Origin and History
The movement towards Church Union in North India began in 1929 through a series of consultations. Eventually, a “basis of negotiations” was drawn up through several Round Table Conferences. A negotiating committee was formed in 1951 by the uniting bodies: the United Church of Northern India, the Church of India, Pakistan, Burma and Ceylon, the Methodist Church in Southern Asia, and the Council of Baptist Churches in Northern India. In 1957, the Church of the Brethren and the Disciples of Christ also joined the negotiations. The final plan for union was completed in 1965, leading to the inauguration of the Church of North India on 29th November 1970 in Nagpur. Although the Methodist Church in Southern Asia eventually chose not to join the union, the Methodist Church (British and Australasian Conferences) did. The unity movement was driven by the conviction that a divided Church cannot bear effective witness to the one Gospel and one Lord, especially in a country like India with its vast diversity of religions, languages, and cultures. Guided by the Holy Spirit, unity was achieved in the understanding and practice of the sacraments of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper, the threefold ministry of Bishops, Presbyters, and Deacons, and in the organizational structures of Pastorates, Dioceses, and the Synod. Episcopacy was accepted both constitutionally and historically. Provision was made to accommodate diverse liturgical practices and theological understandings of divine revelation, provided they do not violate the basic Faith and Order of the Church or disrupt its unity and fellowship. The six churches which united on 29 November 1970 to form the Church of North India are the Council of Baptist Churches in Northern India, the Church of the Brethren in India, the Disciples of Christ, the Church of India (formerly the Church of India, Pakistan, Burma and Ceylon), the Methodist Church (British and Australasian Conferences), and the United Church of Northern