United Methodist Church Passes Legislation to Allow Full Communion With

Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

On Monday, April 28 the General Conference of the United Methodist Church (UMC) approved a proposal for full communion with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA).

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.

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, preached on April 29 at the UMC General Conference and participated in the conference's ecumenical day activities. Staff of ELCA Ecumenical and Inter-Religious Relations also attended 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 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 the ELCA, 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.

source: Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
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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.

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