Union of Protestant churches of different creeds
Glass window in the town church of
Wiesloch (Stadtkirche
Wiesloch ) with
Martin Luther and
John Calvin commemorating the 1821 union of Lutheran and Reformed churches in the
Grand Duchy of Baden .
A united church , also called a uniting church , is a denomination formed from the merger or other form of
church union of two or more different
Protestant Christian denominations, a number of which come from separate and distinct denominational orientations or traditions.
[1] Multi-denominationalism , or a multi-denominational church or organization, is a
congregation or organization that is affiliated with two or more
Christian denominations , whether they be part of the same tradition or from separate and distinct traditions.
[2]
[3]
Historically, unions of Protestant churches were enforced by the state, usually in order to have a stricter control over the religious sphere of its people, but also for other organizational reasons. As modern Christian
ecumenism progresses, unions between various Protestant traditions are becoming more and more common,
[4] resulting in a growing number of united and uniting churches.
Examples include the
United Church of Canada (1925), the
Church of South India (1947), the
Uniting Church in Australia (1977), the
Protestant Church in the Netherlands (2004), and the
United Protestant Church of France (2013).
[5]
[6]
[7]
[8]
Since the mid-20th century, and the rise of
secularism worldwide,
mainline Protestantism has shrunk.
[9]
[10]
[11]
[12] Among others,
Reformed (Calvinist),
Anglican , and
Lutheran churches have merged, often creating large nationwide denominations.
[1] In some countries,
Methodist and
Congregational denominations have also merged. The phenomenon is much less common among
evangelical ,
nondenominational and
charismatic church as new ones arise and many of them remain independent of each other, although in some cases instances of evangelical church congregations joining multiple denominations in a phenomenon known as "multi-denominationalism" does occur; but in most cases Evangelicals cooperate with each other through
interdenominationalism while still maintaining denominational distinctions.
[2]
[3]
Perhaps the oldest official united church is found in Germany, where the
Protestant Church in Germany is a federation of Lutheran, United (
Prussian Union ) and
Reformed churches , a union dating back to 1817. The first of the series of unions was at a synod in
Idstein to form the
Protestant Church in Hesse and Nassau in August 1817, commemorated in naming the church of Idstein
Unionskirche one hundred years later.
[13]
[14]
Around the world, each united or uniting church comprises a different mix of predecessor Protestant denominations.
[1] Trends are visible, however, as most united and uniting churches have one or more predecessors with heritage in the Reformed tradition and many are members of the
World Alliance of Reformed Churches .
Conciliar movement
In the 1950s and 1960s an ecumenical spirit emerged in many churches in the United States, leading to a
conciliar movement known in some circles as
Conciliarity . A product of this movement was the
Consultation on Church Union (COCU). The COCU disbanded formally in 2002 but moved into the
Churches Uniting in Christ movement.
[15]
United and uniting churches around the world
Protestant Church in Hesse and Nassau (founded in 1817) is a United Protestant member church under the Protestant Church in Germany's umbrella.
Unionskirche in Idstein held by the Protestant Church in Hesse and Nassau. It commemorates the union of Lutheran and
Reformed Protestants in the
Duchy of Nassau in August 1817, the first of its kind and a month before the
Prussian Union in September of the same year.
Australia:
Uniting Church in Australia , the 1977 union of the
Congregational Union of Australia ,
Methodist Church of Australasia , and
Presbyterian Church of Australia churches.
[16]
Bangladesh:
Church of Bangladesh , established in 1974 as a union of
Anglican and
Presbyterian churches.
[17]
Belgium:
United Protestant Church in Belgium , formed in 1979 as a union of the
Reformed and
Lutheran churches.
[18]
Canada:
United Church of Canada , the 1925 union of
Congregationalist ,
Methodist Church (Canada) , and a majority of the
Presbyterian Church in Canada (including Bermuda).
[19]
Czech Republic:
Evangelical Church of Czech Brethren , formed in 1918 in Czechoslovakia through the unification of the Protestant churches of the
Lutheran and
Reformed (Calvinist) confessions.
[20] However, the ECCB has deeper roots in the
Czech Reformation : in the
Utraquist
Hussite Church (1431–1620) and in the
Unity of Brethren aka
Moravian Church (1457–1620).
