wfn.org | ELCA Assembly Debates Agreement with Episcopal Church

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ELCA NEWS SERVICE

August 18, 1999

ELCA ASSEMBLY DEBATES AGREEMENT WITH EPISCOPAL CHURCH
99-CWA-21-CA

     DENVER (ELCA) -- Most ecumenical dialogues revolve around broad
and complex matters of doctrine and a variety of concerns, but debate
about whether the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) should
declare full communion with The Episcopal Church has narrowed to one
question: Should the ELCA adopt a form of the "historic episcopate" in
order to be in full communion with Episcopalians?
     No other issue arose during more than an hour of open discussion
of the matter at the ELCA Churchwide Assembly here Aug. 18.  Voting
members of the assembly spoke passionately, but without rancor on both
sides of the issue of whether to accept the document titled "Called To
Common Mission" (CCM).  CCM is a Lutheran proposal for full communion
with the Episcopal Church.
     The churchwide assembly, the chief legislative authority of the
ELCA, is meeting Aug. 16-22 at the Colorado Convention Center. There are
more than 2,500 people participating, including 1,039 voting members.
The theme for the biennial assembly is "Making Christ Known: Hope for a
New Century."
     The issue of the "historic episcopate" has stirred feelings deeply
rooted in several different forms of Lutheran piety.  The ELCA, formed
in 1987 by the merger of three Lutheran church bodies, contains people
whose former church bodies had varied understandings about the roles or
need for pastors and bishops.
     If the agreement is approved, future Lutheran bishops would be
installed by bishops whose churches already have the historic
episcopate, the concept that those who ordain new pastors are from a
line of bishops stretching back to the earliest days of the church. Only
bishops would be allowed to ordain new pastors.
     In return, the Episcopal Church would -- if that church agrees --
immediately recognize all current Lutheran pastors and bishops as being
already ordained into the historic episcopate.
     For some Lutherans, this restores what the 16th century
Reformation was unable to preserve.  The Rev. G. Scott Cady of the ELCA
New England Synod said the Reformers did not see the episcopate as
"folly" but that circumstances of the time prevented some Lutheran
churches from retaining it.  "Let us not miss this truly joyous and
blessed opportunity to carry on the Reformers' dreams," Cady said.
     Opponents to the measure contend that American Lutherans have
never had the historic episcopate and do not need it.  The Rev. William
Saunders of the ELCA Southern Ohio Synod said, "I would feel
hypocritical accepting something that is not truly necessary in the one,
holy, catholic and apostolic faith."
     The Rev. Norman Wahl of Rochester, Minn., argued that the term
"historic episcopate" is used too loosely and that adopting it might
"narrow" the ELCA's ecumenical agenda, which also includes full
communion with churches of the Reformed tradition.
     The Rev. John Thomas, president-elect of the United Church of
Christ, one of the Reformed denominations in full communion with the
ELCA, said the UCC was also considering ecumenical ways to maintain the
office of "oversight" -- another way of describing the function of a
bishop. "If you move forward," he said, "you will encourage  and
challenge us to take up this issue in our own life."
     Some Lutherans oppose language which seems to imply a "hierarchy"
or "ranking" in the church and among its clergy, though both Lutheran
and Episcopal theologians maintain that the document does not set up any
such ranking.  Opposing the measure, the Rev. Tom Lyberg of the ELCA
Northwestern Ohio Synod, said, "I do not see this as a mission document;
I see it as a political, ecclesiastical document." Lyberg argued that
rather than establishing a new model of church cooperation, the proposal
was based on a "failed paradigm."
     Richard Peterson, a lay voting member from Minneapolis, dismissed
the idea that the agreement establishes a "multi-level" ministry. Active
in Lutheran-Episcopal dialogues, Peterson said he felt that
characterizations of Episcopalians as hierarchical were
"misrepresentations" of the truth.
     "Every time the (Lutheran) Confessions speak of the episcopate,
they do so affirmatively," Peterson added, noting that five of the
ELCA's seminary faculties have endorsed the proposal.
     Many proponents spoke of the warm relations they have with
Episcopalians in their home towns and said they would welcome a
declaration of full communion as a means of deepening those
relationships.
     "We don't need the historic episcopate to give us unity," said the
Rev. Julie Jones of the Northern Great Lakes Synod, in opposition to the
proposal.
     Some contend that the issue of the historic episcopate is too
divisive within the ELCA to be dealt with at the present time.  "We have
been the ELCA for 11 years.  I do not believe we know who we are at this
point.  There are issues we need to settle before we enter into this
agreement," argued the Rev. Darby Lawrence of the Central-Southern
Illinois Synod.
     Beth Shoffner of the ELCA North Carolina Synod urged the
assembly's voting members to "stop clinging to the boat" and fearing the
"boisterous winds of our doubts."  She said she saw, in the agreement,
"the outstretched hand of Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit."
     The Rev. Steven Ullestad, bishop of the ELCA Northeastern Iowa
Synod, said he previously opposed full communion with the Episcopalians
but had learned enough about them to move to the other side.  He said,
"The greatest gift we can offer each other is the creation of an
episcopate that is both evangelical and historic; for the sake not only
of our relationship with the Episcopal Church, but for our witness to
the world."
     The Rev. Timothy F. Lull, president of Pacific Lutheran
Theological Seminary, Berkeley, Calif., listed the events of what he
called a "remarkable century of change" for Lutherans.  The church, he
said, has moved from social "quietism to having a vigorous public
statement."  It has approved ordination for women, made commitments to
mission that expanded the church beyond its northern European roots,
renewed its worship life, and planted thousands of new churches.
Formerly, said Lull, "no one would have picked Lutherans as likely to be
ecumenical leaders.  Now others look to us for our leadership."
     At the ELCA's 1997 assembly in Philadelphia, a similar proposal
for full communion with the Episcopal Church failed by six votes.
     The "Called to Common Mission" proposal comes before the assembly
Thursday morning and requires a two-thirds majority to pass.

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