Episcopal Conclusions at Miami Beach

Episcopal Conclusions At Miami Beach

In a lush tropical setting which Cranmer and Ridley would have associated with privateers and Spanish gold, the 59th triennial General Convention of the Protestant Episcopal Church, meeting October 5–17, concluded an eventful second week which saw debate upon upon many a lively issue.

In Miami Beach’s opulent, new Deauville Hotel, which would surely have raised the eyebrows of St. Francis, the sight of Episcopal monks and nuns, vowed to poverty, had to seem incongruous. But lifting eyes beyond the million-dollar strand, the House of Deputies, composed of clerical and lay delegates, and the House of Bishops moved to dig ecumenical gold in India.

The issue was whether to follow the lead of five other churches of the Anglican Communion in allowing limited intercommunion with the Church of South India (formed in 1947 through merger of Anglican, Methodist, Presbyterian, and Congregational groups), as recommended by the Convention’s ecumenical commission. This involved recognition of the bishops, presbyters, and deacons consecrated or ordained in the CSI (this is done episcopally) “at or after the inauguration of that Church as true bishops, priests and deacons in the Church of God.” Included were conditions under which these officers may officiate in the Protestant Episcopal Church.

The resolutions passed the House of Bishops with only mild debate, but certain of the deputies, mostly of Anglo-Catholic persuasion, gave them a rough ride for more than three hours. The CSI had been referred to in some quarters as a heretical sect, and a waiting period of some 20 years for observation was urged. Debaters argued the withholding of Episcopal gifts of “holy orders” and the “ancient Catholic faith” on grounds of avoiding both schism in their own church and further impediments to “reunion with Rome.”

Supporters of the resolutions countered that the proposed action would strengthen both the Catholic (non-Roman) cause in strategic India, as well as serve toward reuniting the “fragmented body of Christ.” The resolutions passed with much greater ease than had been expected, with but minor modifications.

In this country conversations were to continue between Episcopalians and the Methodist Church toward possible intercommunion, though some said the talks had proven pointless. One priest observed privately that talks with Presbyterians had failed because of lack of doctrinal discipline by Presbyterians in ordaining ministers. “How much more the Methodists?” he exclaimed. (Certain Methodists and other churchmen voiced displeasure at an Episcopal commission report which cited biblical support in giving approval to social drinking “in moderation.”)

Presiding Bishop Henry Knox Sherrill predicted a coming church unity which would embrace even the Roman Catholic church. In regard to Episcopal interest in Latin America as a mission field, the Right Rev. Horace W. B. Donegan, Bishop of New York, stated, “Our church has no desire to win converts from Roman Catholicism, nor has it any plan to do so.” But he also said that Episcopalianism has a strong appeal to Latin Americans who wish to hold to apostolic order but also desire a church which “stands for evangelical truth.”

It had already been pointed out that the Anglican policy of not proselytizing from the ancient eastern churches in the Middle East was in contrast to the practice of American Presbyterianism. (The Protestant Episcopal Church gives financial aid to Eastern Orthodox churches.)

A petition suggesting that the National Council of Churches may become a “Protestant Vatican” or “super-church” was repudiated by the bishops. Another petition objected to expressions of disbelief in the Virgin Birth and Resurrection found in certain independent Episcopal publications such as W. Norman Pittenger’s The Episcopal Way of Life. A committee expressed the opinion that the “constant … use of the historic creeds” throughout the church “should reassure and hearten the petitioners.” California’s Bishop James A. Pike had said earlier that the movement toward biblical fundamentalism in some quarters of the Anglican Communion was not a problem here.

The bishops thwarted a move by the deputies to set up a special commission for revision of the Book of Common Prayer which would involve “considering the faith and doctrine of the church.”

The deputies voted confidence in the church’s Sunday School literature—the Seabury Series—but only after hearing a minority call for more reliance upon historic doctrines than upon “group dynamics and existential philosophy.” Speaking of the minister’s ordination vows to teach what is in the Book of Common Prayer, Maryland’s respected Dr. Don Frank Fenn said, “The church hasn’t aided loyal clergy for a long time.”

In other action, a resolution was passed recording strong opposition to capital punishment; a perennial proposal to allow women to serve in the House of Deputies was defeated; and a move to tighten rules for marriage annulments and thus restrict remarriage of divorced persons was defeated.

