wfn.org | Lutheran Ecumenical Representatives Network Enters New Phase

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ELCA NEWS SERVICE

June 2, 2000

LUTHERAN ECUMENICAL REPRESENTATIVES NETWORK ENTERS NEW PHASE
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     LOUISVILLE, Ky. (ELCA) -- The Evangelical Lutheran Church in
America (ELCA) has made a series of ecumenical decisions in recent
years, and now it's time to digest the resulting ecumenical agreements,
said the Rev. Dennis A. Andersen, Bethany Lutheran Church, Seattle.
Andersen was named president of the Lutheran Ecumenical Representatives
Network (LERN) at its annual meeting May 15-18 here at the Galt House
Hotel.
     Andersen succeeded the Rev. Robert O. Kriesat, Gloria Dei Lutheran
Church, Chatham, N.J., as LERN's president.  The bishop of each of the
ELCA's 65 synods is considered that synod's ecumenical officer.  Each
bishop names one representative to LERN, which is coordinated through
the ELCA Department for Ecumenical Affairs.
     "A sense of accomplishment" marked the annual meeting, said
Andersen.  Ecumenical representatives have been involved "professionally
and personally" in presenting several ecumenical proposals to members of
their synods, he said.
     The ELCA approved several "full communion" proposals in recent
years with the Episcopal Church, 1999; with the Moravian Church in
America, 1999; and with the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), Reformed
Church in America and United Church of Christ, 1997.  The Episcopal
Church's general convention will consider the ELCA proposal this summer
in Denver.
     Based on a mutual confessing of the Christian faith and a lifting
of any historic condemnations, full communion is a close working
relationship between churches which includes the recognition and sharing
of each other's ministries and sacraments.
     The ELCA also approved the Lutheran-Catholic "Joint Declaration on
the Doctrine of Justification" in 1997.
     "At least part of our task is done," said Andersen.  "There will
be an ongoing education process and reception process, in which we will
be a part.  That will take an entirely different energy and will require
different resources," he said.
     Andersen said ecumenical representatives will be working in ELCA
synods and with churchwide departments to include "full communion"
counterparts in discussions about such matters as Christian education,
evangelism, seminary education and stewardship.
     "The short-term goal would be to grow into the full communion
relationships and to know what that means right now as we begin to
unfold those things," he said.
     "We no longer make decisions or undertake things in complete
isolation as Lutherans," said Andersen.  "We initiate partnerships and
offer our resources to make community-based decisions," he said.
"Almost every decision we make within the ELCA will affect our
ecumenical partners."
     LERN annual meetings are held in conjunction with the National
Workshop on Christian Unity -- an annual conference U.S. Roman Catholics
initiated in the 1960s as a response to ecumenical advances of Vatican
II.  The National Association of (Roman and Eastern Catholic) Diocesan
Ecumenical Officers (NADEO) and Episcopal Diocesan Ecumenical Officers
(EDEO) assumed oversight of the conference.
     LERN had been involved in some of the workshop planning, but this
year EDEO and NADEO have invited LERN to be a full partner in future
planning, said Andersen.  He called the invitation "a sign of the
maturing" of LERN, which organized in 1988.
     The LERN board appointed several of its members to a task force to
evaluate the organization and its relationships.  "So much of the life
of LERN has been concentrated on the full communion proposals and
interpretation that there has been almost no other item of business in
our lives," Anderson said.
     "At this point in the history of LERN, we have inherited
structures," he said.  "We have understandings in our relationship with
the Department for Ecumenical Affairs, our relationships to one another
and our relationships to our bishops."
     "It's time to look at our structure and see if that continues to
serve us well," said Anderson.  "It's time to look at our governing
documents and evaluate what we have been in the past and what we can be
in the future as the ecumenical life of the church unfolds."
     The LERN annual meeting included reports from the Rev. Daniel F.
Martensen, director; the Rev. Darlis J. Swan, associate director; and
the Rev. Randall R. Lee, associate for bilateral relations and dialogue,
ELCA Department for Ecumenical Affairs.  They updated the
representatives on conversations the ELCA is conducting with other U.S.
denominations, as well as the church's involvement in the National
Council of Churches of Christ in the U.S.A., Lutheran World Federation
and World Council of Churches.
     Ecumenical representatives from each of the ELCA's nine regions
elect a member to a three-year term on the LERN board.  Three are
elected each year.
     Andersen and the Rev. David A. Owren, Christ Lutheran Church,
Fortuna, Calif., were re-elected to the board.  The Rev. G. Scott Cady,
St. Peter Lutheran Church, Cornwall, Conn., was elected to succeed
Kriesat on the board.
     The board elected LERN officers: Andersen, president; and the Rev.
Timothy F. Hungler, interim pastor, ELCA Indiana-Kentucky Synod,
Lawrenceburg, Ind., vice president.  The Rev. William J. Sappenfield,
St. Mark Lutheran Church, Olathe, Kan., was re-elected secretary.
     The Rev. Kurt S. Strause, Emmanuel Lutheran Church, Lancaster,
Pa., was named editor of "LERNings," the organization's newsletter.
     LERN's next annual meeting will be held April 30-May 3, 2001, at
the Hanalei Hotel, San Diego.

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