Irenic Merger

On a platform in Zion's Church in Cleveland one day last week, plump little Dr. Paul Press placed his small hand in the lean hand of sedate Dr. Henry Jacob Christman. They shook and in that shake was born a new U. S. sect. The Evangelical & Reformed Church is the result of a merger of the Reformed Church in the U. S. and the Evangelical Synod of North America. Each had held its last separate meeting before their 800 delegates gathered to witness the handclasp of union by their presidents.

The Reformed Church, of Calvinistic German-Swiss origin, is strongest in Pennsylvania and Ohio and is not to be confused with the "Dutch" Reformed Church in America, which centres in New York. The Evangelical Synod, a fusion of Lutheran and Calvinistic thought, is strong in the Midwest and is not to be confused with the Evangelical Church, which is Methodistic. Both highly irenic (devoted to church unity), the Reformed and Evangelical sects found it easy to merge. Optimistically they hope to get along without any constitution or articles of faith. Their combined membership is about 700,000, their property worth $96,000,000. Unlike the Congregational & Christian Church, they said nothing last week about shortening their new name.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.