Exhilaration over the adoption of a record budget was dulled when churchmen found that in relation to the cost of living they had only now climbed back to their 1929 level. Known as comprising one of the wealthiest memberships in American Protestantism, they heard their church compared unfavorably with other denominations as to its stewardship. With more than three times the membership of the Southern Presbyterian church, their missionary giving is less. “We have been caring for ourselves first,” they were told. Thus delegates were presumably surprised to hear Australian Lord Bishop Ian Shevill thank them for giving to Australia their “gift of stewardship teaching,” tithing being “a revolutionary conception” in the Anglican world outside America. (The Protestant Episcopal Church has been taking over support for certain missionary work from the Church of England.)

Other missionary items: Episcopal women distinguished themselves with a thank offering of $3,869,985 (for missions), collected over the past three years; a unique missionary project was voted in the form of a gift of a nuclear reactor to the Episcopal Church in Japan, to be used for educational and medical purposes by St. Paul’s University in Tokyo; and the “missionary districts” of Arizona and North Texas were voted the status of self-supporting dioceses.

Bishop Donegan brought the sobering report that some parishes had produced no candidate for the priesthood in fifty years and that surveys had shown the majority of students in some Episcopal seminaries to have been converted on college campuses rather than having been brought up in the church.

One resolution noted that large sums of money had been spent for the “luxuries” of the last two convention sites (1955 site: Honolulu). Detroit was selected for 1961.

The Episcopal Convention is more leisurely-paced than many other ecclesiastical conventions, one explanation being that the governing done through the church’s National Council and dioceses keep the General Convention from being as integral to the life of the church as conventions of certain other churches.

The Miami Beach gathering formed the valediction for the able Bishop Sherrill—he of the ready wit and constant facility for the right word—retiring at the mandatory age of 68 after 12 years as presiding bishop. He was presented with a gift of $45,000 and had the pleasure of seeing his son the Rev. Edmund Knox Sherrill elected missionary bishop of Central Brazil.

A $15,000 annual salary was voted to provide an executive assistant for Presiding Bishop-elect Arthur C. Lichtenberger (for election, see October 27 issue).

Florida Governor LeRoy Collins, addressing his fellow Episcopalians, called upon non-extremists of the nation to produce a constructive plan for solution of racial conflicts. The bishops voted for an antisegregation resolution which was blocked by the deputies, who passed the substitute “Virginia Resolution,” dropping the call for an end to racial separation in favor of a plea for elimination of all spirit of racial discrimination. But both houses condemned “civil disobedience” in connection with public school desegregation. Afterward, a priest said, “Ours was the only major denomination which did not divide in Civil War days. It’s easy for northern denominations to pass high-flown race resolutions, for they don’t have to grapple with the issues in the same way.”

The close of the convention saw the reading of the “Pastoral Letter of the House of Bishops,” written against the background of the recent Lambeth Conference which had been attended by ninety-one members of the House.

Seeing in the race problem yet another harmful division of mankind, the bishops asserted the supremacy of reason over emotion for solution. Their concluding exhortation: “Care for your souls, brethren, amid the passions and prejudices of our day, and remember that truth alone is strong.”

F. F.

Christian Medicos

The Christian Medical Society is planning an “International Medical Missionary Convention” for the end of 1959.

At their last meeting in Grand Rapids, Michigan, society directors voted to proceed with plans for the convention as a “forum for expression of purpose and needs for medical missions.”

The society embraces 2,000 physicians, dentists, medical and dental students and medical school faculty members as well as more than 350 medical missionaries overseas.

Disciples And Ecumenism

“Ecumenicity” was the major concern of some 10,000 Disciples of Christ at the 1958 International Assembly of the Convention of Christian Churches in St. Louis, October 17–22.

This emphasis on Christian unity was nothing new for Disciples. Since Thomas Campbell wrote his prophetic Declaration and Address in 1809, his followers have ardently propagated the idea that the church is “essentially, intentionally and constitutionally one” and consists of all those in every place who are obedient to Christ according to the Scriptures and manifest the same by their tempers and conduct.

They have differed as to the visible and the invisible church, spiritual and organic unity, and methods of achieving unity; but they have with one accord insisted that a divided church is a sin and that their chief mission is to help answer Christ’s prayer in John 17.

