A united church, also called a uniting church, is a denomination formed from the merger or other form of church union of two or more different

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...

Christian denominations, a number of which come from separate and distinct denominational orientations or traditions. Multi-denominationalism, or a multi-denominational church or organization, is a congregation or organization that is affiliated with two or more

Christian denomination A Christian denomination is a distinct Religion, religious body within Christianity that comprises all Church (congregation), church congregations of the same kind, identifiable by traits such as a name, particular history, organization, leadersh ...

s, whether they be part of the same tradition or from separate and distinct traditions. Historically, unions of Protestant churches were enforced by the state, usually in order to have a stricter control over the religious sphere of its people, but also for other organizational reasons. As modern Christian

ecumenism Ecumenism ( ; alternatively spelled oecumenism)also called interdenominationalism, or ecumenicalismis the concept and principle that Christians who belong to different Christian denominations should work together to develop closer relationships ...

progresses, unions between various Protestant traditions are becoming more and more common, resulting in a growing number of united and uniting churches. Examples include the

United Church of Canada The United Church of Canada (UCC; ) is a mainline Protestant denomination that is the largest Protestant Christian denomination in Canada and the second largest Canadian Christian denomination after the Catholic Church in Canada. The United Chu ...

(1925), the Church of South India (1947), the

United Methodist Church The United Methodist Church (UMC) is a worldwide mainline Protestant Christian denomination, denomination based in the United States, and a major part of Methodism. In the 19th century, its main predecessor, the Methodist Episcopal Church, was ...

(1968), the

Uniting Church in Australia The Uniting Church in Australia (UCA) is a united church in Australia. The church was founded on 22 June 1977 when most Wiktionary:congregation, congregations of the Methodist Church of Australasia, about two-thirds of the Presbyterian Church o ...

(1977), the

Protestant Church in the Netherlands The Protestant Church in the Netherlands (, abbreviated PKN) is the largest Protestantism, Protestant Christian denomination, denomination in the Netherlands, consisting of historical Calvinism, Calvinist and Lutheranism, Lutheran churches. It w ...

(2004), and the

United Protestant Church of France The United Protestant Church of France () is the main and largest Protestant church in France, created in 2013 through the unification of the Reformed Church of France and the Evangelical Lutheran Church of France. It is active in all parts of ...

(2013). In the developing world, this model has been attractive in countries where Protestants are a small minority of the population; by pooling resources and endorsing cross-attendance between denominations, churches can serve a wider geographical area. In the developed world, since the mid-20th century, and the rise of

secularism Secularism is the principle of seeking to conduct human affairs based on naturalistic considerations, uninvolved with religion. It is most commonly thought of as the separation of religion from civil affairs and the state and may be broadened ...

worldwide,

mainline Protestant The mainline Protestants (sometimes also known as oldline Protestants) are a group of Protestantism in the United States, Protestant denominations in the United States and Protestantism in Canada, Canada largely of the Liberal Christianity, theolo ...

ism has shrunk, reducing the viability of many individual denominations maintaining parallel administrative structures. Among others,

Reformed Reform is beneficial change. Reform, reformed or reforming may also refer to: Media * ''Reform'' (album), a 2011 album by Jane Zhang * Reform (band), a Swedish jazz fusion group * ''Reform'' (magazine), a Christian magazine Places * Reform, Al ...

(Calvinist),

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

, and

Lutheran Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched ...

churches have merged, often creating large nationwide denominations. In some countries,

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...

and

Congregational Congregationalism (also Congregational Churches or Congregationalist Churches) is a Reformed Christianity, Reformed Christian (Calvinist) tradition of Protestant Christianity in which churches practice Congregationalist polity, congregational ...

denominations have also merged. The phenomenon is much less common among

evangelical Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that emphasizes evangelism, or the preaching and spreading of th ...

nondenominational A non-denominational person or organization is one that does not follow (or is not restricted to) any particular or specific religious denomination. The term has been used in the context of various faiths, including Jainism, Baháʼí Faith, Zoro ...

and

charismatic Charisma () is a personal quality of magnetic charm, persuasion, or appeal. In the fields of sociology and political science, psychology, and management, the term ''charismatic'' describes a type of leadership. In Christian theology, the term ...

churches as new ones arise and many of them remain independent of each other, although in some cases instances of evangelical church congregations joining multiple denominations in a phenomenon known as "multi-denominationalism" does occur; but in most cases Evangelicals cooperate with each other through

interdenominationalism Ecumenism ( ; alternatively spelled oecumenism)also called interdenominationalism, or ecumenicalismis the concept and principle that Christians who belong to different Christian denominations should work together to develop closer relationships ...

while still maintaining denominational distinctions. Perhaps the oldest official united church is found in Germany, where the Protestant Church in Germany is a federation of Lutheran, United ( Prussian Union) and

Reformed churches Reformed Christianity, also called Calvinism, is a major branch of Protestantism that began during the 16th-century Protestant Reformation. In the modern day, it is largely represented by the Continental Reformed Christian, Presbyterian ...

