wfn.org | Black Methodists approve COCU

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"UNITED METHODIST DAILY NEWS" by SUSAN PEEK on Aug. 11, 1991 at 13:58 Eastern,
about FULL TEXT RELEASES FROM UNITED METHODIST NEWS SERVICE (3135 notes).

Note 3135 by UMNS on Aug. 22, 1996 at 15:12 Eastern (3033 characters).

SEARCH:   COCU, union, Grove, black
Produced by United Methodist News Service, official news agency of
the United Methodist Church, with offices in Nashville, Tenn., New
York, and Washington.

Contact:  Joretta Purdue                       421(10-31-71){3135}
          Washington, D.C.  (202) 546-8722           Aug. 22, 1996

Two Methodist denominations
latest to adopt COCU covenant

                 by United Methodist News Service

     Two historically black denominations in the Methodist
tradition became the seventh and eighth communions to approve the
Church of Christ Uniting proposal of the Consultation on Church
Union when they held their respective general conferences in July.
     The plan for the Church of Christ Uniting is not one of
merger but of recognizing the ministry of the other participants.
     Bishop William Grove, ecumenical officer for the United
Methodist Church, has described COCU as creating a "spiritual,
covenantal union," not an organizational or structural one.
     Covenanting denominations will recognize each other's
churches, baptism and ordained ministry and celebrate the
eucharist together.  Locally, covenanting councils will be formed.
     The African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church General
Conference voted for the proposal in Louisville, Ky., during the
first week of July; as did the African Methodist Episcopal Zion
(AMEZ) Church in Washington during the last week of July and the
first two days of August.
     At its General Conference in Denver this spring, the United
Methodist Church became the sixth communion to approve the
proposal with almost 70 percent of those voting affirming it. The
Christian Methodist Episcopal (CME) Church approved the proposal
when it held its General Conference in 1994.
     Representatives of nine denominations have participated in
the talks over a period of many years. Of the nine, only the
Episcopal Church has not scheduled a vote on the proposal.
     During the period that the AME Church was meeting, the 208th
General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) approved
constitutional amendments related to COCU participation. The
Presbyterians, who hold a legislative meeting annually, first
voted on the COCU proposal in 1995.
     At that meeting, the Presbyterian General Assembly found the
proposal controversial and sent a set of proposed amendments to
the denomination's committee on COCU for review and refinement.
The committee's proposal was subsequently modified by this
assembly's committee on Catholicity. The resultant proposal for
constitutional amendments was approved by a 421-to-103 vote of the
assembly.
     These amendments were subsequently sent to the 171
presbyteries for approval. A simple majority is required to make
the changes operative when the Church of Christ Uniting is
inaugurated.
     The executive committee of the consultation has called for
the next plenary to take place in December 1998 in St. Louis.
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