Church Unity Commission

CHURCH UNITY COMMISSION (CUC): Church of the Province of South Africa; Methodist Church of Southern Africa; Uniting Presbyterian Church in Southern Africa; Evangelical Presbyterian Church; United Congregational Church of Southern Africa.

In the early 1960s the bishops of the Church of the Province of South Africa (Anglican) initiated bilateral conversations with Methodists and Presbyterians (joined later by Congregationalists). These gave way in 1968 to the multilateral Church Unity Commission on which the same four traditions were represented. By 1974 all the member churches had accepted a declaration of intention to seek union in which they undertook:

a) to seek agreement on a common form of ministry of word and sacraments, with due regard to those patterns of ministry and oversight to which God has already led us;

b) to admit to the Lord's table communicant members of all our churches as an immediate and visible sign of our common quest;

c) to work for increasing cooperation in all areas of church life.

The commission had published a draft plan of union in 1972. This was revised after the acceptance of the declaration but evoked little enthusiasm. A consultation on spirituality and union in May 1975 concluded that "the unity of the church must be the product of the renewal of fellowship within the churches and not the result of a super-imposed unified structure". It was therefore resolved to proceed by stages and seek interim goals on the way to union.

Following a 1978 consultation the commission worked on a covenant which was finally put to the churches in 1982. Although all accepted the clauses which dealt with practical cooperation, the Church of the Province was unable to approve the theological clauses. These dealt with:

-- the admission into membership of communicants from other churches "without requiring any further sacramental rite";

-- the recognition and reconciliation of each other's ordained ministries; and

-- joint participation in future ordinations.

Political developments in South Africa after the Soweto uprising in 1976 relegated church union to an insignificant place on church agendas, especially for black Christians. The 1980s were dominated by the ecumenism of struggle in which the South African Council of Churches, to which all the member churches belong, played the major role. Christians were united by a common enemy and the theological niceties of many faith and order issues appeared irrelevant. Nevertheless, the churches continued to endorse the Church Unity Commission, and in 1989 the Church of the Province accepted the confirmation clause of the covenant.

The demise of apartheid in the 1990s removed the common enemy and led to a resurgence of denominationalism which is still evident. However, it was also recognized that the churches could not with integrity urge racial groups and political parties to be reconciled if they themselves were not reconciled to one another. This consideration, among others, led a consultation of church leaders in 1993 to mandate the commission to formulate proposals for the reconciliation of ministries, this being the one remaining issue of faith and order over which the member churches were separated.

As reported in the 1994-96 survey it was decided to adopt a two-stage approach. In 1995 the member churches:

-- (accepted) that the ordained ministers of word and sacrament in the member churches of the CUC have been called and ordained by God in Christ through his church and exercise a sacramental, preaching, teaching and pastoral ministry in the church of God and not simply in the particular church to which they belong;

-- (permitted) such ordained ministers, while remaining ministers of their own churches, to exercise such ministry within the (name of the church) when duly authorized or appointed to do so;

-- (authorized) the CUC ... to seek consensus on the ministry of oversight; and to prepare proposals for the full reconciliation of the ordained ministers of its member churches.

In March 2001 the commission submitted the following proposal to the member churches:

The member churches of the Church Unity Commission agree that a ministry of oversight is essential to the life of the church and that this ministry is exercised in personal, collegial and communal forms.

Communal oversight is exercised locally in congregational meetings and church councils and at regional and denominational levels in representative bodies such as synods, presbyteries and assemblies.

Collegial oversight is exercised when people who have been given responsibility for oversight consult and act together as, for example, in the meetings of bishops and denominational executives.

Personal oversight is exercised when responsibility for certain aspects of oversight is entrusted to particular individuals as, for example, the minister in charge of a congregation or the bishop of a diocese.

We recognize elements of personal, collegial and communal oversight in all our churches but acknowledge that they are not always evenly balanced and that this imbalance stands in the way of full communion between our churches. Thus it is widely perceived that Anglicans place undue emphasis on the personal ministry of bishops and that the communal aspect which is clearly present needs to be given more weight. On the other hand, Presbyterians are perceived as focusing on communal oversight and should give more attention to effective personal oversight above the level of the congregation.