January 25, 1999

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Nine Protestant denominations took a step toward official unity. Representatives of the churches participating in the Consultation on Church Union signed a document pledging to declare that they will unite in Christ in 2002. It is not a merger, but an agreement of affiliation. It will not create a new church, but allow the denominations to celebrate Holy Communion together, share one baptism, and recognize each other as "authentic expressions of the one church of Jesus Christ," the Associated Press said.

...Participating churches are the Episcopal Church, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), the International Council of Community Churches, the United Church of Christ, the United Methodist Church, the African Methodist Episcopal Church, the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, and the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church. More negotiations are planned to settle disagreements between Presbyterian and Episcopalian methods of church leadership. Episcopalians are stressing the need for the office of bishop to oversee church matters, which Presbyterians reject.

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