Title: Synod Representatives Discuss Ecumenical Agreements, Dialogues
ELCA NEWS SERVICE

February 16, 2000

SYNOD REPRESENTATIVES DISCUSS ECUMENICAL AGREEMENTS, DIALOGUES
00-032-JB

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -  Representatives from most of the Evangelical
Lutheran Church in America's (ELCA) 65 synods met here Feb. 11-12 to
discuss ecumenism and its connection to the mission and identity of the
church.  Speakers addressed these issues from national and global
perspectives.
     The representatives are part of the Lutheran Ecumenical
Representatives Network (LERN).  All are appointed by their synod
bishops.  LERN members work in cooperation with the ELCA Department for
Ecumenical Affairs to serve as resources to synods and help in the
reception of ecumenical agreements, said the Rev. Darlis J. Swan,
associate director, Department for Ecumenical Affairs.  Swan also serves
as staff for LERN.  The Rev. Robert O. Kriesat, Chatham, N.J., is LERN
president.  The Rev. Dennis A. Andersen, Seattle, Wash., is
president-elect.
     The ELCA, a 5.2-million member denomination, is active in
ecumenical relationships.  It relates officially through full communion
agreements with four churches, including the Presbyterian Church
(U.S.A.), the United Church of Christ and the Reformed Church in
America.  In 1999 it entered into full communion with the Moravian
Church in America.  Full communion provides the means by which the
churches work together in cooperative ministries, and in some cases,
provides for clergy to be shared.
     The 1999 ELCA Churchwide Assembly also adopted a full communion
proposal, "Called to Common Mission" (CCM), with the Episcopal Church.
This year a general convention of the Episcopal Church will vote on the
same proposal in Denver.  The proposal has generated some controversy in
the ELCA.
     The concept of full communion has its Biblical roots in John
17:20-21.  The 1991 ELCA Churchwide Assembly directed the church to seek
ecumenical relationships and "pursue the goal of full communion."
     Some LERN conference speakers discussed world and national
ecumenism through organizations such as the World Council of Churches
(WCC) and the National Council of Churches of Christ in the U.S.A.
(NCC).  Other speakers discussed specific ecumenical issues related to
the ELCA.
     Ecumenical issues are often viewed by congregations as an option
or add-on activity, said Jean S. Stromberg, executive director, U.S.
Conference, WCC.   The WCC consists of 337 Christian churches around the
globe, including the ELCA.
     "It (ecumenism) is essential in what it means to be Christian,"
she said. "The more inclusive those relationships are, the more we serve
God."
     Church relationships today are local as well as global, and they
are very complex, Stromberg said.  WCC members can help churches live
out their mission in such relationships, she added.
     The WCC's 8th assembly in Harare, Zimbabwe, in 1998, made
significant decisions that affect the organization's purposes, Stromberg
said.  Today the WCC serves as a catalyst for ecumenical work and
fosters "coherence" of understanding in ecumenism, she said.
     The NCC, an organization of 35 member churches including the ELCA,
is in a time of transition, said the Rev. Stacatto Powell, former NCC
deputy general secretary of the national ministries unit, New York.  The
organization is undergoing reorganization and has new leadership, he
said.
     Powell, an African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church pastor,
suggested re-engineering the NCC into a learning organization.  He also
said the NCC can help facilitate an ecumenical movement that shows
greater diversity and includes historic black churches in the process.
     "I believe in the ecumenical movement, and I believe it is
divinely mandated," Powell said. "The NCC should be a vital, breathing,
pulsating organism that makes a difference in the lives of people."
     In the ELCA, the Rev. Daniel F. Martensen, executive director,
ELCA Department for Ecumenical Affairs, said the church has been
challenged "in new and fresh ways" to be in partnership with four
churches through its full communion agreements.
     "God alone really knows what effect the dramatic development of
full communion relationships will have on the ELCA," he said to the LERN
members.
     The Department for Ecumenical Affairs has determined two
priorities for its work in the near future, Martensen said.  One is to
assist in the implementation of full communion agreements.
     "Our task is to help the bishops, theologians, faculties,
congregations and pastors of the ELCA to engage continually in
theologically grounded, factually based and ecumenically sensitive
deliberation," Martensen said.
     A second priority is to encourage and facilitate local discussion
of the many controversial ecumenical issues that have surfaced in the
ELCA, particularly with CCM, he said.  Those opposed to CCM should not
discuss their opposition only with the churchwide offices, because the
entire ELCA became involved when the decision was made last summer,
Martensen said.
     "Our task is to encourage people to carry out discussions among
responsible people in various regions, synods and territories of the
ELCA," he said. "The discussion should happen wherever possible in a
wide range of geographical and institutional settings."
     For some Lutherans, one of the controversial aspects of CCM is the
historic episcopate, brought to the relationship by the Episcopal
Church. The historic episcopate is a succession of bishops back to the
earliest days of the Christian Church.  The ELCA adopted it as a sign of
unity; however, it has generated controversy for some who say CCM
threatens Lutheran identity, changes the role of bishops in the church
and calls into the question the roles of lay people.
     "The ecumenical significance of the historic episcopate does not
lie in the consideration that it is a necessary part of the life of the
church," said the Rev. Sven Oppegaard, assistant general secretary for
ecumenical affairs, Lutheran World Federation, Geneva, Switzerland.
"We do not require it on theological grounds, but we can see it as a
legitimate sign of the universality of the church through time and
through space."
     "All signs that help us identify the church and its unity and
cross dividing lines can be looked at as helpful provided the content of
the service is according to the Gospel," he added.
     Oppegaard also reminded conference participants that in every
congregation there is the unifying element of the church.
     "What creates unity in the church goes on in local congregations,"
he said.
     The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) is a communion of 128 Lutheran
churches worldwide and includes nearly 58 million Lutherans.  The ELCA
is a member of the LWF.
Department for Ecumenical Affairs staff provided LERN members with
updates on implementation of the Lutheran-Reformed and Lutheran-Moravian
agreements as well as ELCA dialogues.  They include dialogues with the
Roman Catholic Church, the Orthodox Church and the Lutheran
Church-Missouri Synod.  New ecumenical dialogues to begin soon include
discussions with the Mennonite Church, African Methodist Episcopal
Church and the United Methodist Church.
     ELCA interfaith relations, especially with the Jewish community,
were discussed, as was a new NCC policy statement on "Interfaith
Relations and the Churches," which was adopted in 1999.


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