Getting Together

Eight of the biggest service agencies of the Protestant and Eastern Orthodox churches* by last week had taken a big forward step in the ecumenical movement by agreeing to set up a National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. Meeting in Cleveland next fall, church leaders will begin the job of establishing the council, which will represent more than 25 million members of at least 25 church bodies.

Council leaders were careful to point out that no organic merger of denominations will be involved. The council's purpose is to deal with good works rather than doctrine.

More & more U.S. Protestants are in favor of merging all Protestant denominations into a single church, a Gallup poll indicated last week. Of Protestants polled, 50% favored merger, as opposed to only 40% in 1937. But only 28% of Protestants believed that their own church would favor merger; 45% were certain that their own church would object.

* The Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in America, Foreign Missions Conference of North America, Home Missions Council of North America, International Council of Religious Education, Missionary Education Movement of the U.S. and Canada, National Protestant Council on Higher Education, United Council of Church Women, United Stewardship Council.

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