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ELCA NEWS SERVICE
August 11, 2005 ELCA Assembly Adopts Interim Eucharistic Sharing With UMC
CWA-20-05-TW  ORLANDO, Fla. (ELCA) - By a vote of 877 to 60, the 2005 Churchwide Assembly of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) agreed to begin an "Interim Eucharistic Sharing" with the United Methodist Church. The agreement had previously been approved by the Council of Bishops of the United Methodist Church in April 2004, pending this decision by the ELCA.
The churchwide assembly, the chief legislative authority of the ELCA, is meeting here Aug. 8-14 at the World Center Marriott and Convention Center. About 2,300 people are participating, including 1,018 ELCA voting members. The theme for the biennial assembly is "Marked with the Cross of Christ Forever."
"What an historic moment this is for United Methodists and the ELCA," said Bishop William Oden, ecumenical officer for the Council of Bishops and Head of Communion for the United Methodist Church, as he greeted the assembly following the vote. "We have invited each other into each other's house."
The terms of the agreement foster "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," while encouraging joint services of Holy Communion following guidelines established by both churches.
The agreement, which looks forward "to the future possibility of a relationship of full communion," comes after nearly 30 years of theological dialogue between the two churches that had resulted in convergence in matters relating to baptism and episcopacy (oversight). The agreement also recognizes the United Methodist Church "as a church in which the Gospel is preached and taught" and that "the basic teaching of each respective church is consonant with the Gospel."
Many in the assembly expressed support for the proposal, including the Rev. David Housholder, voting member, ELCA Pacifica Synod, who expressed his hope that "we can catch up with the grassroots" efforts of joint Methodist-Lutheran work already existing.
The Rev. James Crumley, voting member, ELCA South Carolina Synod and former president of the Lutheran Church in America -- a predecessor church body of the ELCA -- asked "why this doesn't go further" to an immediate vote of full communion.
"You certainly capture the mind of the dialogue team," responded The Rev. Alan C. Bjornberg, bishop of the ELCA Rocky Mountain Synod, Denver, and co-chair of the Methodist-Lutheran Dialogue, who went on to suggest that a time of interim sharing would provide an opportunity for "the whole church to discover what we have discovered" regarding convergence between the two churches.
Some concern was raised in the floor debate on the proposal over perceived differences between the two churches on the local level.
The Rev. Joanna Grimshaw, voting member, ELCA Central States Synod, said that while she was in favor of the proposal, her experience of United Methodists was that "their theological faith and practice diverges widely."
The Rev. R. Paul Hendrickson, voting member, ELCA Virginia Synod, expressed similar concerns at a hearing on the proposal earlier in the week.
"There seems a great inconsistency as to how theology gets played out in the Methodist Church," he said. "In southwest Virginia, the Methodist Church can be anything," he said.
Bjornberg responded that rather than "anecdotal evidence," it was important to trust the published statements of the United Methodist Church, especially This Holy Mystery: A Methodist Understanding of Holy Communion, adopted by the General Conference of the United Methodist Church in 2004.
At a news conference following the vote, Oden acknowledged that "United Methodism has been formed out of many strands," including a Free Church tradition.
"A stringent process of worship renewal" that resulted in the adoption of the document This Holy Mystery, which defines the real presence of Christ in the Lord's Supper, has "clarified it, not just for our ecumenical partners, but for ourselves," Oden said. "And this has been strongly affirmed by our General Conference."
For information on the Interim Eucharist Sharing agreement, see http://www.ELCA.org/ecumenical/ecumenicaldialogue/unitedmethodist/
Information about the ELCA Churchwide Assembly is at http://www.elca.org/assembly/05 on the Web.
For more information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or news@elca.org
http://www.elca.org/news
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