December 21, 2011

CHICAGO – Lutheran, Anglican and Episcopal leaders from the United States and Canada met in December to explore new possibilities for working together and to deepen their sense of unity for doing God's work in the world. In a report issued from their meeting, the leaders stated that their conversation and work together "are hopeful signs for the church."

"There was truly a spirit of Advent expectant hope as we met to pray and plan for greater cooperation in ministry and mission," said ELCA Presiding Bishop Mark S. Hanson of the meeting.

"There is so much more we can do when working together, whether that is in military chaplaincy, global mission, campus ministry, planting new congregations or advocacy. I look forward to our continued shared leadership and to new possibilities that exist to proclaim the good news of Jesus, engaging in God's work for the life of the world because of our full-communion relationship," he said.

Gathered together for their second annual meeting was Hanson; the Rev. Susan Johnson, national bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada; the Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori, presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church U.S.A.; and the Rev. Fred Hiltz, archbishop of the Anglican Church of Canada.

Topics representing their mutual areas of interest and concern ranged from ecumenical and interfaith issues to immigration reform and poverty, from relief and development work to Middle East policies. They reviewed the possibility of producing materials, study guides and resources that congregations and parishes in all four churches could use in various seasons of the liturgical year, and they also addressed the challenges of "church planting" and the need for strategy to do this work with full-communion partners.

The national leaders formed a subcommittee to further consider how to make the bilateral full-communion relationships effective among the four churches.

The group will meet again in 2012, and staff of the four churches will be invited to provide updates on collaborative work. In February, the co-chairs of the Lutheran Episcopal Coordinating Committee will attend a regular session of the Joint Anglican Lutheran Commission.

"The meeting of leaders from our four churches continued to deepen our sense of unity in the gospel and our sense of being united in Christ's mission. We look forward to tangible ways in which we do ministry together that will support our congregations and our witness in God's world," said the Rev. Donald McCoid, assistant to the presiding bishop, ELCA Ecumenical and Inter-Religious Relations.

McCoid attended the meeting, along with other representatives of the four denominations.

ELCA News Service