At St. Louis the ecumenical thrust was in the now well-known pattern of the National and World Councils of Churches. The International Convention is a member of both bodies and has contributed largely to their personnel and their policy-making groups.

The United Christian Missionary Society, largest agency reporting to the convention, made it clear that it is abandoning denominational evangelistic policy in the foreign mission field and will participate enthusiastically in the new ecumenical policy of “world mission” promoted by World Council leaders. The UCMS reported 244 missionaries and 2,183 national workers in full-time service in 11 mission fields. A new all-time total of $5,537,784 was expended in its program. Nearly 10,000 baptisms were reported.

A year ago at their Cleveland convention Disciples passed a resolution looking toward the possibility of a merger with the newly-formed United Church of Christ (Congregational-Evangelical and Reformed). Dr. Fred Hoskins of the UCC was a guest of the St. Louis assembly. He was warmly received and Disciples passed a strong resolution urging continued explorations in this project.

No new churches will be established by Disciples without the consent of their ecumenical friends. The program of the UCMS Division of Home Missions and Christian Education is completely integrated with that of the councils of churches. The Board of Church Extension with its huge financial resources (approaching $25,000,000) is cooperating in this ecumenical evangelistic plan.

Higher education within the framework of the Convention is moving toward close cooperation with the Council of Protestant Colleges, an NCC-motivated agency, although a few colleges are lukewarm. Campus youth activities are also being consolidated under the Campus Christian Life program of the NCC. Despite the prosperity of Disciples colleges in other areas (they expended more than 16 million dollars last year) there is an alarming dearth of youth in training for full-time Christian service. Dr. Harlie L. Smith, secretary of the national education board, said that “at present fewer than one-fourth of our college-age young people are in college, and about one in fifteen of these is preparing for a vocation in the church.”

The “social gospel” has ardent supporters in the UCMS Department of Social Welfare and the “extra-curricular” Disciples Peace Fellowship. Their left-wing doctrines were vigorously advocated at St. Louis and were reflected in resolutions passed by the Convention. The assembly advocated income tax deductions for contributions to the United Nations Investment for Peace and opposed further U. S. military conscription.

Universal disarmament, suspension of nuclear weapons tests and other resolutions of the usual “ecumenical line” were approved. There was a rumbling in the lobbies against some of these actions of the Convention but opposition on the floor was deemed useless. One pastor said, “I wouldn’t dare tell my people what we did.”

The assembly authorized the Board of Directors of the Convention to set up a committee for the restudy of the organizational life of the whole brotherhood of Disciples looking toward revolutionary changes for the future. Evidently this involves the whole problem of the place Disciples will occupy in the new ecumenical era.

The address of Dr. Edwin T. Dahlberg, president of the National Council of Churches, marked the ecumenical climax of the assembly. Under the spell of the occasion he suggested that the ecumenical movement should go “even beyond the boundaries of the Christian religion. He proposed an International Spiritual Year in which a congress of religions might be held. Dr. Dahlberg expressed a wish to see “the coming together of Jewish, Protestant and Catholic leaders, Buddhist, Muslim, Hindu and other leaders to work for that peace and understanding among men which somehow our political leaders have failed to achieve.” He congratulated Disciples on taking advanced ground at St. Louis.

Absent from St. Louis were two other wings of the movement that had its inspiration in the Declaration and Address of Thomas Campbell—the locally autonomous Churches of Christ and Christian Churches that believe unity can only be achieved by “the restoration of the New Testament Church in doctrine, ordinances and life.” Their combined numerical strength exceeds two and a half million. Refusing to cooperate with councils of churches and maintaining an almost isolationist position in American Protestantism they constitute two of the most rapidly growing religious fellowships in America.

Spokesmen in an evidently well planned propaganda thrust for the “new ecumenical day” among Disciples were Dr. Alfred T. DeGroot of Texas Christian University and Dr. Ronald Osborn of the Christian Theological Seminary in Indianapolis (formerly the College of Religion of Butler University). They paid high tribute to the fathers of the “restoration movement” but made it clear that the time had arrived for abandonment of “old paths.” They pointed out that changing patterns of the new ecumenical age and growth and maturity of the Disciples demanded a new interpretation of the old principles and a more adequate witness to the church and the world. They branded as virtual “subversion” a refusal to enter into serious ecumenical planning for “the joint concerns of the entire Body of Christ.” Along with the leaders of the UCMS, the Council of Agencies and the ICCC they called for “a more effective structure of coordination and cooperation” in the denomination’s life to accomplish new objectives “beyond 1960.” The specific nature of this revolutionary change was not spelled out at St. Louis, but it was sufficiently envisioned to cause rejoicing among liberals and engender grave doubts among conservatives.

