Full Communion Partner: Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria

In 2013, under the leadership of former Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori and former head of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria (ELKB), Bishop Heinrich Bedford-Strohm, The Episcopal Church and the ELKB established a dialogue to “find a path toward deeper relationship.”

Over ten years later, in 2024, The Episcopal Church and Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria entered a full communion relationship based on the agreement “Sharing the Gifts of Communion,” also known as “The Augsburg Agreement.”

The ELKB has about 2.3 million members. The approximately 1,500 congregations are organized in 66 deaneries, each with a dean, in six church districts, each with a regional bishop. The ELKB is jointly governed by the bishop, synod, its executive committee, and church governing board. It is the third largest regional church in the Evangelical Church in Germany (the twenty Lutheran, Reformed and United regional churches in Germany), and its territory is virtually identical to the state of Bavaria. The ELKB is also a member of the World Lutheran Federation.

The ELKB is one of a growing number of Lutheran Churches in full communion with The Episcopal Church. The ELKB has been a member of the WCC since 1950. Like Lutherans all around the world, the ELKB is engaged in ecumenical relationships and dialogues with the Roman Catholic Church, the Orthodox Churches, as well as Old Catholics and Reformed Churches.

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• Episcopal Church-Bavarian Lutheran packet for Bishops and Deputies

From the Episcopal News Service

Episcopal and Bavarian Lutheran churches sign full-communion agreement (June 9, 2025)