Church merger a possibility

MARK COLVIN: With members starting to leave the Uniting Church, discussions are intensifying over a possible merger between three of Australia's reformist churches.

The Uniting, Anglican and Lutheran churches have been discussing the idea of a full union for more than 20 years, but they're now starting to push ahead with implementing a four-step plan.

The decision by the Uniting Church to accept the ordination of homosexuals is still a big sticking point for the Lutherans in particular. But some commentators believe the churches can't afford to wait any longer.

Tanya Nolan reports.

TANYA NOLAN: The wheels of progress may grind slowly within the nation's reformist churches, but the decades-long process of mutually recognising each other's ministries seems to be gaining some pace.

With the decision by the Uniting Church this month to move forward on the merger issue, a joint working group established with the Anglican Church, is in the process of adopting a covenant of association and intercommunion, which means each church would eventually recognise and share each others ministers.

It's the second stage of a four-stage process towards full union, but a process that's expected to take many more years yet. While a merger would have obvious financial benefits, in Christian parlance there is also the broader issue of obedience to the Gospel.

As Uniting Church Reverend, Dr Chris Mostert, explains.

CHRIS MOSTERT: I think churches should not be divided. This is the main thing that keeps churches apart or keeps them from working closer together. The fact that it has happened at a time when churches are in decline, we can't ignore that and this I think will address that partly. But that's not the only reason for it. That would be a great benefit that would flow from I, certainly.

TANYA NOLAN: The conversation between the Uniting and the Lutheran Church is at similar stage. As one of smaller churches, there are around 250,000 Lutherans in Australia and as with most congregations, numbers are dwindling.

While it currently has declarations of mutual recognition with the Anglicans and the Uniting Church, there are many more sticking points for the Lutherans towards a full merger, not least of all, the issue of homosexual clergy.

Reverend Dr David Stolz is Acting President of the Lutheran Church of Australia.

DAVID STOLZ: That will cause a deal of difficulty. I sent out an email to the dialogue partners with Uniting indicating that I think that decision will create major difficulties in getting the recommendation for mutual recognition adopted at our Synod in October.

TANYA NOLAN: With the growing secularism of Australian society threatening the survival of Australia's reformist churches, many believe the unchecked decline in congregation numbers will spell their ultimate demise.

And Father James Murray, Religious Affairs Editor for The Australian newspaper, says the churches aren't treating it with the urgency it demands.

JAMES MURRAY: Well, I think in the Anglican Church it's almost a disaster area. In the Melbourne Diocese, which is a big diocese, the general Sunday attendance is somewhere between 16,000 and 20,000 over the whole diocese. That's pathetic.

JAMES MURRAY: In the Sydney Diocese it's a bit better, but generally speaking Anglicans in Australia are now so grey that in 10 years they won't be here.

TANYA NOLAN: Do you think that the churches recognise the urgency of this situation?

JAMES MURRAY: Not publicly; privately I think they do. I think they're in a state of anxiety or sometimes denial, and they pretend things are not as bad as they are. But in so many places maintaining even the buildings is almost beyond them.

TANYA NOLAN: But head of the Anglican Church, Primate Dr Peter Carnley, rejects that assertion and is in fact buoyed by the recent gains made.

PETER CARNLEY: If you look at the health of churches I think you've got to look at more than congregational figures, because they go up and down and change. You have to look at what the churches are doing in terms of schools and I think it's never been a more buoyant time in terms of opening new schools, and you have to look at what the churches are doing in terms of welfare, and I think the welfare budget of Anglicare Australia for example, is just brushing $500 million, a quarter of a million dollars a year on welfare.

I think there's a lot of life in churches other than Sunday worship, and there's a lot of informal things happening during the week, smaller house groups and what is happening in school communities, all sorts of things.

MARK COLVIN: The Anglican Primate, Dr Peter Carnley, speaking to Tanya Nolan.