A handbook of councils and churches profiles of ecumenical relationships
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International Evangelical Church Church Family: Pentecostal Membership: 21,000 Congregations: 50 Pastors: 85 Member of: WCC (1972) This church was founded around 1970 by two American Pentecostal leaders. One of them was involved in missionary work in Italy, the other was the founder of an evangelizing ministry and church in Washington D.C. The full name of the organization was International Evangelical Church and Missionary Association. Through the activities of another Pentecostal leader associated with the organization, the work expanded to Brazil. A revival movement in Nigeria also became part of it. The missionary work in Italy developed slowly. In the 1980s another group joined, and in 2005 there were 45 churches with 80 pastors, and about 18,000 members. The church is known in Italy as CEIAM, the Italian acronym of International Evangelical Church and Missionary Association. It has its office in Rome. In the USA, the church continues to exist in Washington D.C. as a congregation of 3,000 members, called Evangel Cathedral. It is a lively, pioneering and racially reconciling community. African Americans make up 95 percent of the membership. The church runs a Bible school with over 1700 students. Several other churches look to Evangel Cathedral for assistance and direction. Note: According to the last edition of the Handbook of WCC member churches, the International Evangelical Church had 168,100 members in 1985. In 2005, no other than the above-mentioned information was available about the church in the USA and internationally. Moravian Church in America Church Family: Free Church Membership: 36,095 Congregations: 160 Pastors: 171 Member of: WCC (1948) – NCCC/USA – MUB Periodicals: The Moravian (monthly)
The Moravian Church comes out of the Hussite movement in Bohemia-Moravia in the 15th century. Following the Counter-Reformation they practised their faith in secret until they found a certain degree of religious freedom on the estate of a young Pietistic nobleman in German Saxony, named Count Zinzendorf. The Germans referred to the newcomers as “Moravians”, from the land of their origin, and the name continued in use in English-speaking lands. Following an outpouring of the Holy Spirit in 1727, a remarkable missionary effort began from Zinzendorf’s estate in 1732 and has led to today’s worldwide church. Today two-thirds of all Moravians are in Tanzania and South Africa. The Moravian Church continues to be true to its historic commitment to Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour, and to share this faith widely with others. “The Ground of the Unity” is the basic doctrinal statement of the worldwide unity and many of the provinces look to the “Covenant for Christian Living” as the principles by which Moravians live and bear witness. Both documents are available at www.moravian.org/believe. The Moravian Church in America is in full communion with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and has numerous ecumenical ties through bilateral talks and through several ecumenical organizations.
Church Family: Baptist Membership: 5,000,000 North America Local churches: 5,000 Pastors: 5,000 Member of: WCC (1955) – NCCC/USA – BWA – CCT USA Periodical: The Lantern (quarterly) Website: www.nbcamerica.net Records show that in 1880 there were nearly two million former slaves in Baptist churches in the USA. The need for a national congregation of African-Amer-ican Baptists led to the creation of the Foreign Mission Baptist Convention of the United States (1880), the American National Baptist Convention (1886), and the Baptist National Educational Convention (1893). These three united and formed in 1895 the National Baptist Convention. Controversy over the adoption of a charter and the ownership of the National Baptist Publishing Board led in 1919 to a split and the formation of two separate bodies, the National Baptist Convention USA, Inc. and the National Baptist Convention of America (Inc.); the latter was incorporated in 1987. The matter was discussed again in the annual session of the NBCA, Inc. in 1988, after a joint worship service with the NBC USA Inc., but the controversy prevailed. The National Baptist Convention of America, Inc. has made tremendous growth in numbers, ministries, and in honouring its commitment to education, evangelism, and mission at home and abroad. It continues to support mission fields in the Caribbean, the Virgin Islands, Panama, Haiti and Ghana. Its mission statement reads: “The National Baptist Convention of America shall serve to promote and support Christian education, Christian missions, and church extension through the combined efforts of Baptist churches, and shall seek to cause the gospel, as understood and practiced by our Baptist faith, to be spread throughout this nation and to the foreign nations. The Convention shall seek to positively impact and influence the spiritual, educational, social and economic conditions of all humankind.” The NBCA, Inc. convenes three times per year. One of the annual sessions is designated as the Convention at Study, which focuses upon the teaching ministry of the church, and is implemented through the National Baptist Congress of Christian Workers and the National Youth Convention. The NBCA, Inc. has several auxiliaries, for senior, intermediate, and junior women, and for men, all focusing on evangelism and leadership training; a health awareness team ministers to the physical needs of the family of God; an usher’s auxiliary promotes support for the convention through prayer, Bible study and a covenant action plan for financial support; the pastors’ and ministers’ conference seeks to foster unity and to address the