Tuesday, June 10, 2025

It is the 10th of June 2025. Welcome to the Christian History Almanac, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org; I’m Dan van Voorhis.

On today’s show, we will be recognizing this, the 10th of June, as a day of church unification or unionism- I’ve got 5 church bodies on this particular day that at different times across North America in the twentieth century made significant overtures to either reconcile or make a first-of-its-kind union.

I don’t do this very often, but I’d like to say a word to the increasingly large number of people who listen to this show and find themselves in varying denominational or confessional traditions.  

Sometimes when I’m reading a book on, say, the history of baseball, I have to read flattering and even impressive things about the Dodgers. I don’t like this. I would rather not. And if anyone ever suggested that my mighty Los Angeles, California, Anaheim Angels of Anaheim were to merge with the blue devils from up north, I would say no, thank you, and good day. But, to get the whole story, I guess I need to hear about those guys, too. Sometimes we can get like this (I can get like this) with other church bodies- “please just tell me the history of the good guys, thank you very much,” you might think. But here on the Almanac, we take a big picture, 30,000-foot view.

And earlier, I said “unification” or “unionism,” and perhaps those particular words stood out. Unification is the dream of any Christian who has read the high priestly prayer in John 17, with Jesus calling for unity among his followers, or Paul’s analogy of the body in 1 Corinthians 12. “Unionism” has been used in the past as shorthand for an unhealthy unification, not based on shared beliefs but rather pragmatism. Where do we draw the line? That’s a great topic for your own bible study, in person, and at church. Enough preface.

 It was on this day in 1925 that what has been called the most ambitious and successful church union movement of the 20th century was seen- and wouldn’t you know- it came from the True North, strong and Free- it was the formation of the United Church of Canada. Meeting on this day at the Mutual Street Arena in Toronto (then home of the Maple Leafs) The Methodist Church of Canada along with the Congregational Union of Canada (itself an earlier union of Congregational churches) and 70% of the Presbyterian church of Canada would form the United Church of Canada- the first union of its kind.  With these three large church bodies across Canada, there had been initial consolidation in the previous decades within the denominations and then across to make the United church. One impetus for this unification was the 19th and early 20th century emphasis on missions- it made little sense for three church bodies to send missionaries out when a coordinated effort could be more successful. The theological charter (link in transcript https://united-church.ca/sites/default/files/basis-of-union.pdf) is a fascinating document with 20 articles you would be hard pressed to find many problems with from even a conservative protestant background. What has happened in the 100 years since, that’s another story- but the impetus of missions and church unity to form the new church is an important story.

And then on this day in 1983, the group that likes to split up more than most- what my Canadian Presbyterian friend calls “the split P’s” unified, with more than a mouthful of initials, the UPCUSA and the PCUS came together after a 122-year schism. The schism began in 1861, an ominous year in American history, and the schism between the UPCUSA in the North and the PCUS in the South was along the same lines that divided the Union from the Confederacy.

Overtures for unification came in the post-war years in America, which saw not only optimism for unity but also declining church numbers for both groups- the Evangelical Presbyterians (EPC) and the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) would splinter, making unification for the mainline advantageous. The church’s headquarters would be in Louisville, Kentucky, something of a compromise between the old headquarters in New York and Atlanta, respectively.  Like with the United Church in Canada, the story is not all a happy one- but the energy for union amongst Christians is noted on this, the 10th of June- a day of Church Unification in North America in the 20th century.

The Last word for today comes from the daily lectionary and 1 Corinthians 2- another good post-Pentecost reading:

12 What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us. 13 This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words. 14 The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit. 15 The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments, 16 for,

“Who has known the mind of the Lord
    so as to instruct him?”

But we have the mind of Christ.

This has been the Christian History Almanac for the 10th of June 2025, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org.

The show is produced by a man curious about the aforementioned Maple Leafs- have they won the Stanley Cup anytime recently? He is  Christopher Gillespie.

The show is written and read by a man who notes that today is also the birthday of both Kim Deal and Joey Santiago… let he with ears to hear… I’m Dan van Voorhis. 

You can catch us here every day- and remember that the rumors of grace, forgiveness, and the redemption of all things are true…. Everything is going to be ok.