France:
United Protestant Church of France , formed in 2013 through the unification of the
Reformed Church of France and the
Evangelical Lutheran Church of France .
[5]
[21]
Germany: Ten united
church bodies within the
Protestant Church in Germany from unions of Lutheran and Reformed churches:
Evangelical Church in Berlin, Brandenburg and Silesian Upper Lusatia , the
Evangelical Church in the Rhineland , the
Evangelical Church of Westphalia (all of them are successors of the
Prussian Union of Churches ), the
Evangelical Church of Anhalt , the
Protestant Church in Baden , the
Evangelical Church of Bremen , the
Evangelical Church in Central Germany , the
Protestant Church in Hesse and Nassau , the
Evangelical Church of Hesse Electorate-Waldeck and the
Evangelical Church of the Palatinate (Protestant State Church).
[22]
India:
Church of North India , the 1970 union of Anglican, Methodist,
Baptist ,
Disciples of Christ , Presbyterian, Congregational, and the
Church of the Brethren churches.
[23]
India:
Church of South India , the 1947 union of Anglican, Methodist, Congregational, Presbyterian, and Reformed churches.
[24]
Indonesia:
Indonesia Christian Church or Gereja Kristen Indonesia , union of GKI East Java, GKI West Java and GKI Central Java in 1988.
[25]
Italy:
Union of Methodist and Waldensian Churches , the 1975 union of
Waldensian Evangelical Church and the
Methodist Evangelical Church in Italy .
Jamaica:
United Church in Jamaica and the Cayman Islands , the 1965 union of Presbyterian, Congregationalist, and Disciples of Christ churches.
[26]
Japan:
United Church of Christ in Japan , the 1941 union of thirty-three Protestant denominations.
[27]
Kiribati:
Kiribati Uniting Church ,
[28] a union of several Protestant denominations in Kiribati, including Congregationalists, Evangelicals, Anglicans, and Presbyterians.
Melanesia:
United Church in Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands ,
[29] a United church in the Methodist and the Reformed tradition
Netherlands:
Protestant Church in the Netherlands , the 2004 union of the
Dutch Reformed Church , the
Reformed Churches in the Netherlands , and the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Kingdom of the Netherlands .
[8]
Pakistan:
Church of Pakistan , the 1970 union of Anglicans, Scottish Presbyterians (
Church of Scotland ), Methodists, and Lutherans.
[30]
Philippines:
Iglesia Evangelica Unida de Cristo , a merger of indigenous Presbyterian and Methodist denominations in 1932.
[31]
Philippines:
United Church of Christ in the Philippines ,
[32] a merger of the Evangelical Church of the Philippines, the Philippine Methodist Church, the Disciples of Christ, the
United Evangelical Church and several independent congregations.
[33]
[34]
Philippines:
Union Church of Manila , an interdenominational congregation resulting from the union of Presbyterian and Methodist churches in 1914.
Sweden:
Evangelical Free Church in Sweden , the 2002 union of the
Örebro Mission , the
Free Baptist Union and the
Holiness Union .
[35]
Sweden:
Uniting Church in Sweden , the 2011 union of the
Baptist Union of Sweden , the
Swedish branch of the
United Methodist Church , and the
Mission Covenant Church of Sweden .
[36]
Thailand:
Church of Christ in Thailand
[37]
United Kingdom:
United Reformed Church , the 1972 union of the
Congregational Union of England and Wales and the Presbyterian Church of England, later joined by the
Churches of Christ (Europe) and the
Congregational Union of Scotland .
[38]
United Kingdom:
United Free Church of Scotland ,
[39] formed in 1900 by the union of the
United Presbyterian Church of Scotland (or UP) and the
majority of the 19th-century Free Church of Scotland .
United States:
United Church of Christ , the 1957 union of the two previously united churches:
Congregational Christian Churches and the
Evangelical and Reformed Church .
[40]
United States:
United Methodist Church , the 1968 union of the
Methodist Church and the
Evangelical United Brethren Church .
[41]
United States:
Unitarian Universalist Association , the 1961 consolidation of the
American Unitarian Association and the
Universalist Church of America .
[42]
See also
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^
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^ The
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^
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^
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^
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