, a union dating back to 1817. The first of the series of unions was at a synod in

Idstein Idstein () is a town of about 25,000 inhabitants in the Rheingau-Taunus-Kreis in the ''Regierungsbezirk'' of Darmstadt (region), Darmstadt in Hesse, Germany. Because of its well preserved historical Altstadt (Old Town) it is part of the ''Deutsch ...

to form the Protestant Church in Hesse and Nassau in August 1817, commemorated in naming the church of Idstein Unionskirche one hundred years later. Around the world, each united or uniting church comprises a different mix of predecessor Protestant denominations. Trends are visible, however, as most united and uniting churches have one or more predecessors with heritage in the Reformed tradition and many are members of the

World Alliance of Reformed Churches The World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC) was a fellowship of more than 200 churches with roots in the 16th century Reformation, and particularly in the theology of John Calvin. Its headquarters was in Geneva, Switzerland. They merged with the ...

Conciliar movement

In the 1950s and 1960s, an ecumenical spirit emerged in many churches in the United States, leading to a

conciliar movement Conciliarism was a movement in the 14th-, 15th- and 16th-century Catholic Church which held that supreme authority in the Church resided with an ecumenical council, apart from, or even against, the pope. The movement emerged in response to the We ...

known in some circles as

Conciliarity Conciliarity is the adherence of various Christian communities to the authority of ecumenical councils and to synodal church governance. It is not to be confused with conciliarism, which is a particular historical movement within the Catholi ...

. A product of this movement was the Consultation on Church Union (COCU). The COCU disbanded formally in 2002 but moved into the

Churches Uniting in Christ Churches Uniting in Christ (CUIC) is an ecumenical organization that brings together mainline American denominations (including both predominantly white and predominantly black churches), and was inaugurated on January 20, 2002, in Memphis, Te ...

movement.

Denominations by country

* Australia:

, the 1977 union of the

Congregational Union of Australia The Congregational Union of Australia was a Congregational church, Congregational Christian denomination, denomination in Australia that stemmed from the Congregational church, Congregational Church in England as settlers migrated from there to ...

Methodist Church of Australasia The Methodist Church of Australasia was a Methodist denomination based in Australia. It existed from 1902 to 1977, when the Uniting Church in Australia was formed. It did missionary work in Australia through two organisations: the Methodist Overse ...

, and

Presbyterian Church of Australia The Presbyterian Church of Australia (PCA), founded in 1901, is the largest Presbyterian and Reformed denomination in Australia. The PCA is the largest conservative, evangelical and complementarian Christian denomination in Australia. The Presby ...

churches. * Bangladesh: Church of Bangladesh, established in 1974 as a union of

and

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a historically Reformed Protestant tradition named for its form of church government by representative assemblies of elders, known as "presbyters". Though other Reformed churches are structurally similar, the word ''Pr ...

churches. * Belgium:

United Protestant Church in Belgium The United Protestant Church in Belgium (VPKB/EPUB) is a minority Christian church in Belgium, where the majority of the population is Catholic. It is the largest Protestant denomination in the country. The name of the church in Dutch is ''Vereni ...

, formed in 1979 as a union of the

and

churches. * Canada:

, the 1925 union of Congregationalist,

Methodist Church (Canada) The Methodist Church was the major Methodist denomination in Canada from its founding in 1884 until it merged with two other denominations to form the United Church of Canada in 1925. The Methodist Church was itself formed from the merger of fou ...

, and a majority of the

Presbyterian Church in Canada The Presbyterian Church in Canada () is a Presbyterian denomination, serving in Canada under this name since 1875. The United Church of Canada claimed the right to the name from 1925 to 1939. According to the Religion in Canada, Canada 2021 Censu ...

(including Bermuda). * Czech Republic: Evangelical Church of Czech Brethren, formed in 1918 in Czechoslovakia through the unification of the Protestant churches of the

and

(Calvinist) confessions. However, the ECCB has deeper roots in the Czech Reformation: in the

Utraquist Utraquism (from the Latin ''sub utraque specie'', meaning "under both kinds"), also called Calixtinism (from chalice; Latin: ''calix'', borrowed from Greek ''kalyx'', "shell, husk"; Czech: ''kališníci''), was a belief amongst Hussites, a pre-P ...

