Urge to Merge

Protestants try unity, slowly

It was a dream that launched the upbeat, activist 1960s in U.S. Protestantism. Why not arbitrate the seemingly passe traditions that divide Methodists, Presbyterians, Episcopalians and others, to create one grand united church? The bold vision produced the "Consultation on Church Union" (COCU), a series of discussions involving most major groups except the Baptists and Lutherans, COCU lost some of its momentum in the 1970s but is still very much alive. Ten denominations, with 22.7 million members --nearly a third of the nation's Protestants--are now involved.

At the latest talks, in Cincinnati, delegates reached an important milestone by agreeing on what sort of ministers the united church would have. First, there will be bishops, though five of the ten groups historically have avoided having them. There will also be regular clergy (termed presbyters) and two types of ordained deacons, one a professional service worker, the other a lay officer.

It may not be easy to go beyond that broad Cincinnati outline. Because the ten denominations are rather flexible on doctrine, COCU has had less trouble creating a theological platform than in deciding how a united church would operate. For instance, just what would the COCU bishops do? A detailed 1970 Plan of Union was quickly shot down, and only now is a committee starting work once again on structural problems. Serious obstacles remain. One of many examples: the two African Methodist churches are worried about their disappearance as the oldest continuing black organizations in the U.S.

If all goes well, says the Rev. Gerald F. Moede of Princeton, N.J., the COCU general secretary, the separate denominations will ratify a polished-up version of the pacts on doctrine and ministries by 1986, then formally recognize one another's members and clergy by the end of the decade. Those steps may be followed by gradual amalgamation of the churches and their multifarious agencies, which Moede thinks might take 40 years.

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