wfn.org | More Lutheran Educators Address 'Called to Common Mission'

[NEWS <NEWS@ELCA.ORG>]

ELCA NEWS SERVICE

April 28, 1999

MORE LUTHERAN EDUCATORS ADDRESS 'CALLED TO COMMON MISSION'
99-117-FI

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The faculties of the Lutheran Theological
Southern Seminary in Columbia, S.C., and Trinity Lutheran Seminary in
Columbus, Ohio, both seminaries of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in
America (ELCA), have added their voices to the discussion of a Lutheran
proposal for full communion with The Episcopal Church.
     "The reasons to approve the document are numerous, and to our
thinking, outweigh reasons for rejection," said an April 9 statement in
which the Southern faculty unanimously supported "Called to Common
Mission: A Lutheran Proposal for a Revision of the Concordat of
Agreement" -- CCM for short.
     The Trinity faculty admitted it was "not of one mind about this
proposal."  Trinity's statement offered the hope that "even our
disagreements can serve to facilitate constructive discussion of the
proposal" before the ELCA Churchwide Assembly votes on it this August in
Denver.
     "The majority of the faculty of Trinity Lutheran Seminary believes
that, whatever the imperfections of the proposal, the CCM embodies an
important step toward exhibiting the unity that the Lord wills for the
church," it said.  "This faculty believes that all of us must come to
our own decision on this issue."
     A round of Lutheran-Episcopal dialogues that began in 1983
developed a proposal for full communion between the two churches, "The
Concordat of Agreement," and issued it in 1991.
     A convention of the Episcopal Church approved the Concordat in
1997.  The proposal failed to win a two-thirds majority of the ELCA
assembly that year by six votes.  The assembly asked that the Concordat
be revised, taking its debate into account and clarifying the technical
language of the dialogue.  CCM was issued in November 1998 as that
revision.
     Lutherans and Episcopalians agree on the doctrine of "apostolic
succession," an ongoing faithful proclamation of Christ.  Episcopalians
bring to the relationship the "historic episcopate," a succession of
bishops as a sign of unity back to the earliest days of the Christian
church.
     Three elements must be included in a full-communion agreement
between the ELCA and Episcopal Church, said the Trinity faculty:  full
recognition of the validity of past and present ordained Lutheran
ministries; adequate expression of the Lutheran confessional teaching
regarding ordained ministry and the ministry of the laity; and the
Episcopal ecumenical requirement that Lutheran bishops participate in
the "historic episcopate."
     The Trinity statement lays out the views of opponents and
supporters of CCM on five general topics: the mission of the church, the
Lutheran doctrine of ministry, the historic episcopate, the
interchangeability of ordained ministries and ritual.
     In a personal statement, the Rev. Dennis A. Anderson, president of
Trinity Lutheran Seminary, gave his reasons for supporting CCM.
     "The visible unity of the Church is vital to God's mission that
the world believe," said Anderson.  "We are not free to pass by, ignore,
neglect or fail to take action that promotes the unity of the Church of
Jesus Christ, unless such action is in fact contrary to the gospel."
     "We are free ... to accept the historic episcopate as a human but
not a divine tradition," Anderson said.
     "As faculty of the Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary, we urge
the 1999 assembly of the ELCA to approve 'Called to Common Mission,'"
said the Southern statement, before outlining four reasons for its
support of the proposal:
+ The Lutheran Confessions indicate a desire to hold onto the historic
episcopate.
+ Acceptance of the historic episcopate is consistent with Luther's
understanding of evangelical freedom.
+ "Called to Common Mission" makes a clear distinction between what
founds church unity -- the gospel in word and sacrament -- and what
expresses church unity -- the historic episcopate.
+ Approval of "Called to Common Mission" would be helpful to the mission
of the church of Jesus Christ.
     The Rev. H. Frederick Reisz Jr., president of Southern, issued a
personal statement of support for CCM earlier in April.  The faculty of
the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia also announced its
support for the full-communion proposal.
     The faculty at Southern includes 18 professors.  Trinity's faculty
includes 24 professors.

EDITORS: The full text of "Called to Common Mission" is located at
http://www.elca.org/ea/proposal/text.html

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