{
  "bookName": "History of Christianity in India: Source Materials",
  "authorName": "M. K. Kuriakose",
  "publisherName": "Indian Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge",
  "publicationYear": 2011,
  "chapterNumber": 145,
  "chapterName": "1908. Documents of the First General Assembly of the South India United Church",
  "pageFrom": 293,
  "pageTo": 297,
  "pages": [
    {
      "pageNumber": 293,
      "ocrText": "SOURCE MATERIALS\n293\nof Macedonia calling us to help them a hundred millions of our\nfellowmen, many of our own race and language, waiting helpless\nbefore our very eyes. Now let us not fail to hear the voice of mute\nappeal that rises from this dumb multitude without God, the\nsilent cry of the unsatisfied heart of India. Ah, brothers, 'dull\nwould he be of soul and dead who could resist their plea and\nturn away with stony heart-for mere worldly pleasure, or selfish\nease or sordid gain.\n\"Breathes there a man with soul so dead\nWho never to himself hath said,\nThis is my own, my native land'?\"\nYes, it is our own! Let us say it a thousand times until we\ngrasp the thought. This land is ours! Not for vain boasting,\nnot in idle sentiment, not to exclude others, but in the solemn\nobligation alike of ownership and of opportunity, of sacrifice\nand responsibility. It is ours! to win or lose; to save or to neglect.\n145. DOCUMENTS OF THE FIRST GENERAL\nASSEMBLY OF THE SOUTH INDIA UNITED\nCHURCH (1908 A.D.)\nThe first General Assembly of the South India United Church\nwas held at Madras from the 25th to the 27th of December, 1908.\nThe formation of this church was an important step in the developing\nchurch union movement in India. Among the documents approved\nby the Assembly were a Declaration of Union, a Plan of Union and\nConstitution, and a Short History. The first and the last are repro-\nduced here. From The Report of the Assembly Held in Madras,\npp. 3-4, 16 ff.\nDeclaration of Union\nWhereas the Churches of the Madura and Jaffna Missions of\nthe American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, and\nthose of the South India District Committee and the Travancore\nMission of the London Missionary Society, in their organized\ncapacity as 'The United Churches of South India and Ceylon',\non the one part; and the Churches of the Arcot Mission of the\nDutch Reformed Church and those of the United Free Church\nMission of Madras in their organized capacity as \"The South India\nSynod of the Presbyterian Church' on the other part; have deter-\nmined for the glory of God to unite organically into one body\nAnd whereas, in pursuance of this determination, the above\ntwo bodies have agreed upon a common basis of union which has\nbeen accepted by the churches which they represent:",
      "status": "completed"
    },
    {
      "pageNumber": 294,
      "ocrText": "294\nHISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY IN INDIA\nAnd whereas the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church\nin India did at its meeting in Calcutta, December 28, 1907, resolve\nto release its Synod of South India in order to become a part of\nthis Union:\nTherefore, resolved that we, the duly appointed Representatives\nof the two above mentioned Bodies, under the authority vested in us\nby our respective ecclesiastical organizations, being assembled for\nthe purpose of consummating the proposed Union, greatly acknow-\nledging God's guidance in the past, and invoking His blessing\nupon us at the present, do hereby constitute ourself Provisional\nGeneral Assembly of the South India United Church; and that as\nsuch we adopt as our own the following Plan of Union and\nConfession of Faith.\nA Short History of Union\nWe have entered to-day on a road by which no Church, so far\nas we know, has as yet travelled for though unions have been\neffected in India and elsewhere, this is the first time that the different\nchurches polities which we represent have been actually fused\ninto one. If any one ten years ago had predicted this union he\nwould have been met with query. Can this thing be?' Now that\nthe union is accomplished we bow in thankfulness and say, 'What\nhath God wrought!' wrought! From our new starting point it is well that\nwe should look back on the converging roads by which we have\nbeen led.\nIn the first\nAlthough the negotiations for union were begun less than ten\nyears ago, a preparatory work had been going on without which\nthe subsequent rapid progress of the movement would have been\nimpossible. This preparatory work was of two kinds.\nplace the idea of a United Church was in the minds of many.