{
  "bookName": "History of Christianity in India: Source Materials",
  "authorName": "M. K. Kuriakose",
  "publisherName": "Indian Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge",
  "publicationYear": 2011,
  "chapterNumber": 184,
  "chapterName": "1947. The Church of South India: Basis of Union",
  "pageFrom": 381,
  "pageTo": 384,
  "pages": [
    {
      "pageNumber": 381,
      "ocrText": "SOURCE MATERIALS\n381\nIt believes in the Holy Spirit, by whom we are sanctified and\nbuilt up in Christ and in the fellowship of His Body;\nAnd in this faith it worships the Father, Son and Holy Spirit,\none God in Trinity and Trinity in Unity.\nThe Church of South India is competent to issue supplementary\nstatements concerning the faith for the guidance of its teachers and\nthe edification of the faithful, provided that such statements are\nnot contrary to the truths of our religion revealed in the Holy\nScriptures...\n8. Necessary Elements in the Life of the Church of South India.-\nThe Church of South India recognizes that episcopal, presbyteral,\nand congregational elements must all have their place in its order of\nlife, and that the episcopate, the presbyterate, and the congregation\nof the faithful should all in their several spheres have responsibility\nand exercise authority in the life and and work of the Church, in its\ngovernance and administration, in its evangelistic and pastoral\nwork, in its discipline, and in its worship.\n184. THE CHURCH OF SOUTH INDIA: BASIS OF UNION\n(1947 A.D.)\nWhen the Constitution of the Church of South India was drawn\nup it was decided to include, as Appendix I, the 'Basis of Union'\nwhich had been drawn up earlier by the negotiating churches. This\nwas done for the historical record and to fulfil the desire of the Consti-\ntution that 'full regard shall be paid to the Basis of Union as a permanent\nrecord of the intensions and desires of the Churches by the Union of\nwhich the Church has been formed'. Portions of the Basis are reprodu-\nced here. The Constitution of the Church of South India, 1972 edition,\nAppendix I, pp. 87-101.\nTHE PURPOSE AND NATURE OF THE UNION\n1. The uniting Churches affirm that the purpose of the union\ninto which they hope to enter is the carrying out of God's will as\nthis is expressed in our Lord's prayer-'That they may all be one...\nthat the world may believe that Thou didst send me'. They believe\nthat by this union the Church in South India will become a more\neffective instrument for God's work, and that the result of union\nwill be greater peace, closer fellowship, and fuller life within the\nChurch, and also renewed eagerness and power for the proclama-\ntion of the Gospel of Christ. It is their hope that the Church thus",
      "status": "completed"
    },
    {
      "pageNumber": 382,
      "ocrText": "382\nHISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY IN INDIA\nunited may be a true leaven of unity in the life of India, and that\nthrough it there may be a greater release of divine power for the\nfulfilment of God's purpose for His world.\nThe uniting Churches believe that the unity of His Church for\nwhich Christ prayed is a unity in Him and in the Father through\nthe Holy Spirit, and is therefore fundamentally a reality of the\nspiritual realm. They seek the unity of the Spirit in the bond of\npeace. But this unity of the Spirit must find expression in the faith\nand order of the Church, in its worship, in its organization and in\nits whole life, so that as the Body of Christ, it may be a fit instru-\nment for carrying out His gracious purposes in the world.\nIt is the will of Christ that His Church should be one, and the\nmanifold gifts of His grace were promised to the Church which is\nHis Body. It is also His will that there should be a ministry accepted\nand fully effective throughout the world-wide Church. In the\npresent divided state of Christendom there is no ministry which\nin this respect fully corresponds with the purpose of God, and the\nministry can recover fullness only by the union of all the parts of the\none Body. The uniting Churches recognize, however, that God\nhas bestowed His grace with undistinguishing regard through all\ntheir ministers, in His use of them for His work of enlightening the\nworld, converting sinners and perfecting saints. They acknowledge\neach other's ministries to be real ministries of the Word and Sacra-\nments, and thankfully recognize the spiritual efficacy of sacraments\nand other ministrations which God has so clearly blessed. They\nconfidently expect that these ministries hitherto separate will, when\nunited, be used for a yet fuller manifestation of God's power and\nglory. Each Church in separation, has borne special witness to\ncertain elements of the truth; therefore for the perfecting of the\nwhole body the heritage of each is needed. Each, maintaining the\ncontinuity of its own life, will be enriched by the gifts and graces\nof the others.\nWherever union takes place, it comes into being only by the\nworking of the spirit of Christ, Who is both truth and love. In His\nspirit of love, all the ministers of the uniting Churches will from\nthe inauguration of the union be recognized as equally ministers of\nthe united Church without distinction or difference. The united\nChurch will be formed by a combination of different elements, each\nbringing its contribution to the whole, and not by the absorption of\nany one by any other. It will, therefore, also be a comprehensive\nChurch; and its members, firmly holding the fundamentals of the\nfaith and order of the Church Universal, will be allowed wide\nfreedom of action in such differences of practice as are consistent\nwith the general framework of the Church as one organized\nbody.",
