wfn.org | Global Meeting Focuses on Compatibility of Anglican-Lutheran Agreements

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Final Report Expected in 2002

SKA'LHOLT, Iceland/GENEVA, 9 April 2001 (LWI) - The Anglican-Lutheran
International Working Group held its second meeting from 23 to 28 March 2001
in Ska'lholt, Iceland.

The working group heard reports from the participants on the development of
Anglican-Lutheran agreements in the respective regions. Discussions focused
substantially on the issue of compatibility of the different regional
Anglican-Lutheran agreements that have been reached during the last decades.

The 13-member working group was established in 1998 by the Lutheran World
Federation (LWF) and the Anglican Communion. Its objective is to continue
the formal contact between the two worldwide Christian communions, dating
back in varying forms to 1970. It is expected that the group, presently
co-chaired by Lutheran Bishop Ambrose Moyo (Zimbabwe) and Anglican Bishop
David Tustin (England) will submit its final report to the respective parent
bodies in 2002.

At its first meeting, 12-16 February 2000 in Virginia, USA, the group
identified several important concerns and practices in the two communions
with implications for their ecumenical relations, and began to clarify and
assess such issues.

The LWF has 131 member churches in 72 countries representing over 60.2
million of the nearly 64 million Lutherans worldwide. The Anglican Communion
has some 70 million members in 37 self-governing member churches or
provinces in more than 160 countries.

The full text of the working group's communiquT from the meeting follows: 

COMMUNIQUE'

Meeting of the Anglican - Lutheran International Working Group

Ska'lholt, Iceland, 23 - 28 March 2001

Background 
The dialogue between Anglicans and Lutherans on the worldwide level has been
underway in varying formats since 1970. Prominent among the reports produced
by this dialogue are The Niagara Report (1987), focusing on the mission of
the church and the role of the ordained ministry, and The Diaconate as an
Ecumenical Opportunity (1995), which were produced by the Anglican -
Lutheran International Commission.

On the national and regional levels, Anglican and Lutheran churches have
over several years moved toward different, binding forms of church
fellowship, stemming from agreements such as the Meissen Common Statement
(1988) between the Church of England and the Evangelical Church of Germany,
the Porvoo Common Statement (1996) between the British and Irish Anglican
Churches and most of the Nordic and Baltic Lutheran churches, and the
Reuilly Common Statement (1999) between the British and Irish Anglican
Churches and the French Lutheran and Reformed Churches, Called to Common
Mission between The Episcopal Church (USA) and the Evangelical Lutheran
Church in America and, awaiting final decision, the Waterloo Declaration
between The Anglican Church of Canada and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in
Canada. A proposal for covenanting is now before the churches in Australia.
Other significant developments in Anglican - Lutheran relations are taking
place in Africa, and Brazil.

The Assembly of the Lutheran World Federation in 1997 and the Lambeth
Conference of Anglican bishops in 1998 both expressed their support of the
developments toward agreements of church fellowship on regional and national
levels - those achieved and those in progress - between Anglican and
Lutheran churches. They also affirmed the commitment of the two communions
to continue and further their bilateral ecumenical relations.

In order to continue the formal contact between the two communions, it was
decided in 1998 by the authorities of the Lutheran World Federation and the
Anglican Communion, that a joint working group would be established. The
mandate of the working group involves monitoring the development and
progress in Anglican - Lutheran relations in the various regions of the
world and assessing the significance of the regional developments for the
furthering of relationships between Anglicans and Lutherans worldwide.

The initial meeting in 2000 reviewed and discussed the ongoing processes
related to the various developments in Anglican - Lutheran relations
worldwide. It identified several issues of principle and practice in the
life of the communions and their ecumenical relations calling for further
examination. It began to clarify and assess such issues.

The present meeting 
The Anglican - Lutheran International Working Group met again from 23 to 28
March 2001 at Ska'lholt, Iceland, hosted by the LWF in cooperation with the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in Iceland. The following persons, appointed by
the respective communions, took part:

Lutherans: Bishop Ambrose Moyo, Zimbabwe (co-chair), Professor Kirsten Busch
Nielsen, Denmark, the Revd. Dr. Hartmut Hoevelmann, Germany, Professor
Michael Root, USA, Professor Ola Tjo/rhom, Norway / France, and the Revd.
Sven Oppegaard, The Lutheran World Federation (co-secretary). Anglicans:
Bishop David Tustin, England (co-chair), Bishop Sebastian Bakare, Zimbabwe,
the Revd. Canon Alyson Barnett-Cowan, Canada, Bishop Orlando Santos de
Oliveira, Brazil, and the Revd. Canon David Hamid, Anglican Communion Office
(co-secretary). An apology had been received from the Revd. Professor
William H. Petersen, USA. The Revd. Dr. Guenther Esser from the Old Catholic
Churches of the Union of Utrecht joined the Working Group as an observer
(the Anglicans and Old Catholics have been in communion since the Bonn
Agreement of 1931). Ms. Sybille Graumann, The Lutheran World Federation, and
Ms. Christine Codner, Anglican Communion Office, served as administrative
assistants to the meeting.

The Working Group heard reports from the participants on the development of
Anglican - Lutheran agreements in their respective regions. The
presentations given and the discussion held focused to a considerable extent
on the issue of the compatibility of the different regional Anglican -
Lutheran agreements that have been reached in the course of the last
decades. It also paid substantial attention to the issue whether the new
regional agreements can be extended throughout our communions.

On Sunday 25 March the Working Group participated in morning worship at
Hveragero+i and an afternoon Eucharist service at Selfoss church. The Bishop
of Iceland, the Rt. Rev. Karl Sigurbjoernsson took part in both of these
services as part of his visitation program in the region. He kindly met with
the Working Group and shared with it perspectives on the current pastoral
and ecumenical situation of the Church of Iceland.

On Tuesday 27 March the Working Group was received by church staff at the
Church Headquarters of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Iceland.

It is expected that the Working group will submit its final report to the
respective parent bodies after its next plenary in 2002.

(The LWF is a global communion of Christian churches in the Lutheran
tradition. Founded in 1947 in Lund (Sweden), the LWF now has 131 member
churches in 72 countries representing over 60.2 million of the nearly 64
million Lutherans worldwide. The LWF acts on behalf of its member churches
in areas of common interest such as ecumenical relations, theology,
humanitarian assistance, human rights, communication, and the various
aspects of mission and development work. Its secretariat is located in
Geneva, Switzerland.)

[Lutheran World Information (LWI) is the information service of the Lutheran
World Federation (LWF). Unless specifically noted, material presented does
not represent positions or opinions of the LWF or of its various units.
Where the dateline of an article contains the notation (LWI), the material
may be freely reproduced with acknowledgment.]

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