\nWhen missionaries came from distant lands it was natural that they\nshould in the first instance organise churches after the pattern to\nwhich they had been accustomed. But as time went on the idea\ngained strength that however valuable such organisation might be\nas a temporary structure in which the young Church might live in\nthe days of its immaturity, a time must come when the Church\nwould be able to choose an abode for itself, and that when this\ntime came it might no longer be necessary to keep to the denomi-\nnational lines of the West. Similar ideas were at work in the minds\nof many Indian Christians. Although they were naturally attached\nto the Mission through which they had received the truth, and were\nready to adopt the method of organisation to which the missionaries\nhad introduced them, they could not help asking why it was neces-\nsary that Christians of different Missions should worship apart,\nalthough they might live in the same town. Thus the way for a\nunion was being slowly prepared.",
      "status": "completed"
    },
    {
      "pageNumber": 295,
      "ocrText": "SOURCE MATERIALS\n295\nIt may be noted in passing that without the interest in the move-\nment on the part of missionaries on the one hand, and of the\npastors and members of the Indian Church on the other, nothing\nof any value could have been accomplished. It was natural that a\nconsiderable share in the task of bringing about the union should\nfall to missionaries. The opportunities they had of fellowship\nand conference, and their knowledge of movements in other lands,\nmade it natural that they should take the lead. But they could\nhave done nothing had there not been in the Church itself a strong\nfeeling that the course proposed was the right one, and on the part\nof some of these there was not only acquiescence but hearty co-\noperation. It must be remembered too that if missionaries have\ntaken a prominent part in the effort, they have done so with no\nselfish motive. In the new Church they will have far less authority\nthan many of them had under the old system. What they have\ndone has been for the advancement of the Church to a condition\nof independence, in which it will increase, and the missionary\ndecrease.\nIn the second place, sundry attempts to effect a union had\nactually been made. As far back as 1883 a retired Bengal civilian\nproposed that the Presbyterian Churches in India should unite.\nTwo years later the matter was definitely brought before the\nNorthern India Synod of the American Presbyterian Church by\nthe Rev. Dr. Morrison; and a committee was appointed to cor-\nrespond with the different Presbyterian Churches in India. As a\nresult of this correspondence a conference took place at Allahabad\nin 1887; and six years later the Indian Presbyterian Alliance came\ninto being. At first it aimed at bringing the Missions into closer\nfellowship rather than at effecting an organic union of the Churches.\nWhen the Alliance, however, met for the fifth time in 1899, it took\ndefinite steps with this latter end in view. It was probably induced\nto do so by pressure from the west. In the year 1888 the subject\nof union was brought before the General Synod of the Reformed\nChurch in America by one to whom the union cause owes much-\nDr. Jacob Chamberlain-and the Synod called upon its representa-\ntive in South India-the Classis of Arcot-to initiate such measures\n'as. shall tend to bring together the Churches of the Presbyterian\npolity in India. Later in the same year a conference of represen-\ntatives of the Mission Boards of the Presbyterian Churches of the\nUnited Kingdom was held in Edinburgh. As the resolutions passed\nby this body give expression to a policy of which the union now\neffected is the latest outcome it may be well to quote them in full.\nThey are as follows :-\n1. It is in the highest degree desirable that Mission Churches\nshould be encouraged to become independent of the Home\nChurches, i.e., self-supporting and self-governing, self-govern-\nment naturally following upon self-support.",
      "status": "completed"
    },
    {
      "pageNumber": 296,
      "ocrText": "296\nHISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY IN INDIA\n2. It is desirable that Churches organised under the Pres-\nbyterian order, and holding the Reformed faith, should be\nplaced under a Presbytery within territorial boundaries suitable\nfor effective government, and that such Presbytery wherever\nconstituted should as far as practicable include all the\nPresbyterian Churches within its bounds, by whatever branches\nof the European or American Churches originated.\n3. In the incipient stages of the Native Church, it is most\ndesirable that the foreign missionaries should be associated with\nthe Presbytery, either as advisers only, or as assessory members\nwith votes.\n4. It is undesirable that Presbyteries of Native Churches\nshould be represented in supreme courts at home, the develop-\nment and full organisation of independent Native Churches\nbeing what is to be aimed at, whether these are founded by a\nsingle foreign Church, or by two or more such Churches.