The Authority of the Basis of Union is historical reference, our Confession and church order.
The Basis of Union sets out the faith of the Uniting Church. It therefore is a vital reference in determining doctrine and the practise and witness of the Christian faith in the Uniting Church.
The document, however, is itself at risk in the Uniting Church because it is undermined in a number of ways. It was officially changed in 1992 and the new version is on the UCA official website. Also in 1992, the then UC president, cast doubt on the authority of the Basis of Union in the Uniting Church by ruling that it was not relevant to determination about ordination at that time. Further, a comparison of the language of the Basis of Union and language on UCA doctrine websites reveals that official church committee documents (and therefore intended to be instructive for members) change the language of the Basis of Union to meanings quite different. Finally, the Assembly claims for itself the final authority in doctrinal matters – an authority against which there is no avenue of appeal. And, if all these don’t disable the Basis of Union as authoritative, the Uniting Church has simply ignored it. For example, the Uniting Church Working Group on Doctrine on it’s own “DocByte – Doctrine” page defines doctrine as, “… the way the church listens corporately to the past and grapples with faithful thinking and living now.” But it has failed to make any “grappling with faith and thinking and living now” comment on the issue that is right now splitting the church – the ordination of persons practicing homosexual acts.
In the context of these undermining behaviours, the Uniting Church’s changing of an ordinand’s vow from “adhere” to the Basis of Union, as required by paragraph 14 d of the B. of U., to acknowledge the Basis of Union as a “guide”, suggests that ordained clergy need only vaguely refer to parts of the Basis of Union when it suits them. It’s worthy Orwellian double speak to regard as a ‘guide’ a document which itself requires ‘adherence.’
So, it’s up to us, the members of the Uniting Church, to seize the Basis of Union as a sufficient expression of confession of saving faith in Christ. Our salvation depends on our confession together in Christ’s Church – not on what errant and arrogant churchmen and women try to force on us, in the name of the Uniting Church, by way of political stances on such matters that might be before Australian Parliaments. The Uniting Church leadership has abrogated its responsibility to preach the gospel which the Basis of Union so eloquently sets out.
Fortunately, there are many good things in the Basis of Union, and they are easy to understand.
The first thing about it is that is the historical document written by representatives of three former congregations as the sufficient expression of the Christian faith they had each received and would be the grounds upon which the three churches came together. For this historical purpose, it can’t be changed in hindsight.
The second purpose of the Basis of Union is that makes quite clear reason for the existence of the Uniting Church. Paragraph 3 is a succinct and beautiful expression of classic evangelical orthodox confession. In Jesus Christ God was reconciling the world to himself. The whole of creation belongs to God. We are called to respond in faith. To this end, God sent forth his Spirit that men may trust him as their Father. The whole work of man’s salvation is effected by the sovereign grace of God alone. The Holy Spirit is a foretaste of the coming reconciliation and renewal which will be for all creation. The Church is to bear witness to Christ. The reconciliation of the whole of creation was begun in death and resurrection of Christ but has been completed yet. (The Queensland Synod’s attempt in the last five years to usher in God’s final reign in the form of a narrow political goal is misplaced and will fail, as is already evident.)
Another purpose of the Basis of Union that is authoritative for us is that it traces the particular historical line of Christian witness to Christ that we are part of. The beginning is Scripture. “When the Church preaches Jesus Christ, her message is controlled by the Biblical witnesses.” (The Word of God on whom man’s salvation depends is to be heard and known from Scripture appropriated in the worshipping and witnessing life of the Church.) Next are the Apostles and Nicene Creeds, (these to declare and to guard the right understanding of that faith) the first (seven) ecumenical councils (because they express the unity of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic church) the witness of the reformation found in the certain documents of that period including the Heidelberg Catechism and the Savoy Declaration, John Wesley’s 44 Sermons,( so that the congregation of Christ’s people may again and again be reminded of the grace which justifies them through faith, of the centrality of the person and work of Christ the justifier, and of the need for a constant appeal to Holy Scripture) and the inheritance of literary, historical and scientific enquiry of recent centuries (to sharpen her understanding of the will and purpose of God, and to confess her Lord in fresh words and deeds)
Paragraph 14 about ministers, deacons, elders and lay preachers clarifies how all church officials and members with influence must regard this line of witness. “In the above sub-paragraphs the phrase “adhere to the Basis of Union” is understood as willingness to live and work within the faith and unity of the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church as that way is described in this Basis. Such adherence allows for difference of opinion in matters which do not enter into the substance of the faith.”
There’s the word “adhere”. That the Basis of Union may “guide” our thinking, by setting boundaries within which our thinking and acting occurs, is not strong enough. Our leaders must adhere to the Basis of Union.
Adhering to the Basis of Union is hardly a burden. This classic, orthodox, evangelical line of Christian witness, has within it the clarification of God’s will every time it was significantly contested. The Nicene Creed, and the Arian controversy that surrounded it, clarified that it is Christ alone that our salvation is found. That is a moral act. We are not at liberty, as a few noisy voices proclaim in the UCA today, to act as we please out side the liberation from sin that Christ gives. The Reformers discovered anew the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic church which belongs to Christ, which preaches Christ’s salvation and his kingdom and within which sinners may find repentance and new life. We not at liberty to make the church into a society that practices “strenuous tolerance” nor “radical welcome”. The Reformers also discovered, as the Church Fathers did before them, that the church exists between the Christ’s cross and resurrection, and the final reconciliation of God’s world to himself. We are not at liberty to try to usher in God’s final kingdom – as the Queensland Synod has attempted to do in recent years. We are to faith in Christ and to bear witness to that faith.
By Paul Langkamp - South Korea.
