Federation
Some churches may join together by way of federation.
On July 24, 1901, the Presbyterian Churches of New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania and Western Australia joined together to form the Presbyterian Church of Australia. This was a federation, similar to the Federation which formed the Commonwealth of Australia on January 1 of that same year. In his inaugural moderatorial address, John Meiklejohn made it clear that the ecclesiastical union consciously reflected the union of the colonies: "We have, by forming this Assembly, formed a Court whose jurisdiction is, as regards territory, equal to, and coterminous with that of the Federal Parliament, and like it, is representative in its character."
This union involved churches of the same denomination in different locations. The individual state churches also kept their individual identities and retained many of their rights and privileges. A federal church rather than a national church was created.
Read more about this topic: Church Union
Famous quotes containing the word federation:
“Women realize that we are living in an ungoverned world. At heart we are all pacifists. We should love to talk it over with the war-makers, but they would not understand. Words are so inadequate, and we realize that the hatred must kill itself; so we give our men gladly, unselfishly, proudly, patriotically, since the world chooses to settle its disputes in the old barbarous way.”
—General Federation Of Women’s Clubs (GFWC)