wfn.org | US Lutheran-Reformed "full communion" becomes official

[FRANK_IMHOFF.parti@ecunet.org (FRANK IMHOFF)]

CHARLOTTE, North Carolina/GENEVA, 30 July 1998 (elca/lwi) - "Full
communion" between the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and
the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) became official June 17 during the
Presbyterian General Assembly.

The full communion agreement, which also includes the Reformed Church in
America and the United Church of Christ, was described as "a major
breakthrough" by Presbyterian Stated Clerk Clifton Kirkpatrick. The ELCA
had already approved full communion with the three Reformed churches at its
churchwide assembly in August 1997.

The agreement opens up the eucharistic celebrations of each denomination to
members of the others, commits the churches to closer cooperation in
worship and mission and provides for the exchange of ministers between the
churches in accordance with each's own polity and requirements.

According to an ELCA press release, the agreement will be most felt at the
local level when there's interchange of clergy, and will happen in urban as
well as rural areas where small churches struggle to hire pastors. Joint
parishes sharing pastors will make a major impact on all four churches.

There are a number of ways in which Presbyterians and Lutherans have been
working together in anticipation of full communion: joint orientation and
training of overseas mission personnel, conversations between Christian
educators of both churches about sharing curriculum materials, and talks
between various mission agencies of both churches about joint projects.

No additional church or interchurch structures are envisioned as part of
full communion.

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