Lutheran-Reformed Commission Says Separation 'Unacceptable'
Episcopal News Service. September 15, 1989 [89156F]
A report released by the international Lutheran-Reformed Joint Commission in Geneva asserts that Lutheran-Reformed separation "is no longer acceptable." The report, Toward Church Fellowship, has been published by the cosponsors of the four years of dialogue -- the Lutheran World Federation and World Alliance of Reformed Churches. The joint statement contains a recommendation that Lutheran and Reformed bodies declare that "the condemnations pronounced upon one another in former times are no longer to be regarded as applicable in today's situation," and to establish "full pulpit-and-altar/table fellowship, with necessary mutual recognition of ministers ordained for word and sacrament." The report calls for its recommendations to be implemented "in ways consonant with our commitments to other churches in the larger ecumenical movement." A recent meeting of the executive committee of the Lutheran World Federation has already gone on record to welcome closer links between Lutherans and Anglicans, including steps to realize full communion among Anglican and Lutheran denominations.