critical matters related to the task of ministry in the local church. Another set of organs of the convention are the boards. The college and seminary board, and the educational board, are in charge of relations with, and assistance to, educational institutions for the training of men and women for effective and full-time Christian service. The evangelical board is responsible for evangelism. It organizes annually a winter evangelism conference and a tent revival campaign. There is a publishing board, a home mission board for assistance to churches, pastors and individuals experiencing dire financial need, and a foreign mission board. Finally, the convention has a number of commissions, dealing with chaplaincy (especially in the armed forces), with orthodoxy (safeguarding Baptist distinctives and doctrinal beliefs), social justice (the welfare of oppressed people, global issues related to equity and justice), community and economic development, and labour relations. National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc. Church Family: Baptist Membership: 7,500,000 Local churches: 6,697 Pastors: i.n.a.* Member of: WCC (1948) – NCCC/USA – BWA – CCT USA Periodical: National Baptist Voice Website: www.nationalbaptist.com Founded in 1886, the National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc. is the oldest and largest African American religious convention in the USA. In 1880, about 150 Baptist pastors met in Montgomery, Alabama, and formed the Baptist Mission Convention. In 1895, this convention merged with two other conventions to form the National Baptist Convention of the United States of America. The 1880 meeting and the formation of the Foreign Mission Convention was accepted as the origin of the National Baptist Convention, USA, Incorporated. The path to the formation of the convention was characterized by many previous cooperative efforts, and throughout its history there have been many ups and downs, triumphs and failures, splits and attempts at unification. The mission of the convention is to fulfil the great commission of Jesus Christ through preaching, teaching, and healing. The basic objectives and corporate purposes of this voluntary fellowship are: a) to unite National Baptist churches, district associations, and state conventions in Christian evangelism; b) to promote home and foreign mission efforts; c) to encourage and support Christian education; d) to publish and distribute Sunday school and other Christian literature, music, and other works of art and religious expression; and e) to engage in any other endeavours deemed fitting and proper in order to advance the cause of Jesus Christ throughout the world. The nature of this convention is defined by its ideal of voluntary membership and participation at both the organization and individual member levels. As such, the convention does not have administrative or doctrinal control over any of its membership; these matters are left for the attention of local organization and church authorities. The strength of the convention lies in its ability to harness and coordinate and network the resources and efforts of its membership, to accomplish goals greater than those that could be accomplished in isolation. For this reason, the convention has enjoyed the devoted participation and support of many churches and individuals throughout its history. The president of the convention is elected by the member churches every five years during the Annual Session. The current presidency is placed under the biblical mandate of “Jesus Christ Only, Always”(I Cor. 2:2). The convention is governed by its board of directors, which is comprised of the officers, the presidents from each of the states and territories represented by constituent members of the convention, representatives from each of the boards and auxiliaries of the convention, and members-at-large. Matters of importance to the convention are taken up and acted upon by the board of directors or designated subgroups thereof. The major business meeting of the boards, auxiliaries and member churches of the convention is the Annual Session, which draws 10,000 or more delegates. The mid-winter board session is a second, smaller annual business meeting, with some 3,000 persons. Two other important annual events are the Christian Educators Conference of the Sunday School Publishing Board, also with some 3,000 participants, and the National Baptist Congress of Christian Education, which brings together 35,000 or more delegates and is the largest of the four major meetings of North America the convention. These two meetings are open to participants who belong to churches that do not hold membership in the convention. In 2005 a reunion of groups originally associated with the National Baptist Convention, USA, took place in Nashville, Tennessee. This included the Progressive National Baptist Convention, the National Baptist Convention of America, the National Missionary Baptist Convention, and the National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc., itself. While the occasion did not mark the beginnings of organic institutional merger, it did indicate a renewed vision to promote and strengthen greater fellowship by “...working together on matters of common concern and addressing matters of public policy that affect the disenfranchized”. *information not available
Church Family: Orthodox (Eastern) Membership: 1,000,000 Dioceses: 14 (1 in Canada) Parishes: 697 Bishops: 13 Priests: 721 Member of : WCC (1953) – NCCC/USA – CCT USA Periodicals: The Orthodox Church (monthly)
