Lutherans and Episcopalians Lay Strategy for Discussing 'Full Communion'
Episcopal News Service. May 27, 1993 [93104]
The committee charged with involving the Episcopal Church and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) in studying a proposal for full communion between the two churches outlined its strategy at a May 7-9 meeting in Milwaukee.
"Our job is to see that the proposal for full communion receives a responsible hearing in both of our two churches," said Bishop Edward Jones of the Episcopal Diocese of Indianapolis, co-chair of the Lutheran-Episcopal Joint Coordinating Committee. "How can we begin to help people at the local level of the church look at what full communion can mean for the renewal and transformation of the church? How can we help seminaries to look at this? How can we help bishops to look at this? How can we help the church at every level to explore the ways in which full communion may facilitate the mission of the church?" he asked.
The committee outlined the various audiences it hopes to involve in a study of a proposal that the two churches enter into full communion in 1997 and it assessed resources available and yet to be produced that could be used for the study. Video and audio presentations and at least three publications will be developed.
In 1982 the Episcopal Church and ELCA entered into "interim eucharistic sharing" with the goal of reaching full communion at a later date. The third in a series of Lutheran-Episcopal dialogues in January 1991 produced a proposed "Concordat of Agreement" which would implement full communion, building on "eucharistic hospitality" but also including "the orderly exchange of ordained ministers." The Episcopal Church and ELCA would work together closely, particularly in mission, maintaining their traditions without actually merging.
The committee wants to help "seminaries see this historic opportunity as an integral part of modern theological study," said the Rev. Richard Jeske of New York, the Lutheran co-chair of the committee. "It will have some professional implications for the seminaries of today that were not known to seminarians ten years ago, and that very fact makes it exciting."
"I see seminaries being vitally important to what we are doing," agreed Jones. "It is very important that we take counsel with those who are the leaders in theological seminaries...because the seminaries are training a new generation of leaders for the church."
The coordinating committee looked at a report to the 1993 ELCA Churchwide Assembly recommending several changes in the way the church orders its clergy and lay workers. The report refers to the role of Lutheran bishops, which is also dealt with in the concordat.
It was clear in the discussion that the report dealing with existing ministries in the ELCA would not deal with the historic episcopate. Proposals by LED III regarding bishops will be dealt with later, meaning that the report should not hinder the committee's work.
"The whole question of how bishops serve in the church and live in the church and hold their office will be open to some further review and a fresh look," said Jones. "There is a kind of openness here which bodes well for the kind of ecumenical dialogue of which we are a part."
"The focus of the committee always remains: 'How does the prospect for full communion between our two churches enhance the mission of Christ's Church?"' said Jeske. "We want all of the various groups to which we must direct our attention to focus on that question."
Both churches "are part of worldwide communions," Jeske observed. "We, therefore, have a sensitivity toward how anything we might do will affect and be affected by Lutherans and Anglicans throughout the world." So, the committee reviewed international agreements between the two traditions, as well as Lutheran and Anglican discussions with other religious groups.
A churchwide study of the proposal for full communion has already begun in the Episcopal Church. Members of the ELCA will begin their formal study of the "Concordat of Agreement" this fall. The committee expects a 1997 vote in the respective assemblies of the ELCA and Episcopal Church.