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United and uniting churches

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File:Union luthercalvin.jpg
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

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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.<ref name=":0">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> 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.<ref name=":3">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name=":4">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

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,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> 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).<ref name=":1">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name=":2">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In the developing world, this model has been attractive in countries where Protestants are a small minority of the population; by pooling resources and endorsing cross-attendance between denominations, churches can serve a wider geographical area. In the developed world, since the mid-20th century, and the rise of secularism worldwide, mainline Protestantism has shrunk, reducing the viability of many individual denominations maintaining parallel administrative structures.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Among others, Reformed (Calvinist), Anglican, and Lutheran churches have merged, often creating large nationwide denominations.<ref name=":0" /> In some countries, Methodist and Congregational denominations have also merged. The phenomenon is much less common among evangelical, nondenominational and charismatic churches 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.<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":4" />

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.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Around the world, each united or uniting church comprises a different mix of predecessor Protestant denominations.<ref name=":0" /> 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 movementEdit

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.<ref>Lahutsky, Nadia (Winter 2003). "The Union of Christians and Disciples in 1832 and COCU/CUIC". Discipliana. 63 (4): 120. ISSN 0732-9881.</ref>

Denominations by countryEdit

File:Evangelische Kirche in Hessen und Nassau Logo.svg
Protestant Church in Hesse and Nassau (founded in 1817) is a United Protestant member church under the Protestant Church in Germany's umbrella.
File:Unionskirche Idstein.JPG
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.

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|CitationClass=web }}</ref> 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).

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  • India: Church of South India, the 1947 union of Anglican, Methodist, Congregational, Presbyterian, and Reformed churches.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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  • Indonesia: Indonesia Christian Church or Gereja Kristen Indonesia, union of GKI East Java, GKI West Java and GKI Central Java in 1988.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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|CitationClass=web }}</ref> a union of several Protestant denominations in Kiribati, including Congregationalists, Evangelicals, Anglicans, and Presbyterians.

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|CitationClass=web }}</ref> 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.<ref>Norwood B. Tye, Journeying with the United Church of Christ in the Philippines: A History (Quezon City: United Church of Christ in the Philippines, 1994), 246-247</ref><ref>Guillermo Manuel, "A Study of the Movement for Union and Closer Cooperation Among the Protestant Churches of the Philippines", p. 54.</ref>

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|CitationClass=web }}</ref> 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.

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  • Ethiopia has an estimated 9 million members of United churches.<ref name="a573">Template:Cite book</ref>

See alsoEdit

ReferencesEdit

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