 80,000 of them joined the two independent black bodies. When the general conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, met at New Orleans in 1866, a commission from the black membership expressed the desire to have a separate church of their own. The request was granted, and in 1870 the Coloured Methodist Episcopal Church was organized. This name was kept until the meeting of the general conference of the Coloured Methodist Episcopal Church at Memphis in 1954, when it was decided to change it to the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church. The doctrine of the CME Church is the doctrine of the parent church. The denomination adds a local church conference to the quarterly, district, annual, and general conferences usual in Methodism. Seven boards supervise the national work, each presided over by a bishop assigned as chairman by the college of bishops. The general secretaries of the various departments are elected every four years by the general conference. The CMEC sponsors four colleges: Lane College in Jackson, Tennessee; Miles College in Birmingham, Alabama; Texas College in Tyler, Texas; and Paine College in Augusta, Georgia. Its theological seminary is the Philipps School of Theology of the Interdenominational Theological Center in Atlanta, Georgia. The church has 2,850 Sunday schools with a total enrolment of 67,514. The ten episcopal districts of the CMEC are located in the United States, Haiti, Jamaica, Liberia, Ghana and Nigeria. *Distribution: USA : 792,670 Africa: 61,000 Caribbean: 5,000 Church of the Brethren Church Family: Free Church Membership: 134,000 Districts: 23 Congregations: 1,025 Pastors: 961 Member of: WCC (1948) – NCCC/USA Periodical: Messenger (monthly) Website: www.brethren.org The Church of the Brethren grew out of the Pietist movement of the 17th and 18th centuries in Europe. While most Pietists sought to renew the church from within, some (the Radical Pietists) separated themselves from the state churches. The Brethren movement dates its birth to 1708, when the first Brethren baptism took place at Schwarzenau, Germany. Eight men and women, all of whom had been members of state churches, formed the new group. Because of persecution and economic hardship, the Brethren relocated to colonial Pennsylvania. The first group emigrated in 1719, and by 1730 most were in America. In both Europe and America, the Brethren often lived in the same areas as Anabaptists. While it is unclear how much the early Brethren were influenced by the Anabaptists, some scholars understand the Brethren as combining Pietist and Anabaptist thought. As the United States grew, Brethren spread west across the country, often following the same migration pattern as other German-speaking groups. Throughout most of the 1800s Brethren sought to remain separated from the larger society. They wore a prescribed dress, built simple meeting houses, and continued to speak German at home and in worship. With the coming of the 20th century, Brethren became less ethnic and sectarian, and began to participate in movements such as temperance and foreign missions. In 1908 the Brethren changed their official name from German Baptist Brethren to Church of the Brethren. During the first half of the 20th century, foreign missions became the great work of the Brethren, with major mission fields in India, China and Nigeria. After World War II Brethren became known for their service work and began such programmes as Heifer Project, International Christian Youth Exchange, and Brethren Volunteer Service. Seeking to pattern themselves after the primitive church, the early Brethren took the New Testament as the guide for their faith and practice. Today this is still the Brethren understanding. While much of Brethren theology is the same as mainstream Protestantism, the Brethren do emphasize certain beliefs and practices, such as 1) the love feast, which combines communion with a fellowship meal and feet-washing; 2) nonresistance, which leads some to active peacemaking and conscientious objection to military service; 3) service, which leads Brethren to participate in programmes to relieve hunger, provide health care, and improve the lives of others in the United States and other parts of the world; 4) believers’ baptism, whereby infant baptism is rejected in favour of a conscious decision to follow Jesus; 5) the simple life, which calls Brethren to resist the temptations of the consumer society and treat creation with respect; 6) anointing for healing based on James 5:13-16; and 7) non-creedalism, whereby Brethren remain open to discovering new biblical truths. All Brethren beliefs and practices are rooted in their understanding of the church as a New Testament community, rather than a group of individual Christians. The ultimate legislative authority in the Church of the Brethren is the annual conference, which is made up of representatives from congregations. The confer-ence’s primary administrative body, the general board, carries out worldwide ministries in areas such as mission, service and development, witness, education, discipleship, and publishing. Congregations have a great deal of autonomy and choose their own leadership, including pastors.
