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The
series of consultations, with a view to Church Union in North
India, began in 1929. Eventually on the "basis of negotiations"
prepared by a series of Round Table Conferences a plan of
Church union drawn up. A negotiating committee was constituted
in 1951 by the Church bodies concerned - which were the Unwasited
Church of Northern India, the Church of India, Pakistan, Burma
and Ceylon, the Methodist Church in Southern Asia and the
Council of the Baptist Churches in Northern India. In 1957,
the Church of the Brethren and the Disciples of Christ also
joined in the negotiations. The plan reached its fourth and
final edition in 1965 and, on that basis, the Church Union
in North India was inaugurated on
29 November, 1970 in Nagpur.
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However, at the last moment, the Methodist Church in Southern
Asia Decided not to join the union. |
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The
concern for unity of the Church grew out of a zeal for the
mission of the Church, because a divided Church could not
bear witness to the one Gospel and the one Lord in a country
like India with diverse religions, languages, races and cultures.
Through the process of negotiations and prayerful seeking
of the guidance of Holy Spirit unity was achieved in the understanding
and practice of the sacraments of Baptism and the Lord’s
Supper, the three-fold ministry
of
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Bishops, Presbyters and Deacons and in the
organisational structures of Pastorates, Dioceses and the
Synod, Episcopacy was received and accepted as both constitutional
and historic. Provision has been made for diverse liturgical
practices and understandings of the divine revelation, provided
that these do not violate the basic Faith and Order of the
Church or disrupt the unity and fellowship within the Church.
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