LONDON — The latest proposals for a union of the [Presbyterian] Church of Scotland and the [Anglican] Scottish Episcopal Church, along with the United Reformed Church in Scotland and the Methodist Church in Scotland, have been made public.
Although the proposals involve Presbyterians accepting episcopacy into their system and Episcopalians accepting presbyterianism, they begin with a common understanding of ministry, starting with the ministry of all the baptized.
The work of the Scottish Church Initiative for Union, the proposals have been revised in the light of consultation within the four churches over the last two and a half years.
Under the proposals existing congregations would be grouped into maxi-parishes, each covering a small town or equivalent urban or rural area, with maxi-parishes in turn being grouped into regions, each roughly the same as a diocese or presbytery. Each region would elect a bishop, serving with and through a regional council, and the chief focus of authority of the proposed united church would be a national council meeting annually. Bishops would be elected for a term of office yet to be fixed.
The proposals would also extend the office of elder to the other churches involved in the plan. It views the eldership as something already existing in all four churches, even if not formally recognized in some of them.
The four churches involved now must approve these proposals in general and then set up a new group with the task of preparing a formal basis and plan of union. The plan will be discussed at this year’s meetings of the governing bodies of the participating churches.
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