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Resolution Number: 1994-A029
Title: Affirm Continuing Dialogue With the Consultation on Church Union
Legislative Action Taken: Concurred As Substituted and Amended
Final Text:

Resolved, That the Episcopal Church

  1. Pray regularly and fervently for the unity which Christ wills for the Church; and more particularly for divine guidance concerning the proposal to enter into full communion with the churches comprising the Consultation on Church Union;
  2. Affirm this Church's continuing membership in the Consultation as one sign of its commitment to seek Christian unity;
  3. Refer the COCU Consensus and Churches in Covenant Communion to the Inter-Anglican Ecumenical Office of the Anglican Consultative Council for their consideration and response in the light of ecumenical commitments, engagements, or developments throughout the Anglican Communion; and requests that the Standing Commission on Ecumenical Relations (SCER) continue to consider the consistency of COCU documentation with that of this Church's other ecumenical dialogues;
  4. Request the Consultation on Church Union to place the "Report of the Standing Commission on Ecumenical Relations on Churches in Covenant Communion" ( The Blue Book, 1994 , pp. 158-176) and the 1988 "Reservations and Elucidations on The COCU Consensus " on its agenda for further discussion within and among our sister churches in the Consultation;
  5. Direct the SCER to work with the network of Episcopal Diocesan Ecumenical Officers (EDEO) toward the development of relationships between congregations of the Episcopal Church and those of our sister churches in the Consultation on Church Union for the purpose of common worship and study along with joint efforts in behalf of the mission of the Church on the local level; and, further, for the SCER to report on the development and progress of such relationships to the 72nd General Convention (1997);
  6. Inform the Consultation on Church Union that, while this Church is not ready to enter into covenant communion on the basis of Churches in Covenant Communion: The Church of Christ Uniting , we do join with our sister churches of the Consultation in praying that by continuing open, honest, and candid dialogue with one another we may, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, hasten the day of such full communion.
Citation: General Convention, Journal of the General Convention of...The Episcopal Church, Indianapolis, 1994 (New York: General Convention, 1995), pp. 760-61.