Word: superchurch
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...unity proposal is a lucid, ingenious compromise that strives to preserve the best elements of widely varying traditions of piety and polity. Tentatively called "The Church of Christ Uniting" to imply its openness to other groups that may want to join, the proposed superchurch will be theologically broad-minded in its approach to doctrine but notably bureaucratic in structure. In many ways, it suggests a kind of Episcopalianism writ large and Low. It will also be pointedly interracial...
Unified Parishes. The proposed government of the united superchurch would be both hierarchal and democratic, with three orders of ordained ministers: bishops for district, regional, and national office, presbyters to lead parishes and congregations, and deacons to perform special ministries and other duties. Existing churches of the various denominations would be arranged in unified "parishes," the better to utilize available space and talent. Such parishes will be intentionally multiracial, and thus not necessarily geographical entities. A national assembly, with the laity receiving a bloc vote along with each of the ministerial orders, would decide matters of faith and order...
Perhaps the most significant progress the churches have made since Dr. Blake's speech is in ensuring the racial unity of the prospective superchurch. Three of the participant churches are predominantly Negro in membership, and their presence as equal partners is now taken for granted. High on the list of priorities for consideration by denominational leaders is "How shall racial balance be achieved and maintained in leadership, both lay and ordained, at all levels of the united church?" Balance is the concern. The outline plan already provides that all offices of the new church, including the episcopacy, be open...
...actually a step toward the larger unity that Campbell envisioned. One concrete result of the reorganization will be that the Disciples can take a more decisive part in the Consultation on Church Union, the ambitious ecumenical venture that is seeking to merge nine main-line denominations into a Protestant superchurch. The Disciples have participated in C.O.C.U. since 1963, but now they will be able to get clearer decisions from the membership on unity issues...
...years since the Rev. Eugene Carson Blake first proposed the creation of a giant Protestant superchurch, participants in the annual Consultation on Church Union have spent their time sparring over preliminary issues. Last week in Dallas came what Episcopal Bishop Robert Gibson of Virginia called "a crucial moment": delegates from the eight churches in the C.O.C.U.* agreed on a set of principles for the merger, clearing the way for preparation of a formal union plan...