Hussite Church (1431–1620) and in the Unity of Brethren aka

Moravian Church The Moravian Church, or the Moravian Brethren ( or ), formally the (Latin: "Unity of the Brethren"), is one of the oldest Protestant denominations in Christianity, dating back to the Bohemian Reformation of the 15th century and the original ...

(1457–1620). * France:

, formed in 2013 through the unification of the Reformed Church of France and the Evangelical Lutheran Church of France. * Germany: Ten united church bodies within the Protestant Church in Germany from unions of Lutheran and Reformed churches: Evangelical Church in Berlin, Brandenburg and Silesian Upper Lusatia, the

Evangelical Church in the Rhineland The Protestant Church in the Rhineland (; EKiR) is a United Protestant church body in parts of the German states of North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland-Palatinate, Saarland and Hesse (Wetzlar). This is actually the area covered by the former Prussi ...

, the Evangelical Church of Westphalia (all of them are successors of the

Prussian Union of Churches The Prussian Union of Churches (known under multiple other names) was a major Protestant church body which emerged in 1817 from a series of decrees by Frederick William III of Prussia that united both Lutheran and Reformed denominations in P ...

), the Evangelical Church of Anhalt, the Protestant Church in Baden, the Evangelical Church of Bremen, the Evangelical Church in Central Germany, the Protestant Church in Hesse and Nassau, the Evangelical Church of Hesse Electorate-Waldeck and the Evangelical Church of the Palatinate (Protestant State Church). * India: Church of North India, the 1970 union of Anglican, Methodist,

Baptist Baptists are a Christian denomination, denomination within Protestant Christianity distinguished by baptizing only professing Christian believers (believer's baptism) and doing so by complete Immersion baptism, immersion. Baptist churches ge ...

Disciples of Christ The Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) is a mainline Protestant Christian denomination in the United States and Canada. The denomination started with the Restoration Movement during the Second Great Awakening, first existing during the 19th ...

, Presbyterian, Congregational, and the

Church of the Brethren The Church of the Brethren is an Anabaptist Christian denomination in the Schwarzenau Brethren tradition ( "Schwarzenau New Baptists") that was organized in 1708 by Alexander Mack in Schwarzenau, Germany during the Radical Pietist revival. ...

churches. * India: Church of South India, the 1947 union of Anglican, Methodist, Congregational, Presbyterian, and Reformed churches. * Indonesia: Indonesia Christian Church or ''Gereja Kristen Indonesia'', union of GKI East Java, GKI West Java and GKI Central Java in 1988. * Italy: Union of Methodist and Waldensian Churches, the 1975 union of Waldensian Evangelical Church and the

Methodist Evangelical Church in Italy The Methodist Evangelical Church in Italy (), known also as Italian Methodist Church (''Chiese Metodista Italiana''), is a Protestant church in the Methodist tradition active in Italy that is in full communion with the historical Waldensian Evang ...

. * Jamaica: United Church in Jamaica and the Cayman Islands, the 1965 union of Presbyterian, Congregationalist, and Disciples of Christ churches. * Japan: United Church of Christ in Japan, the 1941 union of thirty-three Protestant denominations. * Kiribati: Kiribati Uniting Church, a union of several Protestant denominations in Kiribati, including Congregationalists, Evangelicals, Anglicans, and Presbyterians. * Melanesia: United Church in Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands, a United church in the Methodist and the Reformed tradition * Netherlands:

, the 2004 union of the

Dutch Reformed Church The Dutch Reformed Church (, , abbreviated NHK ) was the largest Christian denomination in the Netherlands from the onset of the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century until 1930. It was the traditional denomination of the Dutch royal famil ...

, the

Reformed Churches in the Netherlands The Reformed Churches in the Netherlands (, abbreviated ''Gereformeerde kerk'') was the second largest Protestant church in the Netherlands and one of the two major Calvinist denominations along with the Dutch Reformed Church since 1892 unti ...

, and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Kingdom of the Netherlands. * Pakistan:

Church of Pakistan The Church of Pakistan is a united Protestant church in Pakistan founded in 1970; it holds membership in the Anglican Communion, the World Communion of Reformed Churches,Database (9 February 2006)"Sialkot Diocese of the Church of Pakistan". R ...