The mass Communion service on the Lord’s Day when over 8,000 participated was a spiritual highlight of the assembly. Tables in the form of a huge cross occuped the main floor of Kiel Auditorium. Hundreds of deacons waited on the audience after elders had conducted an elaborate liturgical service.

Dr. John Paul Pack, pastor of University Christian Church, Seattle, was elected president of the Convention for the ensuing year. Dr. Gaines M. Cook was reelected as executive secretary.

Denver will be the scene of the next national gathering.

J. D. M.

Charlotte Epilogue

As one sits in the capacious, modern Charlotte Coliseum and watches Billy Graham preach to great throngs of inhabitants of the “Queen City of the Carolinas,” Graham’s home town, he may find himself musing upon the restrictive words found in all four Gospels—“A prophet is not without honour, save in his own country, and in his own house.…”

This principle had been thrown up to Graham by local newsmen upon his arrival, and the evangelist had confessed he was entering the crusade with “fear and trembling” at the thought of preaching to his friends and acquaintances. But though there are many of these, they constitute a very small percentage of Charlotte’s present population. A small city by present standards, Charlotte would have seemed a teeming metropolis in first-century Palestine. And Graham’s Charlotte citizenship is one more of memory and loyalty than of fact. Dairy farmer Frank Graham declared that his famous son had left home some twenty years ago and had never since returned for a stay of any duration.

But if most of the populace does not know Graham personally, they know about him and seem grateful for the fame he has brought to their city. Their crusade support appears to indicate this.

The name of Charlotte does not have the ring of a Hong Kong or a San Francisco nor does it conjure up visions of greatness invoked by New York and London. Indeed, the Harringay habitué would probably ask the location. But though Charlotte is the smallest city to host a Graham crusade since the evangelist’s European and world tours, which found him meeting with crowned heads and prime ministers, the Graham team looks on the Carolina crusade as being in many ways the most fruitful of them all. Church cooperation was unprecedented. And as the campaign was breaking Coliseum attendance marks, the percentage of decisions for Christ was setting a record as the highest ever seen in a Graham crusade—this in the paradoxical setting of a perhaps unparalleled civic ratio of church membership (96%) coupled with a high rate of crime.

Response to the crusade surpassed Graham’s expectations, but not his only. Said the Rev. W. Kenneth Goodson, minister of the 4300-member First Methodist Church, “The crusade has made a tremendous impact. It has not been spiritual theatrics at all. It has been big business for Christ. I think that many ministers will testify that the results have been far beyond anything we ever imagined when we invited Billy Graham.” If Charlotte liked Billy Graham, the affection was reciprocated. Though he is more of a world citizen today, the evangelist spoke of his love for Charlotte and the long preparation for this crusade. “This is my home—where I was born and reared.” Perhaps he sensed responsibility toward it as “his Jerusalem” (Acts 1:8). “I’d give my life for this city,” he said.

In speaking of the exclusiveness of Christ’s claims, he said he “would not betray” his “friends and neighbors” in holding forth any hope for salvation apart from the Cross. And he emphasized, “It is hard to be a Christian. It costs something. The road is often lonely.”

But still they came, across what could be termed holy ground. Entering the inquiry room solemnly, they often emerged bright-eyed. Friends and relatives waited for them much as at a station. But these were not returning from Atlanta or Chicago. They had been to Bethlehem and Jerusalem.

Explaining, Graham speaks of the Holy Spirit and 3000 local prayer meetings.

There is another portion of Scripture which comes to mind as one sits in the Coliseum—“And he gave some … evangelists.…” Yes, he did.

F. F.

Crusade Windup

The climax of Billy Graham’s Carolinas evangelistic meetings came Sunday, October 26, when more than 60,000 persons assembled at Fort Jackson in suburban Columbia, South Carolina. The local steering committee shifted the rally site after Governor George Bell Timmerman twice protested plans to hold the meeting on State House grounds. Timmerman said Graham’s appearance on state property (1) “would violate the separation of church and state,” and (2) might be misinterpreted as an endorsement by South Carolina of nonsegregated meetings.

