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ELCA NEWS SERVICE

April 15, 1996

"UNDERSTANDING ONE ANOTHER"

The African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church and Evangelical
Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) have produced a booklet,
"Understanding One Another," to help their 3.5 million and 5.2
million members learn of their separate and common lives as U.S.
Protestants.  About 98 percent of AME Church members are African-
American, and about the same percentage of ELCA members are
white.  Daniel A. Payne, a prominent 19th century bishop of the
AME Church, was educated at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at
Gettysburg, Pa.  In 46 pages the booklet includes two
contributions, one from each church body, on each of six
subjects: history, theology, polity and ministry, worship,
mission and society.  The Rev. Daniel F. Martensen, acting
director of the ELCA Department for Ecumenical Affairs, writes in
the introduction that the booklet is the product of more than
five years of formal and informal talks between the two churches.
The first round of formal talks ended in March 1996; and "a small
coordinating committee is making plans for a second round of
dialogue," said Martensen.

For information contact: Ann Hafften, Dir., ELCA News Service,
(312) 380-2958; Frank Imhoff, Assoc. Dir., (312) 380-2955; Lia
Christiansen, Asst. Dir., (312) 380-2956