Although they will each remain separate churches, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and the Episcopal Church are moving toward a truly historic step, an agreement to live in full communion with each other. The votes will come about a month apart.

For all its importance, it's not the news that many Episcopalians have heard about.

For one thing, the Concordat of Agreement, as the proposal is called, is highly technical, as most ecumenical documents are. Each word is carefully thought out, so as to build consensus. For another, full communion may seem almost an afterthought to many church members, who have been cooperating in local outreach and even worshiping together for many years. To them, the national church bodies are playing catch-up.

Not everyone is in favor of the agreement, of course. Some in both churches may be opposed on theological grounds, although opposition appears greater in the ELCA than in the Episcopal Church. The numbers of opponents is unknown.

So why are its supporters so fervent?

"Number one, Jesus did say to do it. Unity is crucial to the kingdom," said Bishop Rustin Kimsey of the Diocese of Eastern Oregon, chair of the Episcopal Standing Commission on Ecumenical Relations. Jesus' prayer for unity in John 17:20-23 is often cited as the foundation of ecumenical work.

The Episcopal Church's ecumenical officer, the Rev. Canon David Perry, gave a practical reason.

"If something is based only on immediate personal relationships [between clergy] on a local level ... what sustains that relationship? We're talking about a relationship that is not only for the next 10 years or for somebody's tenure."

Perry believes that, even more than affirming current relationships, full communion will nudge the churches into even closer ties.

"The Concordat honors what has been in the past ... but it also calls us to an unfolding of the ages ahead in terms of the nature of the church, the ministry that God is calling us to." Ecumenical officers often speak in such lofty terms -- their jobs require them to discuss relations with other churches that might not come to fruition for decades.

But there are more down-to-earth reasons as well to join in communion. As Midge Roof of Danville, Ind., president of the Episcopal Diocesan Ecumenical Officers, writes in this issue , there are many positives that would come out of full communion: Lutheran pastors would be able to serve in Episcopal churches -- or the two groups could form joint parishes in areas where there are not enough of either to support a parish. Christian-education classes could be held jointly. Social issues could be tackled together, with greater resources. Programs on the diocesan, synodical and national levels could be run more efficiently.

Similarities Outweigh Differences

All this is possible because the Episcopal and Lutheran churches share far more in common than they do differences. Both uphold the Scriptures and the creeds, believing that Jesus is the second person of the Trinity and rose from the dead. Both believe the sacraments of baptism and Eucharist are paramount. Both believe that the ordained ministry was instituted by God through the apostles. Liturgy, important to both, is similar in each church.
Professor Don Armentrout, an ELCA pastor who has taught more than 30 years at an Episcopal seminary, the School of Theology at the University of the South, believes full communion will "reduce considerable duplication" and that the two churches will learn much from each other.

"Both of us working together will be more effective in doing the task we have been given to do as the church," he said. Next month, the bishops of the two churches will meet in the Poconos in Pennsylvania to discuss the agreement and its implications for joint mission. and to get to know each other better. Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey will attend, as will Lutheran theologian and writer Martin Marty.

What would happen
If the Concordat is approved, the two churches will "recognize in each other the essentials of the one catholic and apostolic faith" and recognize each other's clergy and sacraments. All future bishops in both churches will be consecrated by at least three Episcopal and three Lutheran bishops. Seminarians would study the other church's basic documents, such as the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer and the Lutheran confessions. The Episcopal Church would suspend the requirement -- "in this case only" -- that all clergy be ordained by a bishop in historic succession and would agree to study and evaluate the ministry of bishops.
The Lutherans would agree that their bishops, who are elected to limited terms, would become bishops for life, even after their tenure. And only bishops could ordain Lutheran pastors. Episcopal clergy would not be required to subscribe to the Augsburg Confession, as Lutherans are, unless they transfer permanently.

Of 'real' bishops
The biggest sticking point appears to be how clergy will be defined under the agreement. According to Bishop Harry Shipps, retired bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Georgia, the historic line of bishops, consecrated with the laying-on of hands, stretching back to the apostles, is an "integral" mark of the faith. If a Lutheran bishop or pastor hasn't been ordained in succession, Shipps won't recognize that person.
Lutherans, on the other hand, don't see the Anglican view of bishops as necessary -- or even desirable -- to a church. Shipps, who describes himself as a "mainline catholic Christian," said, "It's not a canonical thing, it's a faith thing. It's been that way for 2,000 years[.]" However, acknowledging that "I don't claim to be totally consistent," Shipps said he will vote for full communion.

Professor Ellen Wondra, an Episcopal priest who teaches theological studies at Bexley Hall in Rochester, N.Y., says she is willing to redefine the historic episcopate for the sake of unity.

"Nobody can trace their lineage all the way back in an unbroken line," she said, noting that even Roman Catholics concede that point. Wondra is a member of the Anglican-Roman Catholic dialogue.

The Concordat "seems to me to be a legitimate way forward that does not in any essential way compromise our commitment to the historic episcopate. What it does is expand the historic episcopate to, over time, include another church." For some Lutherans, however, the concerns are difficult to ignore.

