E&R Church. Commission on the Welfare of the Union Church.

Commission on the Welfare of the Union Church. The Union Church developed in Pennsylvania and a few adjoining states in the 18th century when individual congregations were small and funds were scarce for constructing buildings. Two congregations, most often Lutheran and Reformed, joined together to build a church and sometimes a school-house. Each congregation maintained their own identity, their own constitution, their own style of worship, and their own pastor but alternated using the building, the Reformed worshiping one Sunday, the Lutherans the next, setting different times for each congregation to worship each Sunday, or alternating pastors. As congregations grew in size, pastors became more readily available with the establishment of seminaries, many union churches dissolved, with one church buying out the other's interest in the building and the other building their own church, often next door or down the road. As the circumstances of union churches changed, concern was expressed by parishioners, pastors, and denominational officials about the future of the union church. On April 13, 1945 thirty-two pastors and officials of the Evangelical and Reformed Church, the Pennsylvania Ministerium, the Central Pennsylvania Synod and the Maryland Synod of the United Lutheran Church in America met in Reading, PA to discuss the union church. That meeting produced a statement of understanding about the union church and recommendations for union churches to follow for their life together> Three years later, 1948, an open meeting for pastors and parishioners was held in Zion Union Church near Schuylkill Haven, PA. From this meeting The Commission on the Welfare of the Union Church was established with five members from the synods of the Evangelical and Reformed churches in the Eastern District and five from the Lutheran Ministerium of Pennsylvania. The purpose of the Commission was to study the history, theology, sociology, administration, pastoral ethics, worship, liturgy, music, education and literature of the union church. Strengthening the church of Jesus Christ was the ultimate goal. This meant strengthening the union churches where that seemed most appropriate and severing those union churches where that seemed most appropriate. To help guide its work and provide the churches with resources, the Commission published "A Joint Statement and Policy on the Union Church" (1951). The 1956 General Synod of the Evangelical and Reformed Church took the following action: "The General Synod directs the General Council, in cooperation with the Union Church Committee on Town and Country Church and the presidents of the nine eastern synods... to formulate a definite policy and plan of action for these congregations based upon the statement of policy previously produced by the Joint Commission on the Union Church." On January 21, 1957 a "Proposed Policy on the Union Church" was prepared and sent to the synods. Much of the policy reflected the work of both the 1945 statement and the 1951 policy. Based on the 1957 policy, the Commission worked on problems of imbalance in the financial ability of the two congregations in union churches, imbalance in size of congregations, lack of lay leadership, internal friction, disparate pastoral abilities, rights and interests in the jointly held church property. To address these and other issues, the Commission issued "Proposed Articles on Agreement for Union Churches" in 1958 and "Proposals for Studying Situations in Union Churches" in 1960. Members of the Commission from the Evangelical and Reformed Church included: John F. Abbott, Paul P. Haas, Frank D. Slifer, John F. Smeltzer, Herbert Zechman, Ray H. Klingman, William Rupp, Roy Limbert, Nevin Frantz, Charles Adams, C.O. Trexler, W. Ronald Yocum, Earl Marks, John Bucher, Vernon Stoop, Paul T. Slonghoff, Earl Driebelbis, Jefferson Glessner, Ernest Hawk, Russell Heintzelman, Donald Schlichter. Advisory members for the Evangelical and Reformed Church included: Claude J. Snyder, Shirley Green, Purd Dietz, J.E. Lippy. Consultants were Ralph S. Weiler and Alfred C. Bartholomew. This historical sketch is taken largely from: "A History of the Commission on the Welfare of the Union Church with Statements Prepared and Adopted by It" (c. 1961).