Regional Synod of Canada - Reformed Church in America

Pioneer Christian Monthly

Date - Mar/67

Contributor - Corstain Klein

Title - The Goals Of Church Mergers

Topic - Unity

The Church of the sixties has been kept busy thinking about the unity of the Church. Many leaders of the Church have been, and are, promoting the ecumenical spirit with evangelistic fervor. We hear of the need for a united witness, for being prepared to be led by the Holy Spirit into uniting the broken body of Christ in the world. The passage in John 17 and others are referred to as expressing Christ's wish that all Christians should be one.

All this is familiar to us. But when responsible leaders op large denomination express their doubts about the effects of merging churches it comes as something new. Such is the case in the large Methodist denomination in the United States. This denomination is in the process of merging with the Evangelical United Brethren Church. Bishop Gerald Kennedy, who is the president of his denomination's Board of Evangelism, has expressed the doubt that such a merger would "do a single thing for either of us (the Methodists and the Brethren) in spiritual rebirth."

This feeling is shared by other leaders in the Methodist Church. Dr. Albert C. Outler, who teaches in a Methodist Theological school in Dallas, Texas told a meeting of some 25,000 pastors recently that "Church merger without accompanying renewal of the Church has no value." What these men are saying is something that many serious minded people in the Church have felt for some time. That there is need for change, no one cares to deny, but what these changes must be and how they are to be achieved, is not so clear.

It is interesting also to note that this uncertainty is expressed in a statement made by the General Synod of the Reformed Church in America, in 1966. We read, "... The ways and means to unity are not always known. The goal of unity is a venture of faith." Here we find even a doubt expressed as to the means of attaining unity The Church is faced with a hard decision. Before there can be any unity worth talking about, there must be a clear goal in view. For this reason we may be excused if we approach church merger with some reservations. Actually there must be more unity within the churches approaching merger than there is. If the answer to the question of the goals for Church Union is to be answered by saying in order that the Church may put forth a united witness, is it out of place to ask why the various denominations that are attempting to merge are not able to do it alone ? It is true, that there is a great deal of confusion in the various churches as to what the real mission of the 'Church in the World is. At any rate there is a great deal of difference of opinion as to how the Church is to bring the witness of Christ to the World. We only need to mention the matter of evangelism and immediately the ranks of the Church fall apart. Some say social action is evangelism. Others that Evangelism must be in the form of confronting men with the decision to commit themselves to Christ, whether this is done in mass meeting or between individuals. And of so the confusion continues.

Perhaps in time this problem might be solved. It is encouraging to see that Billy Graham was invited to speak at the last meeting of the National Council of Churches in Florida. Hopefully, the Church will learn that in many cases it is not an either/or situation, but both/and. Not either social action or evangelism, but social action and evangelism. Social action without evangelism will die out, and without social action evangelism will be meaningless. In the meantime, let the Church in its various branches and denominations discover the unity that should be there where people have committed themselves to Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord, seek to honour God in all of life, and share in the gifts of the Holy Spirit.

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