Posted on by Rod Benson

Unity without uniformity

International precedents and the theological legitimacy of partial Christian unity

By Rev Dr Rod Benson

Introduction

Christian Churches in the same jurisdiction have frequently developed separate councils, alliances and consultative forums in the hope of greater ecumenical cooperation. Often, for both principled and pragmatic reasons, these arrangements fall short of genuine ecumenical unity. Attempts to reconcile these differences have produced mergers, covenants, additional meeting places and, sometimes, abandoned plans. Their history neither demonstrates that amalgamation is an inevitable culmination of ecumenism nor justifies institutional separation without examination.

Comparative study offers a more discriminating question: which forms of relationship produce better theological understanding, accountable participation and sustained common action under particular conditions?

Queensland: substantial but incomplete consolidation

The situation in Queensland offers a close Australian analogy. The Queensland Ecumenical Council and Queensland Council of Churches served partly overlapping constituencies with different traditions of cooperation. During the late 1980s, relationships among church leaders and formally authorised consultation produced proposals for a broader organisation. Queensland Churches Together was inaugurated on 1 December 1991 with six founding member churches, including Roman Catholic participation. The new institution represented a significant widening of conciliar fellowship.

The result was not universal consolidation. Not all churches associated with the earlier Protestant council joined the new structure. Queensland’s achievement was a more comprehensive and durable instrument, not a settlement of every theological difference. It illustrates the importance of personal trust, direct church authorisation and a willingness to establish a new arrangement without demanding that every constituency enter immediately.

Ireland: an unsuccessful merger, an enduring relationship

Ireland offers a contrasting case. The Irish Council of Churches represented primarily non-Catholic traditions. Conversations with Catholic leaders beginning at Ballymascanlon in 1973 developed into the Irish Inter-Church Meeting, providing an enduring forum between the Catholic bishops and the council. In 1999, proposals for a more integrated Conference of Churches failed to obtain sufficient agreement, notably because of Presbyterian opposition. Contemporary reporting confirms that relationships were strained by the decision.

The existing cooperative arrangements nevertheless survived. That outcome should neither be idealised nor labelled failure without qualification. The merger was unsuccessful, and differences over representation, theology and costs persisted; nevertheless, churches maintained dialogue and a shared framework that had become valuable in a divided society. The lesson is that preserving trusted relationships can be more important than securing a constitutional result opposed by participating churches.

England: reforming ecumenical practice

In England, the 1987 Swanwick conference helped move ecumenism beyond the British Council of Churches model towards Churches Together in England, established in 1990. This reconfiguration enabled fuller Catholic participation and wider involvement by Black-led churches. It also encouraged the churches themselves to assume responsibility for cooperation at national, intermediate and local levels. England therefore illustrates the value of changing who owns ecumenical relationships, not merely changing the name or constitution of a council.

Separate evangelical and Free Church arrangements did not disappear. Indeed, collaborative arrangements with Churches Together in England developed while distinct identities endured. This qualification matters: widening an ecumenical table can coexist with continued specialist organisations. The resulting plurality should be evaluated according to the relationships it supports, not presumed to be a defect.

United States and Canada: cooperation across existing boundaries

Christian Churches Together in the USA was organised in 2006 after conversations beginning in 2001. It created a broader meeting place among Catholic, Orthodox, evangelical and Pentecostal, historic Protestant, and historically Black and other racial or ethnic Christian families. The organisation did not replace the National Council of Churches or the National Association of Evangelicals. Its principal innovation was a relational forum in which participants could pray, learn and act together without claiming a shared ecclesiastical government.

Canada offers a related but more focused approach. The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops and the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada began exploring dialogue in 2008; an authorised national dialogue followed in 2010 and produced resources explaining each tradition to the other. Institutional identity was preserved while stereotypes and theological misunderstandings were examined. Such arrangements may deepen communion without requiring the parties to accept the implications of a single constitutional membership.

Aotearoa New Zealand and the Global Christian Forum: limits and renewal

The Conference of Churches in Aotearoa New Zealand closed in 2005 after an earlier period of national ecumenical reconfiguration. Ecumenical relationships did not end. A National Dialogue for Christian Unity was inaugurated in 2016, demonstrating that a different, more focused structure can succeed an unsustainable arrangement. Autonomous Māori ecumenical initiatives additionally remind churches that institutional inclusion should not erase Indigenous Christian agency or identity.

The Global Christian Forum, emerging from discussions initiated in 1998 and holding a major gathering in Kenya in 2007, offers a complementary international model. It emphasises participation and encounter rather than formal common membership. Its strength is the possibility of trust before constitutional agreement; its limitation is that personal fellowship cannot by itself supply authoritative decisions, financial governance or sustained theological reception.

What international comparison can and cannot establish

These jurisdictions differ in religious demography, church polity, finances and political history. Ireland’s sectarian context is not interchangeable with NSW, and a national dialogue cannot be assumed to function as a state council. Historical comparison provides alternative models and warnings rather than a transferable formula. The defensible conclusion is modest but significant: constitutional merger is neither a necessary nor a sufficient measure of ecumenical progress.

Christian unity is grounded in Christ and the Spirit. Ephesians 4 speaks both of one body and of growth towards maturity. The Second Vatican Council’s Unitatis Redintegratio describes real though imperfect communion between the Catholic Church and other baptised Christians, within a specifically Catholic theological framework. Other traditions explain ecclesial recognition differently, but the distinction between existing bonds and fuller communion can support honest dialogue.

A useful analytical distinction separates relational unity through encounter, covenantal unity through continuing commitments, conciliar unity through authorised joint deliberation, and full ecclesial communion in faith, ministry and sacramental life. These are not inevitable rungs of one ladder. A merger of councils does not produce full communion, and churches may exercise authentic relational and covenantal responsibilities without sharing one incorporated institution. Practices of common prayer and sacramental participation need to respect the discipline of each tradition.

The danger of complacent partial unity

Partial unity is spiritually defensible when it expresses genuine communion and remains open to deeper reconciliation. It becomes suspect where separation protects prestige, perpetuates caricatures or prevents common action without theological necessity. Likewise, a forum devoted exclusively to cordial encounter may avoid the doctrinal work that relationships make possible. The contrast is between provisional incompleteness, honestly acknowledged and actively engaged, and settled complacency that treats every inherited boundary as beyond review.

Conclusion

International precedent supports cautious optimism for the future of ecumenism . Full merger sometimes broadens cooperation; structured dialogue and covenant may do so with less disruption. The ethical obligation is not to maximise institutional consolidation but to seek the fullest faithful relationship that participating churches can freely sustain. Partial unity can be pragmatic and spiritually valid when accompanied by truthfulness, accountable commitment, reciprocal learning and an openness to reconciliation beyond the present settlement.

Rev Dr Rod Benson is the former General Secretary of the NSW Ecumenical Council. He lives in Sydney and writes about a range of topics from books and local history to food, faith, philosophy, ethics, research skills, and everyday life. Away from the keyboard, he enjoys cooking for friends, walking in the Australian bush, exploring a beach, discovering new restaurants, and reading philosophy, fiction and poetry. He is married to Emma and is minister of North Rocks Community Church, a Uniting Church congregation.

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