Church Family: Anglican Membership: 2,419,562* Dioceses: 111** Parishes: 7,566 Bishops: 145 Priests: 17,174 Member of: WCC (1948) – NCCC/USA – ACC – CCT USA Periodicals: Journal of the General Convention
Website: www.episcopalchurch.org The origins of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America go back to the British colonial period at the beginning of the 17th century. The church was established by law and supported by public tax in certain colonies, and in others it was in the minority and was supported by the Church of England through the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, and technically under the jurisdiction of the Bishop of London. After the American Revolution, the Episcopal Church North America was formed in 1789 and secured a succession of bishops and approved a Book of Common Prayer. After the difficulties of the Revolutionary period, the church grew steadily along with the new nation. With the outbreak of the Civil War, there was a temporary division in the Episcopal Church which was reconciled immediately thereafter. A dispute rising out of the Oxford Movement resulted in the separation of a small group into the Reformed Episcopal Church in 1873, but otherwise Episcopal unity held fast. The church’s domestic mission was westward in the United States and overseas missions resulted in the establishment of dioceses in Asia, Latin America and Liberia, many of which have now achieved autonomy. The Episcopal Church’s form of government is a federal union, consisting of 111 dioceses, which have substantial autonomy so long as they do not contradict the national church’s constitution or canons. The dioceses associated originally for the maintenance of common doctrine, discipline and worship, to which have been added church unity, the prosecution of missionary, educational and social programmes on a national scale, and development. The church accepts two creeds: the Apostles’ and the Nicene. The old distinction between high church people with elaborate ritual and ceremony and low church people with more of an evangelistic emphasis has been replaced with eucharistic practice influenced by the liturgical movement and other movements of renewal. The primary concerns of the church as expressed in the 1979 revised Book of Common Prayer are missionary, that is “to restore all people to unity with God and each other in Christ”. It pursues mission through prayer and worship, proclaiming the gospel, and promoting justice and peace. For these purposes it seeks to equip all its members for ministry. The tasks of ecumenism are stressed, as are issues of hunger, peace, development, economic justice and family life. Full communion has been established among other churches of the Anglican Communion, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Old Catholic Church, Philippine Independent, Mar Thoma, and the Churches of South India, North India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Full communion is expected to lead to regular organs of consultation and communication, including episcopal collegiality to express and strengthen the fellowship and enable common witness. *of which 90,052 in the Caribbean and 46,242 in Latin America. **Dioceses outside the United States are: Haiti, Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecudaor Central and Ecuador Litoral, Honduras, Venezuela, Convocation of American Churches in Europe, Episcopal Church in Micronesia. Evangelical Lutheran Church in America Church Family: Lutheran Membership: 5,038,006 Synods: 65 Congregations: 10,721 Pastors: 17,785 Member of: WCC (1948/1988) – NCCCUSA – LWF – CCT USA Periodical: The Lutheran (monthly) Website: www.elca.org Ecumenical relations website: www.elca.org/ecumenical The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) is the youngest of the large US Lutheran church bodies – and also the oldest. The ELCA was constituted in 1987 and began operation in 1988, as a result of the union of the American Lutheran Church (ALC), the Lutheran Church in America (LCA) and the Association of Evangelical Lutheran Churches (AELC). The ELCA traces its history through predecessor church bodies to the formation in 1748 of the first synod in North America, the Ministerium of Pennsylvania. Two of the uniting churches that formed the ELCA were the result of mergers. The ALC was formed in 1960, bringing together four churches of German, Norwegian, and Danish heritage. Subsequently, in 1962, the LCA was established in a four-way merger of German, Danish, Finnish, and Swedish heritage churches. Those mergers of the early 1960s marked a movement away from ethnic identity for US Lutheran church bodies. By contrast to mergers, the AELC resulted from a break in 1976 from The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod in a dispute over the authority and interpretation of scripture. The ELCA represents historical continuity for Lutherans from colonial days as well as the weaving together into one body all of the threads of Lutheran history in North America. Efforts to form the ELCA formally began in 1982 when the three uniting churches elected a 70-member commission to draft the constitution and other agreements. In August 1986, the conventions of the three churches approved the merger. That action led to the ELCA’s constituting assembly in May 1987. Its congregations are grouped into 65 synods throughout the US and the Caribbean region, each led by a bishop elected by voting members at a synod assembly to six-year, renewable terms. The highest governing authority in the ELCA is the churchwide assembly, which includes 600 lay voting members equally divided by gender and about 400 clergy voting members. A 37-member church council, elected by the assembly, serves as the board of directors and interim legislative authority between assemblies. The presiding bishop is the ELCA’s chief pastor and the executive officer of the churchwide organization. Both the presiding bishop and secretary are elected by the churchwide assembly. Their terms of office are six years and incumbents are eligible for re-election. A lay vice president, who is elected to the volunteer position by the churchwide assembly, chairs the church council. Units within the churchwide organization include: congregational ministries, rostered ministries, outreach, higher education and schools, church in society, and global mission. Ecumenical relations are coordinated through the office of the presiding bishop and include ecumenical, inter-Lutheran, and inter-religious activities. The publishing unit, located in Minneapolis, is known as Augsburg Fortress, Publishers. A formal relationship of full communion was established in 1997 between the ELCA and the Presbyterian Church (USA), Reformed Church in America, and the United Church of Christ. In 1999, relationships of full communion were formed with the Episcopal Church USA, and with the Moravian Church. As a member of the Lutheran World Federation, the ELCA affirmed in 1999 the “Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification” with the Roman Catholic Church.