, the 1970 union of Anglicans, Scottish Presbyterians (

Church of Scotland The Church of Scotland (CoS; ; ) is a Presbyterian denomination of Christianity that holds the status of the national church in Scotland. It is one of the country's largest, having 245,000 members in 2024 and 259,200 members in 2023. While mem ...

), Methodists, and Lutherans. * Philippines: Iglesia Evangelica Unida de Cristo, a merger of indigenous Presbyterian and Methodist denominations in 1932. * Philippines: United Church of Christ in the Philippines, a merger of the Evangelical Church of the Philippines, the Philippine Methodist Church, the Disciples of Christ, the

United Evangelical Church The United Evangelical Church is a splinter group from the Evangelical Association. History It was formed in 1891 when some members of the Evangelical Association left to form the new church. The schism was caused by the autocratic administration ...

and several independent congregations. * Philippines: Union Church of Manila, an interdenominational congregation resulting from the union of Presbyterian and Methodist churches in 1914. * South Africa: Uniting Reformed Church in Southern Africa. * Sweden: Evangelical Free Church in Sweden, the 2002 union of the Örebro Mission, the Free Baptist Union and the Holiness Union. * Sweden: Uniting Church in Sweden, the 2011 union of the Baptist Union of Sweden, the Swedish branch of the

, and the Mission Covenant Church of Sweden. * Thailand: Church of Christ in Thailand * United Kingdom:

United Reformed Church The United Reformed Church (URC) is a Protestant Christian church in the United Kingdom. As of 2024 it had approximately 44,000 members in around 1,250 congregations with 334 stipendiary ministers. The URC is a Trinitarian church whose theolog ...

, the 1972 union of the

Congregational Union of England and Wales The Congregational Union of England and Wales brought together churches in England and Wales in the Congregational tradition between 1831 and 1966. Background The Congregational churches emerged from the Puritan movement, each church operating ...

and the

Presbyterian Church of England The Presbyterian Church of England was a late-19th-century and 20th-century Presbyterianism, Presbyterian denomination in England. The church's origins lay in the 1876 merger of the English congregations of the chiefly Scottish United Presbyterian ...

, later joined by the Churches of Christ (Europe) and the Congregational Union of Scotland. * United Kingdom:

United Free Church of Scotland The United Free Church of Scotland (UF Church; , ) is a Scottish Presbyterian denomination formed in 1900 by the union of the United Presbyterian Church of Scotland (or UP) and the Free Church of Scotland (1843–1900), majority of the 19th-cen ...

, formed in 1900 by the union of the

United Presbyterian Church of Scotland The United Presbyterian Church (1847–1900) was a Scottish Presbyterian denomination. It was formed in 1847 by the union of the United Secession Church and the Relief Church, and in 1900 merged with the Free Church of Scotland to form the U ...

(or UP) and the majority of the 19th-century Free Church of Scotland. * United States:

United Church of Christ The United Church of Christ (UCC) is a socially liberal mainline Protestant Christian denomination based in the United States, with historical and confessional roots in the Congregational, Restorationist, Continental Reformed, and Lutheran t ...

, the 1957 union of the two previously united churches:

Congregational Christian Churches The Congregational Christian Churches was a Protestant Christian denomination that operated in the U.S. from 1931 through 1957. On the latter date, most of its churches joined the Evangelical and Reformed Church in a merger to become the United C ...

and the

Evangelical and Reformed Church The Evangelical and Reformed Church (E&R) was a Protestant Christian denomination in the United States. It was formed in 1934 by the merger of the Reformed Church in the United States (RCUS) with the Evangelical Synod of North America (ESNA). ...

. * United States:

, the 1968 union of the

Methodist Church Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...

and the Evangelical United Brethren Church. * United States: Wesleyan Church, the 1968 union of the Wesleyan Methodist Church and the

Pilgrim Holiness Church Pilgrim Holiness Church (PHC) or International Apostolic Holiness Church (IAHC) is a Christian denomination associated with the holiness movement that split from the Methodist Episcopal Church through the efforts of Martin Wells Knapp in 1897. It ...

. * United States:

Unitarian Universalist Association Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) is a liberal religious association of Unitarian Universalism, Unitarian Universalist congregations. It was formed in 1961 by the consolidation of the American Unitarian Association and the Universalist Ch ...

, the 1961 consolidation of the American Unitarian Association and the Universalist Church of America. * Ethiopia has an estimated 9 million members of United churches.

References

{{Reflist Church organization

Conciliar movement

Denominations by country

See also

References