Survey of Church Union Negotiations 1996-1999

Mutual acceptance has not led to any dramatic developments. A Methodist minister who serves as ecumenical hospital chaplain in Johannesburg has been appointed to the staff of St Mary's Anglican cathedral, and an Anglican minister has been called to a Presbyterian parish. The position of ministers in united congregations has been regularized. Perhaps its most important effect has been to open the way to closer cooperation at parish and congregational level by making it possible to share sacramental ministry.

The commission has been encouraged by the positive response of the Lambeth conference and expressions of interest from other parts of the world.

The commission is now engaged in the search for consensus on the ministry of oversight which would open the way for full reconciliation and interchangeability of ministries. This process is still at an early stage and it will be some time before recommendations can be made to the churches.

A number of suggestions and observations have been made in a series of local consultations and will have to be considered more widely. All agree that "we need to seek a form of episcope that (will) help the South African church to fulfill its own mission in the church of the 21st century and also be helpful to the church at large". It is also agreed that personal and corporate oversight have to be combined, and two possible models have been suggested:

1. A moderator in the United Congregational Church, as the convener of the ministry committee, presides at ordinations and inductions and is also responsible for the pastoral care of the clergy. However, he or she is not the chairperson of the regional council. Is it possible to develop this office in such a way that the regional council could be seen as the body of oversight and the moderator as its personal focus?

2. The other model comes from Celtic Christianity where there was a clear distinction between jurisdiction and pastoral and sacramental oversight. Jurisdiction was vested in a monastery or its abbot who might be ordained or lay. Pastoral and sacramental oversight was exercised by a member of the community who did the things that only a bishop could do and was not at the apex of the pyramid of power.

On the issue of continuity in the transmission of ministry, it has been pointed out that there is a corporate continuity through presbytery or conference in non-episcopal churches, and that this needs to be taken more seriously. One consultation warned that the major obstacle to agreement is not theological:

   We have to recognize the role of emotions in the debate about oversight.
   Any process of change arouses emotions. When the parties to the process
   have strong convictions, powerful stereotypes and painful memories, the
   level of emotion is likely to be high. The mutual acceptance of ministries
   may reduce the intensity of emotion but has not removed it.

Theological consensus alone will get nowhere and the Church Unity Commission has identified the promotion of local ecumenism as a major priority. In South Africa this involves racial as well as denominational decisions and has to deal with deeply-entrenched denominational loyalties in the African community.