Church Family: Assyrian Membership: 323,300 (WCD) Metropolitans : 3 Bishops: 8 Parishes: 124 Priests: 117 Member of: WCC (1948) Periodical: The Voice from the East (quarterly, in English, modern Syriac, Arabic and Farsi) North America The Church of the East is that ancient church which developed in the regions of Assyria, Babylonia, and Persia (today’s Iraq and western Iran), to the east of the Roman-Byzantine empire. It is an Apostolic church, established by the apostles St Thomas, St Thaddeus, and St Bartholomew. St Peter, the chief of the apostles added his blessing to the Church of the East at the time of his visit to the see at Babylon, in the earliest days of the church: “… The chosen church which is at Babylon, and Mark, my son, salute you … greet one another with a holy kiss …” ( I Peter 5:13-14). During the first century of the Christian era, the Church of the East was established in the city of Edessa, in the northern-most Aramaic-speak-ing city-state of the eastern region. Reference to this can be found in the writings of the historian Eusebius (Ecclesiastical History; bk 1, ch 13). In 280, the Church of the East was officially organized under the Catholicos-Patriarch Mar Papa bar Gaggai of Seleucia-Ctesiphon, and in 410 it renounced all subjection to the see of Antioch. The eastward movement of the church saw Christian communities flourishing in what is now Afghanistan and south-central Asia. Many churches were established along the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, following the “silk and spice route” of the ancient caravans. The great subcontinent of India was evangelized by Thomas the apostle. By the end of the 3rd century, 19 episcopal see cities existed, with their bishops spiritually governing the faithful in the holy tradition of the apostles and their teachings. The Church of the East suffered persecution at the hands of the Persians, because of the hostility between the Persian empire and the Roman-Byzantine empire which had adopted Christianity. The church was and remained a minority in Persia, but was large and active, and noted for its scholastic achievements, its monastic centres, its martyrs and teachers. The pressure of persecution favoured expansion to the east. Missionaries from the Church of the East spread into the Asian continent, proclaiming the message of Jesus Christ in the far off regions of the Mongol tribes. In the 7th century they made their way into China. The so-called “Nestorian Tablet” found in Xi’an witnesses to this early Christian presence in China. The Muslim conquest beginning in the 7th century affected the church and brought new persecutions. The Mongol khans who had been open to Christianity came under the influence of Islam and turned against the church during their invasions of the Arabian peninsula. Many Christians were killed or forced to convert to Islam. The Church of the East withdrew into the Hakkari mountains (today’s northern Iraq and eastern Turkey) which became the home of the patriarchal see, and where it remained in isolation for centuries. When the British established their rule in Iraq after World War I, the patriarch was exiled to Cyprus. Eventually he moved to the USA, when it became evident that the Iraqi authorities would not let him return to his people. The Church of the East is now thinly spread throughout the world, with its main centres in Iraq, Iran, Syria, India (where it is known as the Chaldean Syrian church), North America, Australia, New Zealand and Europe. It has archdioceses for Iraq and Russia, India, Lebanon and Europe, three dioceses in the USA and one each in Syria, Iran, Canada, Europe, Australia and New Zealand. The Catholi-cos-Patriarch resides in the USA. The Assyrian Church was represented at the Council of Nicea in 325. The Nicene Creed is the universally received faith of the church. With regard to the teaching of Nestorius, the Church of the East maintains that Jesus Christ is Son of God and Son of Man, two qnome united in one Sonship. All the documents of the church are in Aramaic, utilizing the Nestorian Syriac script. The sacred rites of the Church of the East include the pre-431 rite of Addai and Mari, together with other texts. In the 16th century a split occurred in the Church of the East. A part of the church which became known as the Chaldean Catholic Church joined the Roman Catholic Church. Another, smaller group separated in the second half of the 20th century and took the name Ancient Church of the East, under its own patriarch who resides in Baghdad. Hungarian Reformed Church in America Church Family: Reformed Membership: 6080 