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From: mangoe@umcp-cs.UUCP (Charley Wingate)
Newsgroups: net.religion.christian
Subject: On the organization of the Church
Message-ID: <3308@umcp-cs.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 19-Feb-85 19:46:43 EST
Article-I.D.: umcp-cs.3308
Posted: Tue Feb 19 19:46:43 1985
Date-Received: Wed, 20-Feb-85 08:41:37 EST
References: <690@topaz.ARPA>
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Organization: U of Maryland, Computer Science Dept., College Park, MD
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I'd like to amplify comments made by Chuck Hedrick concerning protestant
models of The Church.  He indicated that they generally have a two-level
model, in that there is The Church, and then subchurchs (denominations and
sects) as divisions within it.  I'm going to try to explain the semi-official
theory on this in the Episcopal Church in the remainder of the article.  I
would like to note in passing that Chuck is correct in saying that
Episcopalians believe in real presence, but not transubstantiation.

O.K., on to the church.  There is in fact a real One Church, manifested on
earth by churches.  For various reasons they are organized into denominations
and sects; for instance, radical differences in liturgical practice prevent
absolute unification between the Greek Orthodox Church and the Southern 
Baptist Conference.  Obviously, differences in theology are also an important
factor.  The Episcopal Church divides Christendom into three categories:

      (1)  Obvious heresies, such as the Mormons.  These are not
           recognized as part of The Church.

      (2)  Those groups with which agreement has been reached on key 
           theological and liturgical questions.  These include the Anglican
           Communion and the American Lutherans (excepting the Missouri
           Synod, of course).  Within this group, ordinations are recognized,
           and intercommunion is unrestricted.

      (3)  All other denominations.  (One could distinguish a subgroup of
           groups with more seriously defective theology, such as the extreme
           fundamentalists.)  While baptisms by these groups are recognized,
           ordinations are not, and there is only the weakest form of
           intercommunion.  (Many Episcopal dioceses permit communion to be
           given to any baptized person.)

The effective doctrine here is that denominations exist out of convenience,
and do not represent real divisions.  If we could all agree not to fight too
much, we could all be one big church.

Charley Wingate    umcp-cs!mangoe