wfn.org | Eight ELCA Bishops Announce Support for "Called to Common Mission"

[NEWS <NEWS@ELCA.ORG>]

ELCA NEWS SERVICE

April 1, 1999

EIGHT ELCA BISHOPS ANNOUNCE SUPPORT
FOR "CALLED TO COMMON MISSION"
99-JB

     CHICAGO (ELCA)   Acknowledging that not everyone in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) favors a proposal for full communion with the Episcopal Church, eight ELCA synod bishops formally announced they will
support the proposal at the 1999 ELCA Churchwide Assembly.
     The proposed agreement, "Called to Common Mission," (CCM) has generated some opposition in the ELCA, much of it focused on the historic episcopate.  The ELCA and the Episcopalians agree on the doctrine of "apostolic
succession" an ongoing faithful proclamation of Christ; Episcopalians bring to the relationship the "historic episcopate," a succession of bishops as a sign of unity back to the earliest days of the Christian Church.
            Concerns have also been raised about the role of bishops and Lutheran identity in a full communion agreement with the Episcopal Church.
      Lutheran-Episcopal dialogues that began in 1983 developed a process for full communion between the two churches, "The Concordat of Agreement," issued in 1991.  A convention of the Episcopal Church approved it in 1997.  That
same year, the ELCA assembly defeated the proposal by six votes and asked that the Concordat be revised, taking the assembly's debate into account.  The revision is CCM.
     "It is our intention to vote for CCM and we urge the 1999 Churchwide Assembly to cast a strong, positive vote in favor of its adoption," the eight bishops said in a written statement. A similar statement was tabled at a meeting of all 65 ELCA synod bishops in Tucson, Ariz.   The Rev. Paull E. Spring, bishop of the ELCA Northwestern Pennsylvania Synod, submitted that proposal.
     "We believe CCM provides a significant opportunity for the ELCA and the Episcopal Church to enter into a relationship of full communion, one that is obedient to the prayer of Jesus, is congruent with our confession as evangelical Lutherans and is dependent on God's call to mission under the Gospel," the statement from the eight bishops said.
     The bishops said they were "pleased" CCM reflects significant changes over the previous Concordat.  They said changes include:
     * expansion of the section on the ministry of the whole people of God, which underscores the priesthood of all the baptized;
     * the affirmation that the historic episcopate is a sign, but not a guarantee, of the church's unity and doctrine; 
     * a recognition that the ELCA accepts the historic episcopate in practice, but not the threefold order of ministry;
      the consistency in CCM whereby the relationship of full communion is placed within the context of the church's mission task;
     * the revised process for installation of ELCA bishops with the laying on of hands by other bishops, at least three of whom are to be in the historic succession; and the invitation of one of more bishops in the Episcopal Church to participate in the installation and laying on of hands.
     The bishops' statement commended those who oppose CCM "for their love of the gospel and their intention to be faithful to the confessions of our church."
     The eight ELCA bishops who signed the statement include the Rev. Ralph Dunkin, West Virginia-Western Maryland Synod; the Rev. Guy S. Edmiston, Lower Susquehanna Synod; the Rev. A. Donald Main, Upper Susquehanna Synod; the Rev. Donald J. McCoid, Southwestern Pennsylvania Synod; the Rev. George P. Mocko, Delaware-Maryland Synod; the Rev. Gregory R. Pile, Allegheny Synod; the Rev. Theodore F. Schneider, Metropolitan Washington D.C. Synod; and Spring.  They serve in eight contiguous synods which comprise the ELCA's Region 8.

For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or NEWS@ELCA.ORG
http://www.elca.org/co/news/current.html