\nIt was soon evident, however, that the time for giving effect to\nthese resolutions for India as a whole had not come. The diffi-\nculties raised by distance and language seemed insuperable; and\nin some cases it was evident that the Indian Church was not ready\nfor the measure of self-reliance which the plan involved. The\nnegotiations accordingly were dropped for the time, but they were\nnot fruitless. They formed another element in the preparation\nfor what was afterwards achieved.\nMeanwhile an attempt was made in South India on different\nlines. In 1886 some Madras Christians, leaving the Churches with\nwhich they had been connected, combined under the title of the\nNational Church of India'. The number that followed their\nexample was small. The great majority preferred to remain in their\nformer connection, and even those who were eager for union\ndoubted if the end could be reached in this way. They felt that\nsince all were not ready for such a step, the attempt to reach unity\nby a single leap must fail, and the new Church would simply become\none of the sects. Subsequent experience has shown that progress\nis made by taking one step at a time, uniting those Churches whose\ndoctrine and practice were most similar, and so proceeding\ngradually to larger unions.\nSo much for the preparatory period. It was in the year 1899\nthat the threads that had been dropped were once more taken in\nhand. In the annual report published in that year the Foreign\nMission Committee of the Free Church of Scotland included as\nan appendix an account of an organic union which a few years\nbefore had been effected between the Churches of two Missions in",
      "status": "completed"
    },
    {
      "pageNumber": 297,
      "ocrText": "SOURCE MATERIALS\n297\nSouth China-the Dutch Reformed and the English Presbyterian.\nThe situation in South India was so similar that the idea of follow-\ning their example arose naturally. While the matter was still in\nthe stage of informal conference, a further impetus was received\nfrom the South Indian Missionary Conference, which met in\nMadras in the beginning of 1900. Of this Conference co-operation\nwas one of the keynotes; and the result was a deepening of the im-\npression already made as to the desirability of taking immediate\nsteps. The first to take formal action was our esteemed President;\nand the response was so ready that within two months of the close\nof the Conference a committee representing the American Arcot,\nChurch of Scotland, and Free Church of Scotland Missions had\nmet and applied itself to the two-fold task of leading the Missions\ninto co-operation, and the Churches into organic union. As an\naid to its work it had before it the constitution of the Church of\nChrist in Japan, a body formed a few years earlier by the union of\nthe Presbyterians in that country. In less than two years a basis of\nunion was agreed upon by the Missions and Presbyteries of the\nArcot and Free Church Mission and secured the approval of their\nhome authorities. In the case of the Church of Scotland the scheme\nwas approved locally; but the home committee did not at the time\nsee its way to sanction more than the co-operative part of the plan.\nThe other two Churches resolved to proceed, and the first Synod of\nthe South Indian United Church was held in September 1901,\nunder the moderatorship of Dr. Chamberlain. During the period\nof nearly seven years that have elapsed since the union there has\nbeen abundant evidence that it was God Himself who led us into it.\nThe news of the resumption of negotiations in the South had\nthe effect of stirring up some in the North who had been interested\nin the earlier movement. In the belief that the churches might\nnow be ready for what had formerly been considered premature,\nthe Presbyterian Alliance resumed its meetings; and in 1904 the\ngreater number of the Presbyterian Churches in the land united\nunder the title of the 'Presbyterian Church in India'. Into this\nunion the South India Synod resolved to enter, but on the definite\nunderstanding that if the way to a still wider union should open\nup in the South, while it was still closed in the North, the Synod\nshould be free to enter the open door.\nHaving traced the history of the union movement among the\nPresbyterians, we must now see what had been done among those\nwhose ancestry, for the most part, was Congregational. The steps\nleading to the formation of the South Indian United Church were\neagerly watched by members of the London and American Madras\nMissions. The idea of a wider union, such as has been now\neffected, was suggested; but it was thought best to let each of these\necclesiastical families complete its own union first. Accordingly,",
      "status": "completed"
    }
  ]
}