Website: www.oca.org The Orthodox Church in America traces its roots to the arrival in Alaska in 1794 of missionaries from the monastery of Valamo in Karelia (in the Russian empire). Among these was St Herman, who was also the first saint to be canonized by the American Church (in 1970). In 1840 a bishop’s seat was established at Sitka, Alaska. In 1867 Russia sold Alaska to the United States. The first parish church beyond Alaska was established in San Francisco in 1868. The diocesan seat was moved to San Francisco, and from there to New York in 1903. The diocese of the Aleutians and Alaska, which had been formed in 1870, became the diocese of the Aleutians and North America. By the turn of the century there were a large number of Orthodox Christians in the northeast of the United States, many of whom had previously been Eastern Catholics. Many of the texts for public worship were translated into English, and in 1905-06 the American archbishop projected the goal of self-government for the now multi-ethnic church in America. The Russian Revolution of 1917 had a deeply unsettling effect on the Orthodox Church in America, which was still formally a diocese of the Russian church. In the ensuing confusion seminaries were closed and the stability and unity of the diocese were severely undermined. In 1921, for the first time, different ethnic Orthodox ecclesiastical jurisdictions appeared within the same geographical area. In the 1930s, with the Moscow Patriarchate under severe persecution by the communist regime, political “loyalty” to the USSR was seen as a condition for the restoration of church relations with what was now known as the American Metropolia. This was a condition that could not be accepted in America, and relations remained strained. During the 1940s the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia arrived in America. While the metropolitan see tolerated its presence, and in many cases fostered close relations with it, it did not unite with it, stressing rather its own identity as a multi-ethnic American church. The struggle over the identity and the status of the American metropolia was resolved in 1970. The Russian Orthodox Church granted complete self-government to the metropolia whereby it became an autocephalous, or fully independent, local Orthodox church. Its jurisdiction extends over the whole of America and Canada, and in 1972 an exarchate was established in Mexico. The holy synod, a conference of bishops to which all diocesan hierarchs belong and which is presided over by the archbishop of Washington, meets twice a year, in spring and autumn. When necessary a special session can be convened. A church-wide assembly of bishops and clergy and lay delegates, “The All-Ameri-can Council,” is convened every three years. Clergy and lay leaders are educated in St Vladimir’s Seminary near New York, at St Tikhon’s Seminary in Pennsylvania and in St Herman’s Seminary, in Alaska. Founded in 1905, St Tikhon’s Monastery, South Canaan, PA is the oldest Orthodox monastic community in North America; the Orthodox Church in America also maintains some 20 other monastic communities for men and women. The Orthodox Church in America, as an expression of its commitment to Orthodox unity in North America, is a member of the Standing Conference of Canonical Orthodox Bishops in the Americas (SCOBA), which brings together eight “jurisdictions” for coordination and cooperation. Under the aegis of the SCOBA, several agencies and commissions work “as if” Orthodoxy in America is fully united in mission and administration. Among these are International Orthodox Christian Charities, the Orthodox Christian Mission Center, the Orthodox Christian Education Commission, and the Orthodox Christian Fellowship (a ministry to college students). Clergy and lay leaders are educated in St Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary, Crestwood, NY, at St. Tikhon’s Orthodox Theological Seminary, South Canaan, PA, and in St Herman’s Seminary, Kodiak, Alaska. The Orthodox Church in America also maintains some 20 other monastic communities for men and women. * One diocese in Canada. Polish National Catholic Church Church Family: Independent Membership: 30,000 Congregations: 128 Pastors: 95 Member of: WCC (1948) – NCCC/USA – CCT USA Periodicals: God’s Field (Rola Boza) (bi-weekly, in English and Polish) Website: www.pncc.org During the latter part of the 19th century, there were a number of conflicts between the Polish immigrants and the Roman Catholic clergy and hierarchy in the United States. These had primarily to do with church governance issues, the control of church property, the assignment of pastors, and the pastoral accessibility to the people. These conflicts generally arose in the areas where there was a large Polish immigrant population. In 1896, a group of people from Sacred Heart Roman Catholic parish in Scranton, Pennsylvania, had a disagreement with their pastor, and when they found no help from the clergy or the bishop they vowed to build their own church. In 1897, these determined people found property for a parish and called upon a priest they knew and trusted to be their pastor. When the people, together with the priest, got no results from the local hierarchy, and North America even found themselves excommunicated, they attempted to turn to the Vatican. When their plea was also rejected there, they broke decisively with the Roman Catholic Church, and the Polish National Catholic Church was officially established. By this time, several other parishes in northeastern Pennsylvania had joined the movement. At the first general synod of the Polish National Catholic Church held in 1904, Fr Francis Hodur was elected bishop. He was consecrated by the Old-Catholic Bishop of Utrecht, Netherlands, in 1907. Similar situations occurred among Poles in Chicago and New York, and after the bishops they had elected died, most of the parishes concerned became eventually part of the Polish National Catholic Church led from Scranton. In 1921 the PNCC began a mission to the