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ACNS 4102     |     ACO     |	  30 JANUARY 2005

Communiqué from the Anglican Lutheran International Commission

The Anglican - Lutheran International Commission Moshi, Tanzania, 13-19
January 2006

The Third Anglican - Lutheran International Commission (ALIC) held its
first meeting at the Lutheran Uhuru Hostel in Moshi, Tanzania, between
13th and 19th January, 2006, under the chairmanship of the Rt Revd Fred
Hiltz, Anglican Bishop of Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, and the
Revd Dr Thomas Nyiwe, President of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of
Cameroon.

The Commission has been established by the Anglican Consultative Council
and the Lutheran World Federation to continue the dialogue between
Anglicans and Lutherans on the worldwide level which has been in
progress since 1970. ALIC intends to build upon the work reflected in
The Niagara Report (1987), focusing on the mission of the church and the
role of the ordained ministry, The Diaconate as an Ecumenical
Opportunity (1995), and most recently Growth in Communion (2002), the
report of the Anglican - Lutheran International Working Group (ALIWG),
which reviewed the extensive regional agreements which have established
close relations between Anglican and Lutheran churches in several parts
of the world.[1]

The Commission identified the key issues on which it would have to focus
in order to advance Anglican - Lutheran relations around the globe,
including questions such as the place of the historic episcopate within
the apostolicity of the Church, life and work in the service of the
Gospel and theological education and formation. ALIC will also pay
special attention to the regional and contextual aspects of Anglican -
Lutheran relations, and the way in which regional agreements may be
encouraged, and assisted to come into relationship with one another.

The Commission were pleased to have the presence of both co-chairs of
the All Africa Anglican - Lutheran Commission (AAALC) at the meeting. As
a consequence of hearing about the nature of co-operation between
Anglicans and Lutherans in Africa, ALIC encourages AAALC to move forward
to its next meeting at the earliest opportunity. Whilst both Communions
have expressed full visible unity as an ultimate goal in the ecumenical
quest, the time would nevertheless seem ripe for Anglicans and Lutherans
throughout Africa to discern a realizable first step in that direction.
ALIC offers its support in this task.

The meeting was hosted by the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) in
cooperation with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania. The
Commission was welcomed by the Revd Fredrick Shoo, Assistant to the
Lutheran Bishop of Moshi, and worshipped with the Lutheran cathedral
congregation on Sunday 15th January. The Commission also visited the
Anglican Cathedral in Arusha, and were welcomed by the Rt Revd Simon
Makundi, Anglican Bishop of Mount Kilimanjaro, and members of his team.
The Commission would like to express its thanks to the management and
staff of the Uhuru Hostel, to the members of the Anglican Diocese of
Mount Kilimanjaro, and especially members of the Lutheran congregation
at Moshi Cathedral, for their welcome and hospitality in the course of
the meeting.

The Commission is planning to meet next year (2007) in Niagara Falls,
Canada. ALIC gives thanks to God for all that has been achieved in
Anglican - Lutheran dialogue and co-operation, and asks that all
Christian people pray for the work of the Commission as it seeks to
carry forward the search for the full visible unity of the Church which
is God's will for his people.

Those present at the meeting at Moshi were:

Anglicans:

The Rt Revd Fred Hiltz, Anglican Church of Canada (co-chair),
The Revd Dr Charlotte Methuen, Church of England,
The Rt Revd Musonda T S Mwamba, Anglican Church of Central Africa,
The Very Revd Prof William H. Petersen, The Episcopal Church (USA),
The Ven Dr Cathy Thomson, Anglican Church of Australia,
The Revd Canon Gregory K Cameron, the Anglican Communion Office
(co-secretary).

Consultants:

The Revd Canon Dr Alyson Barnett-Cowan, Anglican Church of Canada,
The Revd Dr Günther Esser, the Old Catholic Churches of the Union of
Utrecht.

Guests :

The Rt Revd Dr Sebastian Bakare, Anglican Co-Chair of AAALC,
The Rt Revd Dr David Tustin, former Co-Chair of ALIWG.

Lutherans :

The Revd Dr Thomas Nyiwe, Cameroon (co-chair),
Prof Dr Kirsten Busch Nielsen, Denmark,
The Revd Dr Cameron R Harder, Canada,
Landesbischof Jürgen Johannesdotter, Germany ( replacing the Revd Dr
Hartmut Hövelmann),
The Revd Dr Päïvi Jussila, Finland (replacing the Revd. Helene Tärneberg
Steed, Sweden) ,
The Revd Sven Oppegaard, The Lutheran World Federation (co-secretary).

Consultants:
Prof Dr Kenneth G Appold, Institute for Ecumenical Research, Strasbourg,
France,
The Revd Thomas Bruch, The Lutheran Council of Great Britain

Guests:

The Revd N P Phaswana, the Lutheran Co-chair of AAALC

Administrative support was provided by Ms Sybille Graumann, of the LWF
and the Revd Terrie Robinson, of the Anglican Communion Office.

[1] These include 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 the
majority of the Nordic and Baltic Lutheran churches, 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, the Waterloo Declaration between The Anglican Church of Canada
and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada and Common Ground (2001)
between the Anglican Church of Australia and the Evangelical Lutheran
Church of Australia.

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