Churches v. The Church

In Cincinnati last week, some 60 leading Protestants* met to consider a plan for a united church. The plan, a blueprint for a new organization, was an ingenious paste-up of Methodist, Presbyterian and Congregational features:

1) Congregations (Congregational) would more or less run themselves, would decide for themselves their form of worship, of administering sacraments, etc.

2) Presbyteries (Presbyterian) would ordain all ministers. Each presbytery would be made up of a minimum of 20 men; one minister and one layman from each group of ten or more neighboring churches.

3) Conferences (Methodist), each comprising three or more presbyteries, would meet annually, would each elect a bishop to serve as administrative superintendent and "spiritual counselor and guide."

4) Moderator (Presbyterian and Congregational), would preside over a General Council, half laymen, half ministers.

After two days of discussion, nobody seemed happy about the blueprint. The Methodists called for a "more definite plan" that would go into detail about procedures and describe more specifically the functions of bishops. The Disciples of Christ wanted the nomenclature kept "fluid and descriptive." The Congregationalists complained of ambiguity. Episcopal Bishop Stephen E. Keeler of Minnesota, present only as an observer, deplored the plan's cavalier treatment of the sacraments and its concept of the ministry. Methodist Bishop Oxnam (see below), en route to a World Council of Churches meeting in Paris, wrote that he was "confused and disappointed" by the plan for the new church; he thought it would be a surrender of Protestantism to the "anarchy" of "Congregationalism."

In short, Protestants showed once again that their churches' idea of The Church is too misty even to put down on paper--though they were still sure that the Roman Catholics' idea of The Church is too overweeningly concrete for this world.

* Representing the Congregational Christian Churches, the Disciples of Christ, the Evangelical and Reformed Church, the Methodist Church, the African Methodist Episcopal and African Methodist Episcopal Zion Churches, the Colored Methodist Episcopal Church, the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A., the Presbyterian Church in the U.S. (Southern), the International Council of Community Churches, and the Association for a United Church in America.

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