{
  "bookName": "History of Christianity in India: Source Materials",
  "authorName": "M. K. Kuriakose",
  "publisherName": "Indian Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge",
  "publicationYear": 2011,
  "chapterNumber": 191,
  "chapterName": "1965. The Church of North India: A Historical Statement",
  "pageFrom": 403,
  "pageTo": 405,
  "pages": [
    {
      "pageNumber": 403,
      "ocrText": "SOURCE MATERIALS\n403\n191. THE CHURCH OF NORTH INDIA: A HISTORICAL\nSTATEMENT (1965 A.D.)\nA brief survey of the history of the union movement in North\nIndia is given in the fourth revised edition of the Plan of Union.\nPlan of Church Union in North India and Pakistan, 1965, pp. iii-vii.\nThe Plan of union now issued by the Negotiating Committee for\nNorth India and Pakistan is the result of the work begun by the\nRound-Table Conference in the year 1929. Its sources can be\ntraced back to the movement of the Holy Spirit in the Churches\nwhich found expression in the Edinburgh Conference, 1910, the\nmeeting at Tranquebar in South India in 1919, and the appeal of\nthe Lambeth Conference of 1920. In the year 1924 various Presby-\nterian and Congregational Churches had come together to form\nthe United Church of Northern India, and this United Church had\nsent out invitations to several other Churches and Missions to\nconsider a wider union. The then Wesleyan Methodist Church, in\nresponding to this invitation, suggested the desirability of a Round-\nTable Conference to which all who were willing to discuss the possi-\nbilities of union should be invited; and as a result the first Round-\nTable Conference met at Lal Bagh Girls' School at Lucknow on\nthe 10th and 11th of April, 1929. At this meeting the following\nChurches were represented, the Australian Churches of Christ\nMission, the Australian Methodist Church, the Wesleyan Methodist\nChurch, the Methodist Episcopal Church, and the United Church\nof Northern India; and a member of the Anglican Church was\npresent as a visitor. The Conference heard and recorded statements\nfrom the different Churches on Church polity, the Sacraments,\nInternational Relationship and Doctrinal Standards. The repre-\nsentatives were all very definitely and heartily of one mind in urging\nthat the conversations begun in this Conference should be continued\non the lines indicated in the resolutions adopted. Among the\nthings that were emphasized were :\n(i) Our thanks to Almighty God that a gathering such as this,\ncharacterized by complete brotherliness and good-will, had been\nmade possible, and our conviction that steps towards union could\nbe crowned with success only through the earnest prayers of all\nand by the guidance of the Holy Spirit.\n(ii) The necessity of educating public opinion and promoting\nfraternal intercourse between the Churches wherever possible.\nThe Round-Table Conference met for the second time at Delhi\non the 18th and 19th and 20th of November, 1930, when in addition\nto those mentioned above the Church of the Brethren and the",
      "status": "completed"
    },
    {
      "pageNumber": 404,
      "ocrText": "404\nHISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY IN INDIA\nSociety of Friends sent representatives and the Church of India,\nBurma and Ceylon was officially represented. There were visitors\nalso from the United Presbyterian Mission of the Punjab and two\ndelegates from the Joint-Committee on Union in South India. As\na result of this linking of North and South, an All-India Conference\non Church Union was held at Nagpur in the following year (Novem-\nber 7 to 9, 1931), attended by five representatives from the north\nand four from the south, under the Chairmanship of Bishop\nAzariah of Dornakal. It is to be noted that while advocating\ndefinite steps towards closer co-operation in evangelistic efforts, in\nChristian service and in worship, this Conference pointed the way\nwhich the Round-Table Conference has sought to pursue. It\nurged, 'that, in as much as the present restrictions to Christians fel-\nlowship largely arise from different conceptions of the ministry and\nit is only by a solution of this problem that the Church can be\nunited, it is essential that the question of the unification of the\nministry be examined and agreement reached regarding principles\nof Church organization and government'.