# Church union > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Church_union > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Church_union.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_union > Source revision: 1274948652 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) Merger of Christian denominations This article is about the merging of churches. For the Church of England group, see [The Church Union](/source/The_Church_Union). **Church union** is the name given to a merger of two or more [Christian](/source/Christianity) [denominations](/source/Christian_denomination).[1][2] Such unions may take on many forms, including a **united church** and a **federation.** ## United churches Main article: [United and uniting churches](/source/United_and_uniting_churches) A united church is the result of a merger of churches of various denominations. One of the first of these occurred in 1817, when [Lutheran](/source/Lutheran) and [Reformed](/source/Reformed_tradition) churches in [Prussia](/source/Prussia) merged into the [Prussian Union](/source/Prussian_Union_(Evangelical_Christian_Church)).[3] The nineteenth century saw a number of unions between churches of the same tradition. For example, the [United Secession Church](/source/United_Secession_Church) in Scotland was formed in 1820 by a union of various churches which had seceded from the established [Church of Scotland](/source/Church_of_Scotland). All these were [Presbyterian](/source/Presbyterian) in both doctrine and practice.[4] In the twentieth century many churches merged as a result of the [Ecumenical movement](/source/Ecumenical_movement). One of the earliest such unions was in 1925, and formed the [United Church of Canada](/source/United_Church_of_Canada). Other examples include like-minded bodies with a common theological history such as the [United Methodist Church](/source/United_Methodist_Church) - a merger of the [Evangelical United Brethren Church](/source/Evangelical_United_Brethren_Church) and [the Methodist Church](/source/Methodist_Church_(USA)) in the [United States](/source/United_States).[5] ## Federation A federation is a less centralized union. One example includes the [Presbyterian](/source/Presbyterian) Churches of New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania and Western Australia, which joined together to form the [Presbyterian Church of Australia](/source/Presbyterian_Church_of_Australia) on July 24, 1901.[6] The structure was similar to the [Federation](/source/Federation_of_Australia) which formed the [Commonwealth of Australia](/source/Commonwealth_of_Australia) on January 1 of that same year. In his inaugural [moderatorial](/source/Moderator_of_the_General_Assembly) address, John Meiklejohn made it clear that the ecclesiastical union consciously reflected the political union of the Australian colonies: "We have, by forming this Assembly, formed a Court whose jurisdiction is, as regards territory, equal to, and coterminous with that of the Federal Parliament, and like it, is representative in its character." This union linked churches of the same denomination in different locations into one body without forming a monolithic national church. The individual state churches also kept their individual identities, rights, and privileges. ## The Uniates and the Edinoverie The term "union" (e.g., the [Union of Brest](/source/Union_of_Brest) of 1596) is also used for the arrangement when a group of [Orthodox](/source/Eastern_Orthodox) Christians enters communion with the Catholic Church's [Pope of Rome](/source/Pope_of_Rome), while wishing to maintain their Eastern rites. Such groups are known generically as [Eastern Catholic Churches](/source/Eastern_Catholic_Churches). Their adherents are occasionally referred to as [uniates](/source/Eastern_Catholic_Churches).[7][8] In a somewhat parallel way, but on a much smaller scale, [Russian Orthodox Church](/source/Russian_Orthodox_Church) has integrated certain [Old Believer](/source/Old_Believer) communities, allowing them to keep their rites while recognizing the authority of the national church. This arrangement is known as [Edinoverie](/source/Edinoverie).[9][10] ## See also - [Continuing church](/source/Continuing_church) - [Ecclesiastical separatism](/source/Ecclesiastical_separatism) - [Ecumenism](/source/Ecumenism) ## References 1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** [Miriam-Webster dictionary website, *Union Church*](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/union%20church#:~:text=%3A%20a%20local%20church%20uniting%20members,backgrounds%20in%20an%20interdenominational%20congregation) 1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** [Christianity Today website, article by Patrick C. Rodger, dated November 5, 1965](https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/1965/november-5/organic-church-union.html) 1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** [Oxford University Press, *The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church (4 ed.)*, Ed: Andrew Louth](https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/acref/9780199642465.001.0001/acref-9780199642465-e-5189) 1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** [Edinburgh University Press website, Scottish Church History, Volume 34, Issue 1, *The United Secession Church in Glasgow 1820-1847* by R. M. Smith](https://www.euppublishing.com/doi/abs/10.3366/sch.2004.34.1.6) 1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** [United Methodist Church website, Formation page](https://www.umc.org/en/content/formation-of-the-united-methodist-church) 1. **[^](#cite_ref-6)** [Australian Government website, Newspapers And Gazettes (Sydney, NSW, 1870-1919)](https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/71470434) 1. **[^](#cite_ref-7)** [Encyclopedia Of Ukraine website, *Uniates*](https://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/display.asp?linkpath=pages%5CU%5CN%5CUniates.htm) 1. **[^](#cite_ref-8)** [Miriam-Webster Dictionary website, *Uniate*](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Uniate#:~:text=noun,but%20submitting%20to%20papal%20authority) 1. **[^](#cite_ref-9)** [Johns Hopkins University Press website, *Slavonic and East European Review, Volume 100, Number 4*, October 2022](https://muse.jhu.edu/article/884911) 1. **[^](#cite_ref-10)** [Orthodox Christianity website, article by Vladimir Basenkov](https://orthochristian.com/105373.html) --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Church union](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_union) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_union?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.