Survey of Church Union Negotiations 1996-1999

The preamble of the constitution of the Joint Council reads:

   The Joint Council of the CNI, CSI and Mar Thoma Church has been constituted
   as the visible organ for common action by the three churches, which
   recognize themselves as belonging to one church of Jesus Christ in India,
   even while remaining as autonomous churches, each having its own identity
   of traditions and organizational structures.

This does not, of course, mean that we intended to stop with the kind of unity that the three churches already have, and that all that we needed was to plan and execute some joint activities. In fact it is clearly stated in the constitution under "Aims and Objectives" that "the Joint Council shall serve as the common organ of the three churches for working towards a visible manifestation of the unity of these three churches and of the whole church of Jesus Christ in India". But over all these years the crucial question has been: What does this "visible manifestation of unity" mean, and what is its scope?

After twenty years of the Joint Council's existence, we still do not have an agreed answer to this question. No doubt there is some ambiguity about the real goal of the Joint Council. Some members say that they had seen "organic union" as the goal of the Joint Council and that they were frustrated at the lack of progress in that direction, while others point out that the kind of "organic union" which led to the formation of the CSI or CNI was never the intention. Some affirm the importance of creating suitable structures at the organizational level for giving expression to the already existing unity of the church, while others point out that structures of unity cannot be a help since churches which have adopted structures of "organic union" have still to struggle for unity in the face of ethnic, linguistic and cultural divisions.

In this context it was felt that it is better to speak about "organic oneness" rather than "organic union" as the goal of the Joint Council. Organic union would mean losing the separate identity of each church. Both the CSI and the CNI came into existence as a result of an organic union between different churches, which after their union ceased to exist as separate churches. But since there was no agreement in the Joint Council on such a merger between the CNI, the CSI and the Mar Thoma Church, it was agreed that we cease speaking about "organic unity". The Joint Council also held long discussions about the meaning of "conciliar unity". This term also was found inadequate. The hesitation to use both these phrases ("organic unity" and "conciliar unity") was evident even at the very first meeting of the Joint Council. According to its minutes,

   there was considerable discussion on the meaning of conciliar unity and
   organic unity for describing the unity implied in the setting up of the
   Joint Council. It was noted that what the three churches have been led to
   adopt is a new and unique model different from the earlier models of
   conciliar or organic unity. It was agreed not to describe the unity of the
   three churches as conciliar or organic. (JC-78-14)