COCU Churches Get Study Document
Episcopal News Service. December 6, 1984 [84247]
BALTIMORE (DPS, Dec. 6) -- On the last day of the Nov. 26-30 Consultation on Church Union (COCU) meeting here, 90 representatives from nine major U.S. Protestant denominations voted unanimous approval of a proposed step toward unity.
The 28,000-word theological statement, entitled "In Quest of a Church of Christ Uniting: An Emerging Theological Consensus", will now be submitted to the respective denominational bodies for their discussion and approval. This is the first time since the Consultation's inception that member churches will be asked to formally approve a theological foundation for union, and, since procedures for acceptance within the denominations vary, it is expected to be at least 1988 before all will have had a chance to act.
Achievement of consensus on the essentials of faith, worship, order and witness while retaining aspects of individual traditions and heritage has been the goal of the group throughout its history. Founded in 1962 after the Rev. Eugene Carson Blake, a Presbyterian, proposed a major church union in a sermon preached in San Francisco's Grace Episcopal Cathedral at the invitation of the late Bishop James Pike, the Consultation on Church Union paved the way for the present 70-page statement with a series of discussions which over the years have led to preliminary theological agreements. The nine communions currently belonging to Consultation are: the African Methodist Episcopal Church, the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Christian Methodist Episcopal Church, Episcopal Church, International Council of Community Churches, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), United Church of Christ, and United Methodist Church.
The Rev. Gerald F. Moede, general secretary of the Princeton-based Consultation, told the opening session of this, the 16th round of discussions, that the time has come for Christians to "cease being merchants of words and welcome each other into the larger household of faith" and added that they need to go beyond "polite forbearance, beyond a mere willingness to differ without recrimination, to the creation of good will and fellowship with those holding differing views."
Two supporting documents approved here will go to the churches for study, reaction, and proposed revision. One describes a "covenanting" process that the churches are asked to enter as an interim, trust-building era to get ready for actual union. The second document is a draft of proposed liturgies for services on both national and regional levels that would inaugurate the covenanting era -- a time which is not expected to arrive for another 12 to 16 years.
The "Quest" statement is not intended, its backers say, to "be an amalgam of the views now held in the different member churches," but rather "to give the churches the confidence they need to move toward covenanting." To that end, "Quest" is intended for wide distribution and study by congregations within the participating denominations, and a study guide is available to assist congregations with this.
Included in "Quest" are chapters dealing with reasons for seeking unity of the Church, making unity visible, the nature of a united church -- which is seen as both similar to and different from the churches as they now exist, confessions of faith (the Nicene and Apostles' Creeds are recognized, as are confessions of faith developed by the individual churches, so long as not used as bases for division), worship, and ministry. Many details have been deliberately left unsettled to provide "room for the participating churches to grow together in unforseen ways as they work out the implications of the covenant."
Based on the covenanting concept, the document introduced here details elements of the evolving plan of organization for movement toward a united church. These include: recognition by each participating church of the others' members and ordained ministries, establishment of regular eucharistic fellowship, engaging in mission and evangelism together, and formation of monitoring "councils of oversight."
In other action, the Consultation elected the Rev. George H. Pike, a Presbyterian, as its ninth president, and the Rt. Rev. Donald J. Parsons, Episcopal Bishop of Quincy, and Christian Methodist Episcopal Bishop Marshall Gilmore of Shreveport, La. as vice-presidents.
In addition to Parsons, Episcopal representatives to the Consultation are Bishops Robert Anderson, John M. Burt, and Edward W. Jones; the Revs. Richard A. Norris and William Petersen; Prof. Alice C. Cowan; Phebe Hoff; and Drs. Charles Lawrence and Cynthia Wedel.