United Methodist Bishops Approve Interim Pact With ELCA

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Leaders of the United Methodist Church
approved an interim agreement for sharing the Eucharist with the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). The approval came
May 5 at the United Methodist Council of Bishops' weeklong spring
meeting in Arlington, Va.
The agreement -- if approved by the 2005 ELCA Churchwide
Assembly -- would result in the ELCA and the United Methodist
Church sharing worship, particularly communion, studying with one
another and being involved in mission together. United Methodist
leaders also approved an interim agreement with the Episcopal
Church on May 5.
"We will be entering those agreements within a year," said
Bishop William B. Oden, ecumenical officer of the United
Methodist council. Oden has been involved in dialogues between
the United Methodist Church and the ELCA.
"This is highly significant," he said. This would be the
first time the United Methodist Church has had such a shared
communion with any group outside the Methodist tradition -- the
African Methodist Episcopal, African Methodist Episcopal Zion and
Christian Methodist Episcopal churches.
The agreement is an interim step toward full communion, in
which the United Methodist Church and the ELCA recognize the
authenticity of each other's ministries and agree that their
ministries are reconciled.
"The plan is for us to enter into full communion with the
Lutherans at the General Conference of 2008," Oden said.
Study and fellowship will occur in the interim. The interim
shared communion agreement authorizes and urges United Methodist
congregations "to worship and to be in study and mission with our
sister denomination," Oden said.
"This is a historic time of being the body of Christ and
connecting the gifts of various parts of the body so that the
work and witness of Christ can be more effective and powerful in
our communities," said Bishop Peter Weaver, president of the
United Methodist council and leader of the denomination's Boston
Area.
The communion table is the fundamental place for expressing
that United Methodists and Lutherans are all part of the body of
Christ, he said. "Our oneness is in Christ. So [this agreement
is] not just about sharing communion with each other; they're
about our recognizing that we are a part of one body of Christ
and thus one mission for Christ in this world."
The agreement is "a major point in the pathway to full
communion, in which we recognize the authenticity and
apostolicity of each other's ministry," Oden said.
"This is not a movement toward church union but affirms each
denomination's uniqueness while we worship and work together," he
said.
At its April 9-11 meeting here, the ELCA Church Council
recommended that the 2005 ELCA Churchwide Assembly approve a
relationship of Interim Sharing of the Eucharist between the ELCA
and the United Methodist Church. The council is the ELCA's board
of directors and serves as the legislative authority of the
church between churchwide assemblies. Assemblies are held every
other year; the next is Aug. 8-14 in Orlando, Fla.
The ELCA and the Episcopal Church share a full communion
relationship.
- - -
The full text of "A Proposal for Interim Eucharistic Sharing
between the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and The United
Methodist Church" is in a PDF document at
http://tinyurl.com/6axpw on the Web.

*Tim Tanton is managing editor for United Methodist News Service.

For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or news@elca.org
http://www.elca.org/news