      "status": "completed"
    },
    {
      "pageNumber": 383,
      "ocrText": "SOURCE MATERIALS\n383\nThe uniting Churches are agreed that, in every effort to bring\ntogether divided members of Christ's body into one organization,\nthe final aim must be the union in the Universal Church of all who\nacknowledge the name of Christ, and that the test of all local\nschemes of union is that they should express locally the principle\nof the great catholic unity of the Body of Christ. They trust,\ntherefore, that the united Church, conserving all that is of spiritual\nvalue in its Indian heritage, will express under Indian conditions\nand in Indian forms the spirit, the thought and the life of the Church\nUniversal.\nIt is the intention and hope of the uniting Churches that all the\nactions of the united Church will be regulated by the principles\nthat it should maintain fellowship with all those branches of the\nChurch of Christ with which the uniting Churches now severally\nenjoy such fellowship, and that it should continually seek to widen\nand strengthen this fellowship and to work towards the goal of the\nfull union in one body of all parts of the Church of Christ.\nThey pray that this scheme of union may under God's provi-\ndence be a contribution towards the uniting of His Church and the\nordering of its life in freedom and truth, and they trust that the\nunited Church in South India will never so use the provisions of the\nConstitution under which it will begin its life that they will become\nbarriers against the fuller truth and richer life to be attained in a\nwider fellowship, but that it will always be ready to correct and\namend them as God's will becomes more clearly known through\nthe growing together of the several parts of the now divided Church\ninto a common mind and spirit under the guidance of the one Holy\nSpirit...\nTHE EPISCOPATE IN THE UNITED CHURCH\n9. The uniting Churches accept the historic episcopate in a\nconstitutional form as part of their basis of union. They all agree\nin their desire that the relation of the bishop to his people should\nbe that of chief pastor and father in God; and that he is called to\nfeed the flock of God, taking the oversight thereof as shepherd, not\n*as lord either in act or title, but as an example to the flock. There\nare, however, within the uniting Churches differing views and\nbeliefs about episcopacy, which have been frankly recognized\nthroughout the negotiations. For example, some regard episco-\npacy merely as a form of church government which has persisted\nin the Church through the centuries and may as such be called\nhistoric, and which at the present time is expedient for the Church\nin South India. Others believe that episcopacy is of divine appoint-\nment, and that episcopal ordination is an essential guarantee of the",
      "status": "completed"
    },
    {
      "pageNumber": 384,
      "ocrText": "384\nHISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY IN INDIA\nsacraments of the Church. Some, again, hold various views\nintermediate between these two. The acceptance of episcopacy by\nthe uniting Churches, in which there are such differing views and\nbeliefs concerning it and concerning orders of the ministry, is not\nto be taken as committing the united Church to the acceptance of\nany particular interpretation of episcopacy, and no such particular\ninterpretation shall be demanded from any minister or member of\nthe united Church.\nWhatever differences there are, however, all the uniting Churches\nare agreed that, as episcopacy has been accepted in the Church\nfrom early times, it may in this sense fitly be called historic, and that\nit is needed for the shepherding and extension of the Church in\nSouth India. Any additional interpretations, though held by\nindividuals, are not binding on the United Church...\nTHE WORSHIP OF THE UNITED CHURCH\n12. The uniting Churches recognize that they must aim at\nconserving for the common benefit whatever of good has been gained\nby each body in its separate history, and that in its public worship\nthe united Church must retain for its congregations freedom\neither to use historic forms or not to do so as may best conduce to\nedification and to the worship of God in Spirit and in truth.\nIt is therefore not their intention that because of the union any\nform of service at present in use in any of the uniting Churches\nshall be forbidden in the united Church\nSubject to provisions which shall be made in the Constitution\nand to any special regulations which may be issued by the Synod of\nthe Church with regard to the services of ordination and conse-\ncration and the essential elements or central parts of other services,\nespecially those of Baptism, Holy Communion, and Marriage,\nevery pastor and congregation shall have freedom to determine\nthe forms of their public worship.\nTHE AUTONOMY OF THE UNITED CHURCH\n13. The uniting Churches agree that the united Church should\nof right be free in all spiritual matters from the direction or inter-\nposition of any civil government.\nThey further agree that the united Church must be an autono-\nmous Church and free from any control, legal or otherwise, of any\nChurch or Society external to itself. At the same time they re-",
      "status": "completed"
    }
  ]
}