\nThe second Round-Table Conference had appointed a Continua-\ntion Committee to continue its work, and this Committee, meeting\nin 1935 and 1936, prepared a definite 'Basis of Negotiation', which\nwas revised and accepted at the third Round-Table Conference at\nLucknow in 1937; and after further revision and amplification,\nwas issued by the Continuation Committee in July 1939. With\nthe greater definiteness of agreement reached in this 'Basis' we find\nthat some of the Churches represented in the first meetings had\ndropped out, and the negotiations were continued by the United\nChurch of Northern India, the Church of India, Burma and Ceylon\nthe Methodist Church in Southern Asia, the British and Australian\nMethodist Churches, and the Baptist Churches.\nDuring this same period of ten years or so, negotiations had also\nbeen going on between the United Church, the Methodist Episcopal\nChurch and the Baptists in what was called the Joint Council, which\nissued a Plan of Union after its fifth meeting in 1940, and with\nfurther revision in 1942. In some ways this Plan, which avoided\nany commitment to the historic Episcopate and followed a polity\nmore Presbyterian in character, seemed likely to achieve a quicker\nconsummation; and owing to this and to the uncertainty regarding\nthe negotiations in South India, there was some hesitation in pro-\nceeding with the work of the Round-Table Conference. For a\ntime also, from 1940, the Baptist Churches withdrew from the\nRound-Table.\nHowever, the Basis was further developed at a meeting of the\nContinuation Committee in March, 1941, and at the fourth meeting\nof the Round-Table Conference on July 31st and August 1st, 1941,",
      "status": "completed"
    },
    {
      "pageNumber": 405,
      "ocrText": "SOURCE MATERIALS\n405\nthere was a significant development in the proposal by a committee\nthat the unification of the Episcopates of the Anglican and the\nMethodist Episcopal Churches should be initiated by the mutual\nlaying-on of hands with prayer, and with the use of such a formula\nas shall leave no room for any scruple or doubtfulness'. In 1944\nthe General Council of the Church of India, Burma and Ceylon\nissued an appeal for a more general acceptance of such a method\nof unification of the ministry, based on a penitent acknowledgement\nof the defects in all our ministries due to the fact of our divisions;\nand in the following year the Continuation Committee commended\nthis suggestion for further consideration. As a result the Round-\nTable Conference, meeting at Allahabad in July, 1947, accepted\nthis method for the unification of the ministries by the mutual\nlaying-on of hands with prayer, and incorporated it into the Basis.\nThe consummation of the scheme of union in South India\nbrought about a new hopefulness and zeal for progress towards\nunion in the north; and there resulted a general feeling that the\nRound-Table 'Basis' provided led the best foundation for definite\nnegotiations for union. The following year the Lambeth Confe-\nrence gave a measure of approval to the schemes worked out by\nthe Round-Table Conference and by the Churches in Ceylon, and\nshowed its particular interest in the methods suggested for a unifi-\ncation of the ministry at the inauguration of union. This growing\nacceptance of the 'Basis' finding expression in definite resolutions\nof the four Churches represented at the Round-Table Conference,\nmade possible the first meeting of a definite Negotiating Com-\nmittee which was held at Calcutta on the 27th to 30th March,\n1951; and which was joined by delegates of the Baptist Churches\nagain. Further meetings of the Negotiating Committee took place\nin 1952 and 1953, as a result of which a revised edition of the Plan.\nwas published in 1954.\nThe three following years saw a great deal of work both in\nclarifying and developing the Plan, particularly in regard to\nMembership of the Church and the Unification of the Ministry.\nAt the request of the Churches in Pakistan it was decided to prepare\nfor two autonomous united Churches on a common basis and in full\ncommunion with one another. The material was also re-arranged\nso as to provide in Part I the elements of the Constitution of the\nunited Church and in Part II the transitional procedures and\nservices at the inauguration of union. As a result the Negotiating\nCommittee meeting at Pachmarhi in April, 1957, and joined there\nby the Church of the Brethren and the Disciples of Christ, adopted\nthe revised 3rd Edition of the Plan to be presented to the seven\nnegotiating Churches for their decision.\nIn 1958 the Lambeth Conference made certain suggestions for\nchanges which might facilitate relations of communion between",
      "status": "completed"
    }
  ]
}