Among dignitaries at the Fort Jackson rally was James F. Byrnes, former South Carolina governor and one-time U. S. Secretary of State. Twelve hundred persons, including a number of Negroes, signed decision cards after the rally, one of the biggest ever held in the South.

The aggregate attendance for the five weeks of meetings at Charlotte Coliseum topped the 439,000 mark. There were more than 17,600 recorded decisions.

Hardiest Of Plants

“Too many people,” said Democratic Governor George M. Leader of Pennsylvania, feel that Christianity “is something of a hothouse plant incapable of surviving outside the hothouse.” “It seems wrong to me,” he added, to believe that Christianity cannot withstand “the temperature changes, the winds and hail and storms and frosts of the outside world … I think Christianity is the hardiest of plants and that it can be made to flourish just as well in the arena as in the conservatory.”

Thus did Leader address the opening session of the 39th quadrennial General Conference of the Evangelical United Brethren Church in Harrisburg, capital of Pennsylvania, the state he hoped to represent in the U. S. Senate next year.

The imaginary botanical challenge behind them, some 450 EUB delegates and 1,000 visitors went on to discuss more realistic issues like ecumenism, integration, and disarmament. Theological debate was inconsiderable.

The church’s Federation and Union Commission was authorized to enter discussions with the Methodist Commission on Church Union for “exploration of possible advantages and disadvantages” of merger. The commission was also directed to continue merger talks with the Church of the Brethren and “other denominations of kindred spirit.” The EUB Church was formed in 1946 by a merger of the Evangelical Church and the Church of the United Brethren. Its membership in the United States and Canada totals about 800,000.

A resolution strongly denounced the testing of nuclear weapons by any nation and urged world leaders to intensify efforts “to achieve a bold program for total universal disarmament.”

With only a few dissenting votes, delegates adopted another resolution which prohibits use of denominational facilities as public or private class rooms to avoid school integration. The resolution declared opposition to “all practices of racial segregation.” Also approved was a plan which provides for the appointment of EUB ministers from “other races as well as white” and which calls on the church’s constituents to welcome Negro residents in white communities. Of 4,277 EUB congregations, 120 are in Virginia, Tennessee, Kentucky and Florida.

Three new bishops were elected. Bishop W. Maynard Sparks was assigned to the Pacific area, Bishop Herman W. Kaebnick to the Eastern area, and Bishop Paul Herrick to the Central area. The church’s four other bishops remain.

People: Words And Events

Deaths: The Rev. George Bennard, 85, composer of “The Old Rugged Cross” and many other Gospel hymns, in Reed City, Michigan … Dr. Walter A. Baepler, 65, president of Concordia Theological Seminary, in Springfield, Illinois … the Rev. Clifford Harris Nash, 91, founder of the Melbourne, Australia, Bible Institute … Dr. T. O. F. Herzer, treasurer of Canadian Lutheran World Relief, in Winnipeg, Manitoba … Dr. George N. Anderson, 75, veteran missionary to East Africa, in Minneapolis.

Elections: As Bishop of the Southern District of the Hungarian Lutheran Church, the Rev. Zoltan Kaldy, (succeeding Bishop Lajos Ordass) … as full-time executive secretary of the Commission on Presbyterian Cooperation in Latin America, Dr. Rafael Cepeda … as youth department director of the Methodist General Board of Education, the Rev. Joseph W. Bell … as president of the United Student Christian Council, Allan J. Burry … as chairman of the Southern Baptist Brotherhood Commission, R. L. Sherrick … as board chairman of the Rural Bible Crusade National, the Rev. Hamilton Sinclair … as president of the Christian Writers Association of Canada, G. M. Bowman.

Appointments: As minister of the Fourth Presbyterian Church, Washington, D. C., the Rev. Richard C. Halverson, associate executive secretary of International Christian Leadership … as head of a staff to “develop a comprehensive strategy for public interpretation of the ecumenical movement and the National Council of Churches,” James W. Wine, vice president of Park College and a former lawyer and judge … as European secretary of the Baptist World Alliance, Erik Ruden, general secretary of the Baptist Union of Sweden.

Retirement: As Evangelical Lutheran Bishop of Iceland, Dr. Asmundur Gudmundsson.

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