Congregations: 29 Pastors: 27 Member of: WCC (1958) – NCCCUSA – WARC – CANAAC Periodical: Magyar Church – Magyar Egyház (monthly, in English and Hungarian) In 1921 the Reformed Church of Hungary transferred its two classes in America to the Reformed Church in the United States (now the United Church of Christ). Certain Hungarian Reformed congregations refused the agreement, and founded the Free Hungarian Reformed Church in America, in 1924. In 1959 the general assembly of the church decided to change the name to Hungarian Reformed Church in America. All the members of the church cherish their Hungarian roots, their culture and mother tongue, and want to uphold that heritage in their new homeland. In 2004 they celebrated the 80th anniversary of the church. Their spirit and faith remain strong, as they consider it God’s will and their duty to maintain the American Hungarian churches, a large part of that heritage. The pastors have a strong sense of serving and building the church. The pastors’ conference and the presbyters’ conference are working well together in raising the spirits of the congregations. The monthly magazine Magyar Church – Magyar Egyház is also an important instrument in holding the communities together. The activities of the church are carried out jointly by the members of the congregations, the elders and the pastors, with the support of the church-wide organizations. The Hungarian Reformed Church in America is organized in three classes: Western, Central, and Eastern. It is a member of the consultative synod of the Hungarian Reformed Churches and the World Federation of the Hungarian Reformed Churches. It considers itself to be one branch only of the Reformed family, as part of Christ’s church. International Council of Community Churches Church Family: Non-denominational Membership: 108,806 Congregations: 166 Pastors: 283 Member of : WCC (1974) – NCCCUSA – CCT USA Periodicals: The Christian Community
Website: www.icccusa.com Community Churches in the United States date from the mid-1800s. They are a result of the desire to eliminate over-churching in some communities and solve North America attendant economic and staffing problems, to replace the restrictiveness and divisiveness of some denominationalism with self-determination and Christian unity, and to refocus primary loyalty to an organization outside a community to the community itself. By addressing specific needs in various places they hope to promote a more relevant religion. The earliest national organization began in 1923. The current one resulted from a 1950 merger of two previous councils, one comprised of churches with predominantly black and the other of churches with predominantly white memberships. The ICCC is directly related to each community in which its local congregations are located and encourages each local church to take an active part in all ecumenical affairs within its community. It seeks to encourage every local church to share its faith with other Christians and people of other faiths. Its stance is that of representing ecumenical Christian religion in the local community. In concert with other mainline religious bodies it seeks to bring the light of Christian faith to bear upon all problems of society, political, social, cultural, etc. Its concept of the “people of God being one in the place where they are” is of great influence in drawing people of different backgrounds together in action to build the good community. Because it was the first significant merger of predominantly white and predominantly black religious bodies (1950) it has always had as one of its major emphases the overcoming of racism. The ICCC does not have its separate “missions” or “outreach” programmes or institutions but encourages its member congregations to support interdenominational mission programmes or those of other religious bodies. The ICCC sees racism as one of the major issues it must tackle, along with combating all forms of prejudice, organized and individual. The growing threat of war and poverty and their effect on people are yet other issues. The implication of Christian principles and the Christian faith on these problems is a central concern. Along with these is the emphasis the Council has always laid on ecumenicity, both locally and worldwide. Increased effectiveness of the church in local as well as national and international life is sought through annual conferences in which representatives of the churches come together for worship, education, ecumenical and interfaith dialogue and to offer mutual support and encouragement.
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