nation of Poland. This led to the creation of the Polish Catholic Church in Poland, which is in full communion with the PNCC in the USA. Besides the Poles, other nationalities with the same needs also came to the PNCC, and Lithuanian, Czech, Slovak and Italian parishes came into being. Although the need for these ethnic parishes is less evident than it once was, today a number of Hispanic and American congregations have joined the PNCC for many of the same reasons as those for which it was originally organized. The Polish National Catholic Church is a church which maintains the traditional elements of Catholicism, but for the most part has a democratic governance. In matters of faith, morals and ecclesiastical discipline, the church is governed by the prime bishop, with the bishops and clergy united with him. In all other matters, the highest governing body of the church is the general synod, which meets every four years, and has both lay and clerical representation. These synod meetings are also charged with choosing the candidates for the office of bishop. On the local level the parishes are owned and governed by the parishioners, under the leadership of a pastor and an elected parish committee. The faith of the Polish National Catholic Church is to be found in holy scripture, as set forth in the Councils and the Tradition of the undivided church of the first thousand years. The pastors are trained at the theological seminary of the church in Scranton. At the present time the PNCC is in dialogue with the Roman Catholic Church and the Episcopal Church. Presbyterian Church (USA) Church Family: Reformed Membership: 2,405,311 Presbyteries: 173 Congregations: 11,064 Pastors: 21,248 Member of: WCC (1948) – NCCC/USA – WARC – CANAAC Periodicals: Call to Worship, Horizons Magazine, Church and Society Magazine, Ideas! For Church Leaders, Presbyterians Today Mission Yearbook for Prayer and Study Website: www.pcusa.org The arrival of French Huguenots in 1562 marked the first recorded visit of Reformed Christians to America. After 1600, many Presbyterians from Europe followed them, to escape persecution for their beliefs and to seek religious freedom. As their number increased, scattered groups formed into congregations. By 1709 the first presbytery was organized in Philadelphia, and in 1789 the first general assembly of the Presbyterian Church was convened. In 1983 the Presbyterian Church (USA) brought together into a single reunited church the former Presbyterian Church in the United States (PCUS), which had come into separate existence in 1861 as a result of tensions connected with the American Civil War, and the United Presbyterian Church in the United States of America (UPCUSA). The latter body had been formed through a union in 1958 between the Presbyterian Church of North America (PCNA), which had had a separate history of some hundred years, and the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America (PCUSA). The Presbyterian Church (USA) maintains a broad spectrum of relationships with churches and ecumenical agencies in Asia and the Pacific, Latin America, the Caribbean, Africa, and the Middle East. Shared personnel and programme resources are extended to partner churches for mission endeavours, including evangelism, self-development, medical, education, and justice ministries. The Presbyterian Church (USA) receives into its midst persons from other churches around the world who serve in mission to the USA. Increasing emphasis is being placed on partnership in mission which is based on the needs of both US and other churches, and a high priority has been placed on development of global perspectives which can inform the whole life of the church. Focused attention on global issues is also central to the well-established Presbyterian peacemaking and hunger programmes. Domestically, special attention has been given to issues of evangelism, multiculturalism, racial and economic justice, and relationships of Christians with the peoples of Jewish and Muslim faiths. There is also attention to development of curricula resources that teach the Reformed tradition upon whose roots Presbyterians move out into fellowship in the wider community of churches. The general assembly has had a special theological task force on the peace, purity and unity of the church, whose charge is to “lead the Presbyterian Church (USA) in spiritual discernment of our Christian identity in and for the 21st century ... seeking the peace, purity and unity of the church.” The church is served by ten theological seminaries and a school of Christian education. Within the United States, the Presbyterian Church (USA) is active not only in the National Council of Churches but also in Churches Uniting in Christ. CUIC is successor to the former Consultation on Church Union and is a covenantal relationship with the African Methodist Episcopal Church, the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, the Christian Church/Disciples of Christ, the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church, the Episcopal Church, the International Council of Community Churches, the United Church of Christ and the United Methodist Church. In 1999, the Presbyterian Church (USA) entered a full communion relationship with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the Reformed Church in America and the United Church of Christ. Offices of the general assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA), the highest governing body of the church, are located in Louisville, Kentucky. The Board of Pension of the general assembly and the Presbyterian Historical Society are both located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and the Presbyterian Foundation is located in Jeffersonville, Indiana.
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