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ELCA NEWS SERVICE

August 5, 1999

LUTHERANS TO VOTE ON FULL COMMUNION WITH MORAVIANS
99-197-FI

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- When the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
(ELCA) meets in assembly Aug. 16-22 in Denver, its 1,039 voting members
will consider a proposal, "Following Our Shepherd to Full Communion,"
which would affirm full communion with the Moravian Church in America.
The Northern and Southern Provinces of the Moravian Church approved full
communion with the ELCA in separate votes in 1998.
     "Full communion" is a common confessing of the Christian faith; a
mutual recognition of Baptism and a sharing of the Lord's Supper,
allowing for joint worship and an exchangeability of members; a mutual
recognition and availability of ordained ministers to the service of all
members of churches in full communion, subject only but always to the
disciplinary regulations of the other churches; a common commitment to
evangelism, witness and service; a means of common decision making on
critical common issues of faith and life; and a mutual lifting of any
condemnations that exist between churches.
     When the Moravian provinces accepted full communion with the ELCA,
the Rev. H. George Anderson, presiding bishop of the ELCA, said, "This
action affirms the Lutheran church's long-standing relationship with the
Unitas Fratrum -- our interwoven histories and theological traditions,
our common commitments to mission and service to those in need, and our
shared Christian faith."
     The Unitas Fratrum, or Unity of Brethren, was organized in 1457 by
followers of the Czech reformer John Hus.  Among other ideas, the Roman
Catholic priest and professor at the University of Prague taught that
the gospel should be available in the common language rather than in
Latin.  He was declared a heretic and burned at the stake in 1415.
     Almost 100 years after the martyrdom of Hus, a German monk named
Martin Luther introduced his 95 theses or points of contention against
the pope.  Luther denounced the sale of indulgences -- letters replacing
punishment for the sins of repentant Christians.  In 1530 Luther's
followers drafted the church's organizing Augsburg Confession.
     Friendly ties between the two Christian traditions are noted in
many parts of the world.  The Moravian Church in Southern Africa joined
the Lutheran World Federation -- to which the ELCA belongs -- in 1975.
Moravians and Lutherans also have close working relationships in Germany
and Tanzania.
     A commission of the ELCA and Moravian Church in America first met
at the ELCA's Muhlenberg College, Allentown, Pa., in December 1992.  It
recommended in its 1996 report, "Following Our Shepherd to Full
Communion," that the two church bodies establish full communion by 2000.
     "Representatives of our two traditions sat down together and
discovered that, despite the passage of time, we had retained many
similarities, although Lutherans were inclined to put their teachings
into prose and the Moravians were more likely to use hymns," Anderson
said in January 1999.
     In April the student body of Lutheran Theological Southern
Seminary, Columbia, S.C., adopted a statement supporting full communion
with the Moravians.
     The seminarians challenged ELCA members to read the proposal and
study the historical and theological issues surrounding the proposal.
"There are always at least two sides to every issue, and it is incumbent
upon everyone involved to faithfully investigate every aspect of this
historic opportunity given to us to enrich the life of the Church
catholic," they said.
     The faculty of Trinity Lutheran Seminary, Columbus, Ohio, issued a
largely supportive statement about "Following Our Shepherd to Full
Communion."
     "The document does a very good job of laying out the differences
between the Lutheran and Moravian confessions, differences which
apparently have less to do with basic doctrinal commitments than with
'style' and preferences regarding matters of piety," wrote Trinity's
faculty.
     "The study also presents good historical notes that suggest why
these differences have emerged and how conditioned they are by political
and social realities that shaped the two faith communities over the
period of several centuries," they wrote.
     "The success of the conversation and the fullness of its labor
will depend largely upon the willingness of both churches to continue to
examine the issues undertaken by the committee ... our need to examine
our pietist tradition, our understandings of personal faith, roles of
the Holy Spirit, unity of the Church; and the Moravian need to strive
for greater doctrinal, hermeneutical and historical clarity," said
Trinity's faculty.
     The Rev. Otto Dreydoppel Jr., director of Moravian studies and
assistant professor of church history, Moravian Theological Seminary,
Bethlehem, Pa., addressed the annual meeting of the Lutheran Ecumenical
Representatives Network in May.  He was a member of the dialogue that
drafted the full communion proposal.
     Dreydoppel outlined the document and its recommendations.  It
listed "mutual affirmations" or similarities, such as the churches'
emphases on the gospel, justification and the sacraments.  The document
also listed "mutual complements" or differences of emphasis, but it did
not list any conflicts.
     "Lutherans and Moravians are really members of the same
sheepfold," said Dreydoppel.  "In the Lutheran-Moravian dialogue, we
strove hard but could not
find anything on which to admonish one another," he said.
     In 1997 the ELCA entered into full communion with the Presbyterian
Church (U.S.A.), Reformed Church in America and United Church of Christ.
The Denver assembly will also consider a proposal for full communion
with The Episcopal Church.

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The proposal, "Following Our Shepherd to Full Communion," is located on
the World Wide Web at <http://www.elca.org/ea/fostoc.html>.

For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or NEWS@ELCA.ORG
http://listserv.elca.org/archives/elcanews.html