wfn.org | Assembly Greatly Expands Ecumenical Involvements

[PCUSA.NEWS@pcusa.org]

19-June-1997 
GA97107 
 
           Assembly Greatly Expands Ecumenical Involvements 
 
                      by Jerry Van Marter 
 
SYRACUSE--The 209th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) 
opened wide its ecumenical doors Thursday (June 19), approving "full 
communion" with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), soundly 
defeating a move to withdraw from the Consultation on Church Union (COCU), 
inviting every other Presbyterian denomination in North America to send 
"fraternal delegates to next year's Assembly, and encouraging all 
Presbyterians to expand their interfaith dialogues. 
 
                     Lutheran-Reformed Dialogue 
 
    By an overwhelming 489-38 vote, the Assembly adopted the recommendation 
of its Ecumenical Relations Committee to send "A Formula of Agreement" to 
the presbyteries for ratification establishing full ecclesiastical 
relations with the Lutherans, the United Church of Christ (UCC) and the 
Reformed Church in America (RCA).  The PCUSA is already in full communion 
with the UCC and the RCA, which approved the agreement June 18. 
 
    The agreement means that the four churches: 
 
    * recognize each other as churches "in which the gospel is rightly 
preached and the sacraments rightly administered;" 
 
    * withdraw historic condemnations of each other; 
 
    * continue to recognize each other's baptism and authorize "and 
encourage" sharing of communion; 
 
    * recognize each other's various ministries and make provisions for 
"the orderly exchange of ordained ministers;" and 
 
    * pledge themselves to continued dialogue under the principle of 
"mutual affirmation and mutual admonition." 
 
    In a statement issued immediately after the vote, the Rev. H. George 
Anderson, presiding bishop of the ELCA, said: "I am heartened by the action 
of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) today approving the `Formula of 
Agreement' ... I am thankful to the PCUSA for its invitation to us to join 
in full communion.  A closer relationship presents exciting possibilities 
for enhancing the ministry we do in Jesus' name."  The ELCA will vote on 
the proposal in early August. 
 
                                  COCU 
 
    The Assembly voted 387-145 to remain a part of COCU after rejecting a 
minority report from six members of the Assembly Committee on Ecumenical 
Relations that would have pulled the PCUSA out of COCU following the next 
scheduled COCU plenary in January 1999. 
 
    Arguing that the presbyteries' overwhelming rejection this spring of 
amendments to implement COCU's "covenanting" proposals constituted a 
rejection of COCU itself, the Rev. Mary Naegeli of San Francisco Presbytery 
said, "It's time to sadly but resolutely move on" and concentrate on local 
ecumenical initiatives "with any other Christian churches that seek unity 
with us." 
 
    Dorothy Bernard, former General Assembly moderator and long-time member 
of the Presbyterian Church's COCU delegation countered that "a new day in 
ecumenical relations is clearly dawning" and asked, "How can we help create 
that new day with these eight [COCU] sister churches if we're not at the 
table?" 
 
                  Other Presbyterian denominations 
 
    The Assembly, holding out what one commissioner called "an olive 
branch," approved Overture 97-42 from Cherokee Presbytery, inviting 18 
other Presbyterian denominations in the United States and Canada to send 
"fraternal delegates" to next year's General Assembly in Charlotte and "to 
express the willingness of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) to send 
fraternal delegates to their assemblies, if invited." 
 
    A motion to wipe the Bible Presbyterian Church off the invitation list 
was rejected.  Its founder, Carl McIntire, was excommunicated from the 
PCUSA in 1936 and has been harshly critical of the denomination ever since. 
He is attending this Assembly. 
 
                         Interfaith dialogue 
 
    In response to Overture 97-2 from Baltimore Presbytery, the Assembly 
voted to "strengthen our ecumenical resolve by encouraging still more 
interfaith dialogues locally, regionally, nationally, and 
internationally..." 
 
    The action asks the Worldwide Ministries Division to produce resources 
documenting the history of the church's interfaith involvements and to 
describe models of interfaith relations that have worked before. 

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