This century has seen both the growth of the ecumenical movement, most visibly and globally in the World Council of Churches and in the conversations at the highest levels between the major Christian groups. It has also seen the greatest fragmentation, with large numbers of new denominations being formed. The sociologists Roger Finke and Rodney Stark suggest, however, that in America, ‘the ecumenical movements have inevitably failed to achieve anything more than peripheral cartels such as the one currently vested in the National Council of Churches’ (1992, p.201).
In Australia, the formation of the Uniting Church was a major achievement of ecumenism. Yet, it faces increasing problems of decline and division within its ranks, with numbers of congregations deciding to go their own ways.
In rural contexts, the issue of ‘ecumenism’ emerges in its own way. Faced with declining congregations, some rural churches have looked to solve the financial and practical problems through merging. Some of the merges involve churches of different denominational backgrounds. Others have involved merges of churches of the same denomination with the result that people are expected to travel to congregations in the largest centres.
Other rural areas have sought to solve the problems through using lay people to take the place of full-time clergy, at least in preaching and pastoral work. Some rural congregations have become ‘de-institutionalised’, using local halls or homes rather than maintaining their separate church buildings.
Similar problems have occurred in many other places and times. In 1920, the average size of congregations in American towns was 144 members, while the average country congregation had only 46. Between the turn of the century and 1926, there was a flood of rural people into the American cities, and many rural communities declined in population leaving struggling congregations. Leaders spoke passionately about the importance of cooperation as the basis of efficiency and the need to leave behind old divisions and individualistic attitudes. Detailed plans and standards for merger were developed. The ideal was the creation of larger ‘community churches’ serving a population of at least 1000 people.

Between 1916 and 1926,
•          the Presbyterian church in the U.S.A. lost 826 congregations
•          the Congregationalists 872
•          the Disciples of Christ 748
•          and the Methodist Episcopal Church 3185 congregations.

Most of the congregations lost were in rural areas. Some people applauded the loss. Benson Landis, editor of the Yearbook of American Churches wrote, ‘Many churches deserve extinction. They are sectarian in spirit, lack community vision, and exist for the worship of a mere handful of individuals’ (1992, p.211). In 1914, it was predicted that new community congregations would take over. Yet, few were formed, and few lasted. In 1926, it was reported that there were only 301 of these federated community churches out of 167,864 congregations in rural areas.
However, there was another side to the picture. During that same period between 1916 and 1926 while urban areas grew more rapidly and some rural areas declined, the total rural population did grow, there was a total increase of 4,667 churches. While the mainline denominations lost 5000, an additional 10,000 churches were started by Catholics, Lutherans, Baptists, and many Pentecostal and Holiness denominations. The country church crisis had two parts: the decline of mainline denominations and the growth of sectarian groups.
Statistics were gathered on rural churches in America in 1927. Where the ideal of one congregation per 1000 population was reached, the church was more likely to have a resident minister and good facilities. However only 27 percent of the population belonged to a church. In contrast, communities in which four or more congregations competed for members, 43 percent belonged to a church. Similarly, Sunday Schools in those areas also had enrollments twice the strength of the ‘community churches’. The greater the number of congregations, whatever their resources, the greater the religious vitality in that area.

Suburban Life

In the late 1940s and 1950s, American suburbs began to sprawl, creating a need for new churches. As denominations struggled to form new congregations and find the money to construct new buildings, many people suggested that the solution was the formation of non-denominational community churches. Many leaders argued that the old doctrinal diversities and disagreements had faded and the areas of agreement far outweighed those of disagreement. However, with the exception of non-denominational fundamentalist churches, few people seemed to want to belong to a non-denominational church.
While denominationalism had become irrelevant to the mainline religious leaders and the theological colleges, it was not irrelevant to most people living in the suburbs. It was the basis of their religious commitment and participation.
In 1932, 16,355 church members from a variety of denominations completed a questionnaire which contained questions about ecumenism. Comparing the responses with the growth of the denominations - over and above population growth - shows some interesting trends as shown in the table above. Eight denominations had grown and the majority of their members (52%) were opposed to any form of merger. Thirteen denominations had declined, in proportion of the population, and 71 percent favoured some form of merger. There was a positive correlation of .79 between growth in proportion of the population and choosing to retain denominationalism.
Finke and Stark conclude with three points:
1.          Growing churches perceive substantial religious differences between themselves and others (which justifies their efforts to bring in new members).
2.          Growing churches do not want to merge.
3.          Churches that are shrinking see merit in mergers.
They conclude ‘The most vigorous, growing organisations will not join ecumenical movements and a merger of failing groups cannot fulfil the essential ecumenical hope’ (1992, p.236).

Ecumenism in Australia

The survey of clergy which was part of Combined Churches Survey conducted by the Christian Research Association in 1987 showed that ecumenism was not a major issue for most clergy. Only 10 percent of Anglican clergy, 18 percent of Uniting clergy, 30 percent of Catholic clergy, and none of the Baptist or Pentecostal clergy believed the churches should aim for organisational unity. Indeed, many Baptists and Pentecostals were not interested even in cooperation between the churches (Philip Hughes, The Australian Clergy, 1989, p.46).
It has become a major issue for declining congregations in both rural and suburban areas. For many, it is apparently driven by theological and financial issues. Behind these, however, are often particular views of what a church should be, in terms of having professional, well-educated clergy and certain standards in church buildings and other facilities.
Merging often means loss of members who identify with a particular congregation, or perhaps a building or style of worship. One church can rarely offer the variety of worship styles or appeal to the variety of groups that a variety of churches can.
People are becoming more diverse (and fussy) in their likes and dislikes. To build bridges with the greatest number of people, a variety of activities and styles of worship must be offered. The sociological data suggests that unity should involve the building of bridges between groups or congregations within the church, rather than expecting a great diversity of people to be attracted to the one style of services, activities or modes of church life. Unity through mutual respect, acceptance and cooperation is a process within the church, and not the model through which churches most effectively communicate with the wider community. We need more churches rather than less, but each conscious about what they have to offer to the wider community which is distinctive. At the same time, this may mean that we experiment with a wider variety of ways of ‘being church’. Worship, growth in faith, support in fellowship and service in the community do not necessarily need to revolve around a Sunday morning service. There are other ways of being the people of God.
Decisions about merging, either at denominational or congregational levels, should be driven by theological rather than sociological considerations. Nevertheless, such decisions should be taken with the awareness of the picture which the sociological facts present.

References

Roger Finke and Rodney Stark, 1992, The Churching of America, 1776-1990, Rutgers University Press, New Jersey.
Philip J. Hughes, 1989, The Australian Clergy, CRA, Kew.

Philip Hughes