Lutheran Ecumenism at Center of Workshop on Christian Unity

SAN DIEGO (ELCA) -- Fifty of about 300 participants at the National Workshop on Christian Unity (NWCU) here April 30-May 3 were members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). A list of ecumenical dialogues and agreements put the ELCA at the center of many of the workshop's seminars, plenary and luncheon speeches, and ecumenical worship services.
"Lutherans enjoy a particular position of leadership in the national workshop together especially with their Episcopal and Roman Catholic partners," said the Rev. Dennis A. Andersen, Bethany Lutheran Church, Seattle, president of the Lutheran Ecumenical Representatives Network (LERN).
The National Workshop on Christian Unity is an annual meeting comprised of several ecumenical networks meeting separately and together. The workshop involves LERN, Episcopal Diocesan Ecumenical Officers (EDEO), the National Association of (Roman and Eastern Catholic) Diocesan Ecumenical Officers (NADEO) and Ecumenical Colleagues, which includes the American Baptist Churches in the U.S.A., Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), United Church of Christ and United Methodist Church.
"There are very few ecumenical partners here with whom we are not in some kind of ecumenical bilateral dialogue, full-communion relationship or with whom we will not soon be in ecumenical dialogue," said Andersen, so we stand in a remarkable position."
In 1991 the ELCA adopted "A Declaration of Ecumenical Commitment," which states that the church's ecumenical goal is a relationship of "full communion" with all those churches that confess the Triune God -- Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Full communion commits the churches to share locally and internationally in their mission and to develop procedures whereby clergy in one church body may serve as pastors in congregations of the other church body.
The ELCA is in full communion with the Episcopal Church, Moravian Church in America, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), Reformed Church in America and United Church of Christ. It took an active role in the Lutheran-Catholic "Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification" signed by the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) and the Vatican in 1999.
The ELCA is involved in direct talks with the African Methodist Episcopal Church, Mennonite Church, Orthodox churches, Roman Catholic Church and United Methodist Church. It maintains a Consultative Panel on Lutheran-Jewish Relations.
At its churchwide assembly this summer in Indianapolis, the ELCA will vote on becoming a "partner in mission and dialogue" with Churches Uniting in Christ (CUIC). After 30 years of dialogue, the nine churches of the Consultation on Church Union (COCU) -- African Methodist Episcopal Church, African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Christian Methodist Episcopal Church, Episcopal Church, International Council of Community Churches, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), United Church of Christ and United Methodist Church -- will form CUIC in 2002.
The ELCA is a member of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. (NCC), Lutheran World Federation (LWF) and World Council of Churches (WCC). Its ecumenical activities are coordinated through the ELCA Department for Ecumenical Affairs.

SEMINARS
Participants chose four of the 12 seminars the National Workshop on Christian Unity hosted -- topics ranging from "Ecumenism 101" to interreligious dialogue. Ecumenical networks also sponsored seminars.
The Rev. A. Craig Settlage, associate executive director of the ELCA Division for Ministry, conducted a seminar on "Living in Full Communion: Orderly Exchange of Ordained Ministers of Word and Sacrament." Settlage had worked with staff of the ELCA's "full communion" churches to make provision for the exchange of clergy -- a feature of full communion.
Exchange is more than just one pastor "filling in" for another pastor and less than a pastor transferring from one church to another, said Settlage. The pastor remains a pastor of the sending church but is "authorized by the receiving church to serve in a ministry setting, usually for a term," he said.
Settlage stressed that a pastor serves a congregation of another denomination "at the invitation of the receiving church in consultation with the sending church." The pastor abides by the policies of the receiving church but remains a pastor of the sending church, he said.
Full communion churches will be changed by exchanging clergy, said Settlage. Pastors will become more versed in their own traditions and in the traditions of other Christians, he said.
The Rev. G. Scott Cady, St. Peter Evangelical Lutheran Church, Cornwall, Conn., and the Rev. Christopher L. Webber, author and retired Episcopal priest, Sharon, Conn., gave an EDEO-LERN seminar on their new book, "Lutherans and Episcopalians Together: A Guide to Understanding."
"The ecumenical enterprise is a tricky business," said Webber. Two churches may use the same signs, symbols and words to mean different things, while using different signs, symbols and words to mean the same things, he said.
European bishops were officers of the state, administering the state church, said Webber. The histories of Lutheran and Episcopal bishops in the United States are different, and bishops serve as more than just administrators, he said.
ELCA-Episcopal full communion allows the two churches to ask together: "What are bishops?" and "What are bishops for?" Webber recommended that the churches also discuss the roles of deacons and lay ministers.
Cady said many Lutheran pastors usually learn about other denominations by talking with other Lutherans, and they're usually wrong. He urged clergy to "engage in more deliberate conversation with people in other traditions about themselves."
Churchwide "agreements may not guide ecumenism in your place," said Cady, encouraging congregations to visit neighboring churches. He asked the welcoming churches to be themselves.
"My parishioners like to see what is distinct in the Episcopal Church," Cady said. "We don't want to go to the Episcopal Church and have them do us the favor of singing all Lutheran hymns."
The Rev. David L. Veal, retired Episcopal priest, Chapel of the Transfiguration, Lubbock, Texas, led a seminar on his book, "In a Central Way: A Contemporary Look at Lutheran and Episcopal Liturgies." He said the liturgies that Episcopalians and Lutherans use in their worship services were developed together centuries ago.
Veal said the primary difference was the language being used -- English or German. Denominational differences in the liturgies were developed later, he said.
The Rev. Jerald L. Folk, director, Wisconsin Council of Churches, Sun Prairie, Wis., and Dr. Carol LaHurd, visiting associate professor of religion, Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, N.C., presented a seminar on grassroots ecumenism. Both are ELCA members.
Folk said ecumenical activities -- both social and theological -- often percolate up from congregations to the larger church. At the same time, agreements between church bodies are relevant when they are received and implemented by congregations, he said.
Stories about problems with reception are plentiful, said Folk, but he wanted to hear success stories. So, he asked diocesan and synod staff to send him reports and newspaper clippings.
Folk sorted the responses into three categories -- celebrations, education and administration. He shared stories of how ecumenical agreements inspired joint worship services and covenants between local churches; how local churches co-sponsored conferences and resources; and how pastors served two congregations of different denominations and congregations serve members of two denominations.
LaHurd offered examples of how Lutheran dialogues with th