wfn.org | United Methodist ecumenical officers applaud Lutheran vote

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG>]

Aug. 24, 1999	News media contact: Thomas S.
McAnally*(615)742-5470*Nashville, Tenn.    10-71B{436}

By United Methodist News Service

Recent action by the legislative assembly of the Evangelical Lutheran Church
in American to bring the denomination into "full communion" with the
Episcopal Church, has been applauded by ecumenical officers in the United
Methodist Church.

In a 716-317 vote, members of the assembly approved a "Called to Common
Mission" proposal, slightly more than the two-thirds needed for approval.
The vote, taken Aug. 19 in Denver,  reversed a decision taken by the 5.1
million-member denomination in 1997.  The top legislative body of the 2.4
million Episcopal Church approved the plan earlier.

Bishop William Boyd Grove, Charleston, W.Va,  ecumenical officer for the
United Methodist Council of Bishops, described the action as a "significant
advance" toward "the visible unity of the church, which is the goal of the
ecumenical movement." 

"It's about time for all of us to make such commitments," said the Rev.
Bruce Robbins, New York, top staff executive for the United Methodist
Commission on Christian Unity and Interreligious Concerns.  "Thank God for
Lutherans and Episcopalians who took this historic step.  They say
institutionally what has been known in local communities for years."

Robbins said he looks forward to the day when United Methodists can join the
two denominations.  "God is calling us, too," he declared. 

The full communion plan means that pastors and priests from the one
denomination may be called by congregations of the other.  It is also
expected to lead to increased sharing of Holy Communion and joint
involvement in mission and ministry at all levels. 

The two churches generally share the same theology but Lutherans are sharply
divided over a requirement in the plan that calls for gradually
incorporating their bishops into the "historic episcopate."   The historic
episcopate refers to an unbroken line of bishops back to the earliest days
of the Christian Church.  It is shared by the Anglican Communion, of which
the Episcopal Church is a part, as well as the Roman Catholic and Orthodox
churches and some Lutheran bodies outside the United States.  

The United Methodist Church, part of the Wesleyan movement which sprang from
the Anglican tradition in the 18th century, does not claim its bishops are
in the historic episcopate.  Founder John Wesley, remained an Anglican
clergyman until his death, but was never a bishop.   He ordained ministers
for service in America. The first to be named bishops were Frances Asbury
and Thomas Coke.

Grove noted that the United Methodist Church is about to begin bilateral
dialogues with each of the two denominations.  He also pointed toward the
long association of the United Methodist Church and the Episcopal Church as
participants in the Consultation on Church Union. "With both of these great
churches, we look forward in hope and prayer to the day when Christ's prayer
may be answered and we may all be one," he said.

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