wfn.org | Talks Authorized Between ELCA and Missouri Synod

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ELCA NEWS SERVICE

November 18, 1998

TALKS AUTHORIZED BETWEEN ELCA AND MISSOURI SYNOD
98-CC2-19-FI

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA)
and The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod (LCMS) will begin formal
conversations in June 1999.  The ELCA Church Council authorized Presiding
Bishop H. George Anderson to convene a representative 10-member panel "to
discuss interchurch matters" with counterparts in the LCMS.
     The council is the ELCA's board of directors and serves as the
legislative authority of the church between meetings of the ELCA's
Churchwide Assembly.  The council met here Nov. 13-16.  Assemblies are
held every other year; the next is August 16-22, 1999, in Denver.
     In July the Missouri Synod convention voiced support for LCMS
President A.L. Barry's efforts to set up talks between the two church
bodies.  That action was part of a resolution to express "deep regret and
profound disagreement" with ecumenical decisions of the ELCA to enter into
full communion with three Reformed churches and to lift certain
condemnations of the Roman Catholic Church.
     Anderson met with other members of the Committee for Lutheran
Cooperation on Nov. 9.  That committee includes six ELCA leaders and their
LCMS counterparts.  The bishop told the council the LCMS leaders were
clear that these would not be "church union talks."
     Suggested topics for the meetings include Lutheran identity, ELCA
ecumenical agreements, the nature of the church and ecumenical activity,
and the authorization of sacramental ministries for congregations without
pastors.  The ELCA and LCMS panels are expected to meet twice a year.

For information contact:
Frank Imhoff, Assoc. Director (773) 380-2955 or NEWS@ELCA.ORG
http://www.elca.org/co/news/current.html