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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. However, at the
last moment, the Methodist Church in Southern Asia Decided not
to join the union.
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 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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