Merger

When Dr. Roy A. Burkhardt took the presidency of the newly formed National Council of Community Churches four years ago, a Negro minister stepped forward and took his hand. "I'm Dr. Evans of Chicago," he said. "My people have a council like yours, and you and I, we've got to work together."

Since then Roy Burkhardt and Joseph M. Evans have worked side by side toward a union of the 200 white churches of the National Council with the 100-odd colored churches of the Biennial Council of Community Churches. Last week, at a four-day convention in Lake Forest, Ill., the two clasped hands once again. As they did so, 350 black and white delegates broke into the hymn, Blessed Be the Tie That Binds. The union of the two national organizations was a fact.

The new group, called the International Council of Community Churches, will act in an advisory capacity to some 300 of the 3,000 autonomous, nondenominational Community Churches** in the U.S. (total membership: more than 1,000,000). Its first president: the Rev. John R. Howe of Joplin, Mo. "We are entered on one of the most significant movements in the history of the church," he told the delegates. "Nothing quite like it has ever happened before."

**Which allow their members to worship exactly as they please. Says Dr. Burkhardt of baptism: "In our church [in Columbus, Ohio] we sprinkle, pour and dunk. You can have whichever treatment you desire. One lady, who had not had much religion, wasn't sure which was best so she asked for all three. So we sprinkled, poured and dunked her. That was her privilege, and I don't think God minded."

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