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Why did Anglicans join other Christian groups to form the Church of South India in 1947?

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Anglicanism The stately Canterbury Cathedral in Kent, England. The cathedral is the seat of the archbishop of Canterbury, the mother church of the Church of England and the worldwide Anglican Communion, and part of a UNESCO World Heritage site.

The Church of South India was formed in 1947 to unite various Protestant traditions—including Anglican, Methodist, Presbyterian, and Congregational groups—that had been divided for centuries by denominational and missionary lines.12

The union was the result of decades of ecumenical negotiations that began in 1919. Representatives from these traditions sought to reconcile their differences regarding church governance, ministry, and doctrine to foster greater unity among Christians in southern India.2

This merger represented the first union since the Reformation between episcopal and nonepiscopal churches. By integrating these traditions, the new church established a structure that maintained the historic episcopate while remaining theologically Protestant and self-governing.12