The Rev. Paul S. Berge of Luther Northwestern Theological Seminary in St. Paul, Minn., was one of three Lutherans out of eight in the final Lutheran-Episcopal Dialogue to vote no to the Concordat. Their dissenting report objected to introducing the historic episcopate into the ELCA.

"To impose, as it were, on this process a form of ministry that is not an essential for us as Lutherans is where I have a problem," Berge said.

He pointed out that the Augsburg Confession's article on the ordained ministry says only, "God instituted the office of the ministry, that is, provided the Gospel and the sacraments." No mention is made of clergy at all, much less bishops.

The Rev. Allan Johnson, pastor of Augustana Lutheran Church in Gibbon, Minn., says he is generally in favor of full communion but is concerned about two things: Episcopal clergy serving in ELCA churches who need not commit themselves to upholding the Lutheran confessions, and whether the Episcopal Church will recognize Lutheran bishops as qualified to perform ordinations. "It makes me very nervous to hear the suggestion, let's make some exceptions to our confessions," he said. "If for some pastors serving in the ELCA the confessions are optional, it seems to me it shakes us loose from our foundations."

On acceptance of Lutheran clergy, Johnson said, "To me, the Concordat can be read as grandfathering all of us disorderly Lutherans in and looking the other way till we die off, after which a real ministry will be present." Johnson said he would like the document to be clarified on that issue.

But according to Professor Walter Bouman of Trinity Lutheran Seminary in Columbus, Ohio, who was a member of the dialogue team and has spoken widely in favor of the Concordat, the document is clear on both those points.

"Clergy from either tradition who function in the other tradition are subject to its canonical provisions," he said, adding that Episcopal clergy, while not required to subscribe to the Augsburg Confession, "will not be able to teach or preach anything contrary" to it.

Bouman said Lutherans themselves aren't clear about the role of bishops. As to bishops in the historic succession, "We don't claim to have them," he said. "What complicates it is the Lutheran refusal to recognize our own bishops as a distinct order of ministry."

The Episcopal Church recognizes three orders of ordained ministry: deacons, priests and bishops, while Lutherans recognize only pastors. But Bouman noted a significant change that will happen if full communion is approved. "You don't realize what a big thing this is going to be for Lutherans. Lutheran bishops are going to lay hands on the head of a new bishop. As Lutherans, we haven't done it."

A rare opportunity
That the Episcopal General Convention and ELCA Churchwide Assembly -- both meeting in Philadelphia -- will even vote on a concrete proposal is itself quite remarkable in ecumenical circles.
"For the first time in nearly four decades of dialogue ... we have finally reached the point of having to make church decisions on the basis of consensus of belief," said the Rev. Daniel Martensen, acting ecumenical officer for the ELCA.

"I think it's astounding," said Kimsey of the Episcopal ecumenical commission. "One of the reasons I believe this is the work of the Spirit is that, No. 1, we are coming to a point of decision and, No. 2, that the Concordat is really quite brief." Kimsey pointed out that the document calls for no "super-church organization," merely a joint commission to implement the agreement.

The future beckons
What comes next? If the Concordat is rejected, what might come next is a breakdown in other talks, particularly with Protestants if historic succession is seen as the obstacle.

According to Wondra, "We have here one of the greatest possibilities for actually moving ahead ecumenically that we've had in a very long time and the consequences of not moving ahead on this are potentially very severe."

On the other hand, approval may enhance relations with traditional black churches, especially with the ELCA, which has not progressed in black ministry as much as the Episcopal Church. "I think they will be more credible with black churches together than separately," said the Rev. Rena Karefa-Smart, ecumenical officer for the Episcopal Diocese of Washington, D.C., who was originally a member of the AME Zion Church.

Karefa-Smart noted that in urban areas, the Lutherans are "innovators, they're reaching out, they're trying to strengthen those areas whereas in the Episcopal Church we have a track record."

Full communion will bring many other gifts to each church, say advocates.

Sewanee's Armentrout thinks that "Episcopalians can probably, I would suggest, get a little more theological and doctrinal clarity" from their Lutheran partners. As for Lutherans, he said, "I'm hoping that this will nudge [more of us] into having a full eucharistic celebration on Sunday morning, word and sacrament."

Union in the future
Some, like Karefa-Smart, see complete merger of all Christian denominations as the long-term goal.
"I think that's what our Lord has said is normative and I think anything short of that means we're pilgrims on the way but we're not there yet."

Martensen was more cautious in predicting, although he acknowledged potential problems with two bishops sharing the same geographical area.

"Who knows down the track a ways, once the clergy of the ELCA are all in the same understanding of ministry ... there may be things then that may have evolved."

For most involved in ecumenical work, though, just having this agreement approved would be cause for celebration.

As Trinity Lutheran's Bouman said, "I am so convinced that this is truly the will of God for our churches ... and I would like it to be as joyfully done as possible."