wfn.org | Final Meeting of the Anglican-Lutheran International Working Group

["Frank Imhoff" <FRANKI@elca.org>]

Report "Growth in Communion" to be Submitted to Governing Bodies

PORTO ALEGRE, Brazil/GENEVA, 5 June 2002 (LWI) - The third and
final meeting of the Anglican - Lutheran International Working
Group (ALIWG) was held May 11-14 in Porto Alegre, Brazil, hosted
by the Anglican Communion in cooperation with the Anglican
Episcopal Church of Brazil.

In their last round, members of the Lutheran World Federation
(LWF) and Anglican Communion working group devoted a considerable
amount of time to structuring a final report, "Growth in
Communion," which will be submitted to the governing bodies of the
two communions.

ALIWG was established in 1998 with the mandate to monitor the
development and progress in Anglican - Lutheran relations in the
world's regions, and assess the significance of the regional
developments for furthering the communions' global relationships.
At the initial meeting in 2000 in Alexandria, Virginia, USA,
participants identified several fundamental and practical issues
in the life of the communions and their ecumenical relations,
calling for further examination.

Meeting in 2001 in Skalholt, Iceland, the ALIWG heard regional
reports and studied the coherence and compatibility of the
agreements reached between Anglicans and Lutherans in different
regional dialogues.

The international dialogue between Anglicans and Lutherans has
been underway in varying formats since 1970. Prominent among the
reports produced by the 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 Protestant Church in Germany, the Porvoo Common Statement
(1996) between the British and Irish Anglican churches and most of
the Nordic and Baltic Lutheran churches. Others include the
Reuilly Common Statement (1999) between the British and Irish
Anglican churches and French Lutheran and Reformed churches,
Called to Common Mission between the Episcopal Church (USA) and
the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (2001) and last July's
Waterloo Declaration between the Anglican Church of Canada and
Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada. A proposal for covenanting
is now before the churches in Australia. Other significant
developments are taking place in Africa and Brazil.

The LWF Ninth Assembly meeting in Hong Kong, China in 1997, and
Lambeth Conference of Anglican bishops in 1998, both expressed
their support of ongoing developments and new initiatives toward
agreements of fellowship on regional and national level between
Anglican and Lutheran churches. They also affirmed the communions'
commitment to continue and further their bilateral ecumenical
relations.

The international working group has been co-chaired by Bishops
Ambrose Moyo, Evangelical Lutheran Church in Zimbabwe and David
Tustin, England.

In Porto Alegre, the ALIWG members were received by Rev. Huberto
Kirchheim, president of the Evangelical Church of the Lutheran
Confession in Brazil, and by Archbishop Glauco Soares de Lima,
primate of the Anglican Episcopal Church of Brazil.

(The LWF is a global communion of Christian churches in the
Lutheran tradition. Founded in 1947 in Lund (Sweden), the LWF now
has 133 member churches in 73 countries representing over 60.5
million of the 64.3 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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