wfn.org | Lutherans, United Methodists Prepare for Dialogue

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ELCA NEWS SERVICE

December 13, 2000

LUTHERANS, UNITED METHODISTS PREPARE FOR DIALOGUE
00-301-FI

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
(ELCA) and The United Methodist Church (UMC) are preparing for a new
round of talks aimed at a relationship of full communion.  The Rev.
Allan C. Bjornberg, bishop of the ELCA Rocky Mountain Synod, and Bishop
Melvin G. Talbert, ecumenical officer for the UMC Council of Bishops,
met here Dec. 8-9 to lay the foundation for the dialogue to begin in
2001.
     The ELCA and UMC have each appointed a chair and four other
members to the dialogue.  As co-chairs, Bjornberg and Talbert discussed
the date, location and content of the full group's first meeting,
tentatively set for Sept. 6-9, 2001, at The Iliff School of Theology,
Denver.
     In preparation for that meeting members of the dialogue will be
asked to explore the status of scripture or the status of doctrine in
their respective church bodies.  Other meeting topics will include
relationships each church has with other Christian denominations and the
history of Lutheran-United Methodist dialogues.
     "As we begin our conversation, we expect to explore  further and
discover our partnership in the gospel, and we hope to discern a clearer
vision of our common discipleship," Bjornberg and Talbert said in a
letter they drafted for the other dialogue members.  "In committing
ourselves to the next round of dialogue, we express our hope for full
communion between our churches," they wrote.
     U.S. Lutherans and United Methodists held their first dialogue
from 1977 to 1979.  Those talks produced a common statement on the
Christian sacrament of Baptism in 1981.  A second series of talks, from
1985 to 1987, published a common statement on episcopacy -- the office
of bishop -- in 1988.
     Earlier talks involved the UMC and the five member churches of the
former Lutheran Council in the U.S.A.  Three of those Lutheran church
bodies merged to form the ELCA in 1988.  The other two churches were the
Latvian Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and The Lutheran 
Church-Missouri Synod.
     Lutherans in the dialogue are Bjornberg, Denver; Dr. Kathryn
Johnson, Louisville, Ky.; Dr. Cynthia Moe-Lobeda, Seattle; the Rev. H.
Frederick Reisz Jr., Columbia, S.C.; and the Rev. Timothy J. Wengert,
Philadelphia.
     United Methodists in the dialogue are Judy Crain, Green Bay, Wis.;
the Rev. Amy L. Hall, Durham, N.C.; the Rev. Lars-Erik Nordby, Moss,
Norway; Dr. Jean Miller Schmidt, Denver; and Talbert, Nashville, Tenn.
Talbert recently retired as bishop of the UMC San Francisco Area.
     The ELCA has 5.15 million members in 10,851 congregations
organized in 65 synods, each headed by a bishop, across the United
States and Caribbean.
     The UMC has 8.5 million members in 36,361 congregations in 50
episcopal areas across the United States and Puerto Rico.  It includes
another 1.4 million members in about 5,150 congregations in 18 episcopal
areas in Europe, Africa and the Philippines.

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