UMC to vote on ‘full communion’ with Lutherans

United Methodist News Service
Both The United Methodist Church and Evangelical Lutheran Church in America are asking their leaders to approve “full communion” between the two bodies.
The United Methodist vote is to come during the April 23-May 2 General Conference in Fort Worth.
ELCA Presiding Bishop Mark Han-son is to preach at General Conference April 29, the day the vote on the full communion agreement is planned.
If approved in Fort Worth, the ELCA 11th Biennial Churchwide Assembly is to consider the “full communion” agreement Aug. 17-23, 2009, in Minneapolis. 
The move follows an interim agreement in December at the last round of dialogue between the two denominations.
The Rev. W. Douglas Mills, an executive with the United Methodist General Commission on Christian Unity and Interreligious Concerns, said “full communion” means “acknowledging one another’s ministries as valid” as well as wanting to be involved in mutual decision making.
Being in full communion is a visible step toward full unity, he said, but added, “We don’t know what full unity is or can look like.”
Over the last three decades, ELCA-UMC dialogue teams have explored baptism (1977-79) and issues of episcopacy (1985-87). The third round of dialogue, from 2001 to 2007, explored the two churches’ understandings of Holy Communion and resulted in a 2004 recommendation for an interim agreement.
The interim “Eucharistic sharing” agreement was approved by the United Methodist Council of Bishops in May 2005 and by ELCA representatives at a denominational assembly in August 2005.
The agreement encourages “mutual prayer and mutual support, study together of the Holy Scriptures as well as the histories and theological traditions of both churches, and joint programs of theological discussion, evangelical outreach and social ministry endeavors.”
Looking toward full communion, the agreement encouraged joint services of Holy Communion following guidelines established by both churches.
“Confessing Our Faith Together: A Statement Toward Full Communion by the ELCA-UMC Bilateral Dialogue” was completed in 2005 and distributed for feedback and comment.
In the study guide introduction, the joint dialogue team noted the ties that Lutherans and United Methodists already share:
“Lutherans and United Methodists have been well acquainted with one another. Our relationship, locally and nationally, has been forged through friendships, family ties, congregations, ecumenical councils, colleges and seminaries. We are, in countless places, partners in ministry.”
In December, during the final session of the 2001-2007 dialogue, team members considered responses to the statement, looked at timelines for each denomination’s legislative process and discussed what documents, events or activities might be helpful if full communion is approved.
The United Methodist Church sought responses to “Confessing Our Faith Together” from local congregations either already in a relationship with an ELCA congregation or able to establish one for a study together.
The Lutherans focused on responses from their seminaries.
A few individuals responded to the report.
“What we got back was, by and large, very positive,” Mills said.
The Rev. Michael Trice, director of ELCA ecumenical formation and interreligious relations, said his office expects further responses to “Confessing Our Faith Together” from his denomination’s eight seminaries later this spring.
“There was consistent and wide consensus in congregational evaluations of (the document) that encouraged a relationship of full communion, recognizing that these two churches already live in proximity and thrive in numerous communities of cooperation throughout the ELCA and the UMC,” Trice said.
That viewpoint was reinforced in a survey of ELCA congregations last year.
“Of the over 8,000 responses to the survey, ELCA congregations revealed that UMC churches were a consistent and enduring partner in local congregations throughout both of these communions,” he said. 
All bilateral dialogues have third-party observers, Mills said. The Episcopal Church fulfilled that role for the UMC-ELCA dialogue. An interim agreement for sharing the Eucharist with the Episcopal Church also was approved by the United Methodist Council of Bishops in 2005.
The Episcopal Church has its own full communion agreement with the ELCA, Mills noted. Red-flag issues raised between those two denominations—such as the nature of the episcopacy—”were not dividing issues for United Methodists and Lutherans,” he said.
The Episcopal Church response to “Confessing Our Faith Together” did help the United Methodist-Lutheran dialogue team “focus on where the continuing work needs to be,” Mills added.
The study and discussion guide for Confessing Our Faith Together, which includes the statement, can be found at http://www.gccuic-umc.org/web/um_elca_statement.htm on the Christian Unity Web site.