CHRISTIAN UNITY, a term used in America for the re union of churches of different denominations. In other countries the movement is known as Church Reunion. (See REUNION, CHURCH.) The first pronounced appeal for Christian unity in the United States came from Barton W. Stone, a Presbyterian minister of Kentucky, in 1804, and from Thomas Campbell and his son, Alexander, of the Seceder Presbyterian Church in western Penn sylvania, in 1809. Unfortunately the activities of these leaders crystallized into two denominations. Stone and the Campbells were regarded as the leaders in the denomination that came to be known as the Disciples of Christ, and those who did not follow Stone in his union with the Campbells formed a denomination that came to be known as the Christians. The controversies of those periods, in the midst of other interests, quite obscured the message of these movements for Christian unity. Perhaps the times were not ripe for the work of these pioneers. From the middle of the 19th century to nearly its close Philip Schaff, of the Reformed Church, was, perhaps, the foremost voice for Christian unity in the United States. He was one of the founders of the American branch of the Evangelical Alliance.
The extension of the Young Men's Christian Association from England into the United States in 1844 and the combining of sev eral organizations in England in 1884 into the Young Women's Christian Association, which soon extended to the United States, brought together the leaders of the various Protestant denomina tions and indirectly contributed to an awakening of interest in Christian unity. The rise of the Christian Endeavor movement in 1881, under the leadership of Francis E. Clark, a Congregational minister of Portland, Maine, brought together the young people of all Protestant denominations except those denominations (Bap tist, Methodist, Presbyterian and Lutheran) that pulled away, organizing their young people denominationally. The Christian Endeavor movement, therefore, made possible a generation of young people with new approaches to those of other denominations and opened the way to subsequent adventures toward unity. The Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in America, composed of 3o Protestant denominations, was organized in 1908 in Phila delphia for the co-operation of the various Protestant denomina tions in service rather than an attempt to unite upon definitions of theology and polity. Its headquarters are located in New York city. Aside from the general service through these denominations, more than 5o municipalities and, likewise, several States, have formed church federations.
The more direct approach to Christian unity in the United States centres around the year 1910. In the summer of that year several Protestant Episcopalians organized the Christian Unity Foundation of New York for the promotion of Christian unity throughout the world by research and conference. They invited representatives of several denominations to be their guests for conference, and published pamphlets announcing the results of these conferences. It was the first attempt on the part of one denomination to set forth under its own authorship and at its own expense a friendly interpretation of another denomination without some adverse criticism.
On Oct. 19 of that same year, at the General Convention of the Protestant Episcopal Church, meeting in Cincinnati, a com mission, consisting of seven bishops, seven presbyters, and seven laymen, was appointed to take under advisement the promotion of a world conference on the faith and order of the Church to be participated in by representatives of all Christian bodies through out the world. On the same day the Disciples of Christ, meeting in their General Convention in Topeka, organized an Association for the Promotion of Christian Unity, emphasizing intercessory prayer, friendly conferences and the distribution of Christian unity literature by writers from all denominations. At the same time the Congregationalists, meeting in their National Council in Boston, appointed a commission on Christian unity, dealing with all churches, but especially with the Protestant Episcopal Church.
The Episcopal movement, under the leadership of Robert H. Gardiner, soon brought into co-operation representatives from most of the Christian denominations, and the first preliminary world conference on faith and order, held at Geneva, Switzerland, in 192o, marked the opening of a new chapter in theological reconciliation. The World Conference, after 17 years' preparation, was held August 3 to 21, 1927, at Lausanne. Of the larger churches only the Roman Catholic Church declined the invitation, but the pope expressed sympathetic interest. For nearly three weeks representatives from the Eastern Orthodox, Anglican and Protestant churches, sat together in friendly conference over such questions as "The Call to Unity," "The Church's Message to the World—the Gospel," "The Nature of the Church," "The Church's Common Confession of Faith," "The Church's Ministry," "The Sacraments," and "The Unity of Christendom and the Relation Thereto of Existing Churches." Their findings were sent to all the participating churches. The headquarters of the World Con ference on Faith and Order are in Boston, Mass.
The Disciple movement continued its policy as announced by its Association for the Promotion of Christian Unity for some years and then adopted a rather denominational attitude, confining its work largely to its own denomination. However, out of it came The Christian Union Quarterly, which W. H. Hoover, North Canton, Ohio, endowed sufficiently to make it independent of any denomination and to function inter-denominationally, with an interdenominational editorial council composed of representatives from various denominations in all parts of the world. The Congre gational movement functioned in a general agitation for Christian unity, particularly under the leadership of Newman Smyth, who advocated a concordat with the Protestant Episcopal Church. This, however, failed of ratification by either denomination. At the instance of the Presbyterian General Assembly in 1918 the American Council on Organic Union of the Evangelical Churches of America was organized and bore testimony to the necessity of Christian unity by a representative gathering in Philadelphia, in which 16 Protestant denominations took part. Nothing definite came out of this movement.
In May 1927, the Christian Unity League was launched in Baltimore, Md., as an organization to include the study of all Christian unity movements and at the same time to make adven tures beyond present day practices. They held a conference at the First Presbyterian Church, Baltimore, Jan. 12 and 13, 1928, with 25 denominations from 11 States and Canada. In their findings they advocated modern biblical interpretations in the historical study of the origin and valuation of Christian creeds and institu tions, that representatives in foreign mission fields be given larger freedom as regards Christian unity and that steps be taken gradu ally to make all denominational schools and all denominational papers inter-denominational. The conference closed with all of the denominations taking part in the celebration of the Lord's Supper.
BIBLIOGRAPHY.—Christian Century, Historical Documents AdvocatBibliography.—Christian Century, Historical Documents Advocat- ing Christian Union ( 1900) ; Willett, Our Plea for Union and the Pres ent Crisis (19o1) ; Smyth, Passing Protestantism and Coming Catholi cism (1908) ; Ainslie, Message of the Disciples of Christ for the Union Toward Church Unity (1919) ; Manning, The Call to Unity (1920) ; Macfarland, Christian Unity at Work (1913) ; Ashworth, Union of Christian Forces in America (1915) ; Smyth and Walker, Approaches Toward Church Unity (1919) ; Manning, The Call to Unity (1920) ; Brown, The Church in America (1922) ; Lynch, The Christian Unity Movement in America (192 2) ; Cowden, Saint Paul on Christian Unity (1923) ; Parks, The Crisis of the Churches (1923) . See also REUNION (CHURCH) . (P. AI.)