Evening star., 1954-01-03
This Nay Be Most Significant Yer American Church History

3t4 " 3 f
majority Of "all those voting' In the
preSbyteries. the q. s. Church re-
quires three-fourths affirmative
vote. Leaders for union in the South
ern branch expect a hard fight. but
are confident they will gain the
needed vote for merger.
It is not too much to observe that
union Of the Presbyterian bodies
would undoubtedly spur m erger
plans Of otherA church bodies. And
likewise, failure of the Presbyterians
to come together may well discour-
age these efforts. III
Lutherons Moy Unite
A merger effort that will be widely
watched this year involves four Luz
thera11 church bodies. They are the
Evangelical Lutheran Church,
GOT 900 members: American Luther
an Church, 100000: Lutheran Free
Church. $4,000. and United Evan
gelical Lutheran Church, $1,000.
Their conventions, beginning with
the Evangelical church biennial
meeting at Minneapolis in June and
ending with the American church
biennial session at Beatrice, Nebr.,
in September, will decide the issue.
II. the four church bodies approve,
q new church having more than 1.8
million members will be formed. It
will be the third largest Lutheran
body In the United States. OUT
ranked only by the United Lutheran
Church in America. Q million. men,
bers, and the Lutheran Church-Mis
souri, Synod, 1,850,000..
Union of the four groups would
have special significance to the Lu-
theran communion, which has 18 in
dependent American church bodies.
1t would undoubtedly spur those
hoping eventually to bring all Luz
theran bodies into one large church.
Prospects appear good for the
merger. Last month a joint meeting
Of 30 delegates from the four bodies
met in Chicago. They approved an
82-page plan for submission to each
convention for action. II passed by
the four meetings. further necessary
steps will be taken to make the
union fact in 1856.
A step the other way may be
taken this summer when the Lu-
theran Synodical Conference meets.
It consists of the Missouri Synod.
Joint Synod of Wisconsin (3l6.839. i.
the Slovak Church (20,808) and the
Norwegian Synod 11,02D.
Doctrinol Difference
Last summer the Wisconsin Synod
formally charged the Missouri Synod
with breaking the relations which
have existed between the two con-
servative church bodies for 81 years.
Final action on the break. which
came through doctrinal differences,
were postponed until the Synodical
conferences meeting this year. II
the two church bodies remain apart,
it is likely the conference may be
broken up.
A recent New York court decision
reversing lower court verdict block
ing union of the Evangelical and
Reformed Church with the Congre-
gational Christian Church has set
in motion again merger plans be-
tween these two bodies.
Since 1949 litigation by some
congregational groups has tied up
efforts of the two church bodies
to merge. Now that this obstacle
has been removed the two denom-
nations are taking steps toward
union. The Congregational Church's
Executive Committee will meet jan
uary 90 in Cleveland and vote on
joining with the Evangelical and
Reformed Church's corresponding
committee on February 10 in Chi
cago.
A joint meeting will then discuss
further steps for the union. Still
further approval must be given by
the Congregational Church's gen.
eral council in June at New Haven
and later by the Evangelical and
Reformed Church's general synod
in 1856.
Final action on union between
the Unitarian Church (82, ,420 mem
bers) and the Universalist, Church
(75,982) will be taken at Andover.
Mass, in August. The congrega-
tions of each denomination have
voted decisively in favor Of the
merger.
In addition to these events the
regular annual meetings Of many
church bodies will provide their
share of activity.
All in all 1854 bids fair to be the
most significant year in the history
of American church life.