wfn.org | UCC to Alliance of Baptists: 'Welcome home'

[powellb@ucc.org]

United Church of Christ
General Synod Newsroom
Sunday, July 13, 2003
newsroom@ucc.org
http://www.ucc.org

By Andy Lang

Baptists are coming home to the United Church of Christ.

The Baptist movement in North America took root in colonial
Massachusetts?then a bastion of the UCC's Congregationalist forebears. But
by 1644 the colony decreed that Baptists were "troublers of churches" and a
"hazard to the whole commonwealth." Anyone who "openly or secretly"
espoused Baptist doctrines was to be banished from the community.

The enmity between Congregationalists and Baptists has long been forgotten,
and now Baptist refugees from the Southern Baptist Convention are finding a
new home in the UCC.

On Sunday General Synod adopted a sweeping resolution affirming a
"partnership in mission and ministry" with the 60,000-member Alliance of
Baptists. Three Baptist congregations in Georgia and Virginia are now
affiliated with both the Alliance and the UCC, and others are expected to
apply for dual affiliation in the future.

In other ecumenical actions Sunday, Synod reaffirmed its relationship of
full communion with the Union of Evangelical Churches (UEK) in Germany and
authorized the General Minister and President to take steps towards full
communion with the Church of South India (CSI).

Gone full circle

History has gone full circle for the Alliance of Baptists. Religious
liberty and freedom of conscience were once fundamental values in the
Baptist movement, but when extreme fundamentalists seized control of the
Southern Baptist Convention, moderate and liberal congregations were either
expelled or pressured to leave.

The Alliance's story is one of courage, says Conference Minister Tim Downs
of the UCC's Southern Conference. "Imagine what it was like for women who
heard God's call to ordained ministry in a denomination that advises wives
to 'submit' to their husbands, or gays and lesbians elected as deacons in a
denomination that calls their sexual orientation an 'abomination.'

"These are people who have seen a tradition precious to them snatched
away," he says. "They find the UCC to be literally incredible. What draws
them to us is our embrace of diversity and our commitment to dialogue."

But some Alliance Baptists have a "romanticized" picture of the UCC, Downs
says. "I tell them that by coming to us they have not crossed the River
Jordan. We in the UCC are still working it out. Don't idealize us, because
you'll be disappointed. But accept us for what we are."

Synod delegates warmly welcomed Alliance President Stan Hastey. "Our
relationship with you has been an evidence of grace in the past 17 years of
our existence," he said. "We have just scratched the surface. We have so
much to do together."

The Alliance website is at allianceofbaptists.org.

Centuries-old relationship

Synod's vote to reaffirm Kirchengemeinschaft (full communion) with the
Union of Evangelical Churches in Germany expands a relationship that dates
back to the 19th century, when German immigrants from "united" Protestant
churches in Germany settled along the Mississippi River.

General Synod approved full communion with the largest united church in
postwar Germany?the Evangelical Church of the Union?in 1981. Since then,
exchanges of pastors and youth between the two churches have deepened the
relationship. This year, the EKU joined with other united churches to form
the largest Protestant body in Germany?the Union of Evangelical Churches.
The resolution adopted by Synod extends Kirchengemeinschaft to the enlarged
Union.

Strengthening links with South Indian Christians

The Church of South India is another united church?founded by
Congregationalists, Presbyterians, Methodists and Anglicans in 1947. They
share with the UCC the same motto: "that they may all be one." Synod voted
Sunday to authorize steps towards full communion with the CSI.

"The CSI already feel they are in full communion with us," says the Rev.
Russell Bennett, pastor of Tulsa, Okla., Fellowship Congregational Church.
"In 1947 the churches that joined in southern India declared they were not
only in communion with each other but with their parent churches in Europe
and America. That included the Congregational Christian Churches in the
U.S."

Full communion with the CSI will include 21 congregations founded by Indian
immigrants in the United States. Many of these already have close
relationships with UCC churches.

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