Church merger aims to help Indian Christians

Reverend Setri Nyomi

A historic merger of Reformed Churches scheduled for next month in the United States will help unite major non-Catholic churches in India, says the official leading the merger.
The World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC) and Reformed Ecumenical Council (REC) will merge in June in Michigan to form the World Communion of Reformed Churches (WCRC).

WARC general secretary Reverend Setri Nyomi, who was in India last week for the biennial meeting of the Presbyterian Church in India, told UCA News that the merger constitutes “a refreshing attempt to reverse fragmentation” within the Church.
Six Indian churches-the Church of South India, Church of North India, Presbyterian Church of India, Evangelical Church of Maraland, The Church of Christ and Reformed Presbyterian Church in North East India-will be a part of the alliance.
The WARC includes congregational, Presbyterian, Reformed and United Churches. Reverend Nyomi, who hails from Ghana, is the first non-European to head the alliance and has done so since 2000.
Reverend Nyomi said the merger will showcase global-level Christian unity. It will also strengthen the unity of Churches in India, he said.
Moreover, the Presbyterian Church of India is a member of both the merging organizations. Instead of belonging to two, it will now belong to the one merged new alliance.
The WCRC would be “the one voice of the united churches” against “any evil” in the world, he said.
The alliance would be helpful to its partners in India because “in a communion, when one suffers, the other also suffers.” If Indian Christians suffer, it should affect Christians in other parts of the world, he said.
“The Churches in India should be able to say that we are not alone. We have brothers and sisters in other parts of the world,” the Presbyterian theologian said.
He said the alliance will make Christianity easy for outsiders to understand. “The union represents unity in diversity, which is a healthy sign,” he said during a lecture in New Delhi.
“Christ prayed that his followers be one and we take that prayer very seriously,” he said adding the decision to merge was taken in 2006 when the two groups concluded the need to go beyond collaboration.
Source: Church merger aims to help Indian Christians (UCAN)