Celebration Jan. 27 Honors Lutheran-Moravian Full Communion

SALISBURY, N.C. (ELCA) -- Winston-Salem, N.C., a city rich in Moravian heritage, is an ideal setting for a festive celebration honoring a full communion agreement between the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and the Moravian Church in America. Church dignitaries from across the United States and as far away as Germany will gather Jan. 27 for the event.
A full day of activities, including a tour of historic Old Salem and a Moravian "Love Feast," will culminate in a celebratory evening service of worship. The service at Augsburg Lutheran Church, Winston-Salem= ,=20 will be preceded by a Moravian Band Chorale on the steps in front of the church.
The Rev. H. George Anderson, presiding bishop of ELCA, will preach at the service. The Rev. R. Burke Johnson and the Rev. Robert E. Sawyer, presidents of the Provincial Elders' Conferences of the Northern and Southern Provinces, respectively, will represent the Moravian Church in America. The Rev. Hans-Beat Motel, chair of the Unity Board, the governing body of the world's Moravian Provinces, will travel from Germany to participate in the historic occasion.
The Rev. Lane A. Sapp, Calvary Moravian Church, Winston-Salem, will be presiding minister for the worship service, and Dr. Addie Butler, ELCA vice president, Philadelphia, will serve as assisting minister.
In coming weeks, Lutheran and Moravian congregations across the United States may be planning similar worship celebrations based on "Guidelines and Worship Resources for the Celebration of Full Communion: Lutheran Moravian" being used for the Jan. 27 service.
The Moravian Church -- or Unitas Fratrum -- was organized in Europe in 1457 and is considered the oldest of the Reformation churches. It traces its origin to the teachings of the Czech reformer John Hus, who pre-dated the German reformer Martin Luther by about a century.
The ELCA has 5.2 million members in the United States and Caribbean.
The Southern Province of the Moravian Church is based in Winston-Salem= . =20 The province includes about 25,000 Moravians with congregations in three states in the southeastern United States. The Northern Province includes about 30,000 Moravians in 14 states, the District of Columbia, and two provinces of Canada.
After six years of dialogue and study, both provinces of the Moravian Church passed the agreement "Following Our Shepherd to Full Communion" in 1998, followed by the ELCA Churchwide Assembly in August 1999.
"This action affirms the Lutheran church's longstanding relationship with the Unitas Fratrum -- our interwoven histories and theological traditions, our common commitments to mission and service to those in need, and our shared Christian faith," Anderson said after the Moravian vote. "It also acknowledges the relationship of full communion the ELCA already enjoys with Moravians in other parts of the world through membership in the Lutheran World Federation."
Full communion is not a plan to merge; it commits the churches to the possibility of sharing in their mission work locally and internationally and to procedures whereby clergy in one church body, under certain circumstances, may serve as pastors in the other church body.

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"Guidelines and Worship Resources for the Celebration of Full Communion:
Lutheran Moravian" is located at
http://www.elca.org/DCM/worship/guide-lm.html on the World Wide Web.

*Donna Prunkl is communications coordinator for the ELCA North Carolina
Synod, Salisbury.

[EDITORS: The Moravian Band Chorale begins Thursday, Jan. 27, at 7:00
p.m. (ET) at Augsburg Lutheran Church, 845 W. 5th Street, Winston-Salem.
The Celebration of Full Communion begins at 7:30 p.m.]

For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or NEWS@ELCA.ORG
http://listserv.elca.org/archives/elcanews.html