ELCA NEWS SERVICE
April 21, 2008
United Methodist Church to Consider Full Communion with ELCA
08-049-JB
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The General Conference of the United
Methodist Church (UMC) will consider a proposal for full
communion with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA)
when it meets April 23-May 2 in Fort Worth, Texas.
The proposal, "Implementing Resolution for Full Communion
between the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and the United
Methodist Church," has been years in the making.
Assuming adoption by the UMC General Conference, the ELCA
Church Council requested that a formal proposal for full
communion with the United Methodist Church be presented at its
November 2008 meeting. The council will consider transmitting
the proposal for action by the 2009 ELCA Churchwide Assembly.
The assembly meets in Minneapolis Aug. 17-23.
The two churches have had a relationship of "Interim
Eucharistic Sharing" since 2005. That relationship called for
members to pray for and support each other, to study Scripture
together and to learn about each other's traditions.
Full communion means the churches will work for visible
unity in Jesus Christ, recognize each other's ministries, work
together on a variety of ministry initiatives, and, under certain
circumstances, provide for the interchangeability of ordained
clergy.
The Rev. Mark S. Hanson, ELCA presiding bishop, will preach
April 29 at the UMC General Conference and participate in the
conference's ecumenical day activities. Staff of ELCA Ecumenical
and Inter-Religious Relations will also attend the meeting.
Calling the full communion vote "an important day in the
life of our two churches," the Rev. Donald J. McCoid, executive,
ELCA Ecumenical and Inter-Religious Relations, said the UMC
General Conference vote is expected to be an affirmation of the
unity for which Jesus Christ prayed in the Gospel of John 17:21.
"The dialogue between the United Methodist Church and the
ELCA has been one that has had my deep interest and support,"
said McCoid, who was born into a Methodist family.
"Church unity is an important matter for the Christian
family. The full communion agreement will deepen the
opportunities for shared ministry in so many places, as we look
forward to the future," he said.
If adopted by both churches, this will be the first time the
ELCA has entered in a relationship of full communion with a
church body larger than itself, said the Rev. Allan C. Bjornberg,
Lutheran co-chair of the current round of the Lutheran-United
Methodist Dialogue and bishop, ELCA Rocky Mountain Synod, Denver.
"In the past decade we have discovered that these agreements
provide a very effective framework for joint mission and
ministry," Bjornberg said. "While many ELCA and UMC congregations
have cordial relations, I sense this new agreement will provide a
clear path toward deeper and more effective witness to our gospel
faith."
Both the ELCA and UMC are reforming movements, one of
European origin, one American, "which complement each other in
the areas of personal piety, social reform and public witness,"
Bjornberg said. "Our similarities are many, and our theological
differences are variations on the common theme of God's powerful
and transforming grace in Jesus Christ," he added.
The ELCA and UMC have been in formal theological dialogue
since 1977, which led to the relationship of Interim Eucharistic
Sharing.
The ELCA has five full communion relationships. Full
communion partner churches are the Episcopal Church, the Moravian
Church in America, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), Reformed Church
in America and United Church of Christ. If the UMC General
Conference adopts the proposal, this will be the first full
communion agreement for the UMC outside of the Methodist
tradition, McCoid said.
The ELCA is one of 140 churches in the Lutheran World
Federation and is the third-largest Lutheran church in the world
with 4.8 million members. The United Methodist Church is a
worldwide church with nearly 8 million members in the United
States.
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Information about the Lutheran-United Methodist Dialogue is
at http://tinyurl.com/ahfj8 on the ELCA Web site.
Information about the UMC General Conference is at
http://tinyurl.com/2z73h3 on the Web.
For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or [log in to unmask]
http://www.elca.org/news
ELCA News Blog: http://www.elca.org/news/blog
