The reformation churches and their ecumenical task today

Ecumenical Review, The, Oct, 2009 by Andre Birmele

I. From Theological Consensus to Church Communion

The churches marked by the 16th century Reformation are not only Lutheran and Reformed. They are also Anglican and Methodist. While they differ in their history and theology, they converge today in their ecumenical approach: they are on the way from consensus to communion. The ecumenical dialogues led by theologians were received by those churches. The dialogues have reached their goals and made possible a new stage: the declaration of church communion adopted by the synods of those churches. Such declarations of church communion are binding for the signatory churches.

International Dialogues

During the past forty years all Reformation families have conducted international dialogues. Their results were then approved by world-wide assemblies. This was the case, for instance, in the 1988 Lambeth Conference of Anglican bishops, in the 1990 Assembly of the Lutheran World Federation, or in the 1989 General Council of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches.

Those assemblies have asked their regional or national member churches to proceed to declarations of church communion and to engage in a new phase of ecumenical relations. These regional declarations will allow for new and more global declarations of church communion. Global declarations are therefore the consequence of regional declarations. This approach corresponds to the fact that, for those churches, authority lies in the local church and the authority of their respective worldwide organizations proceeds from the authority of their local member churches.

"Local" Declarations of Church Communion

Declarations of church communion, in which the churches involved come to mutual recognition and fellowship in word and sacraments, came into existence in various countries. Such declarations include the commitment to the visibility of the communion of the church of Christ and also common service and witness in the world.

By 2009, ten declarations of church communion had been signed. The first of them is the Leuenberg Agreement of 1973, (2) which established church communion between the Lutheran, Reformed, United, Waldensian and Czech Brethren churches in Europe. The Lutheran and Reformed churches in the United States signed in 1997 a "Formula of Agreement". (3) Reformed and Lutheran churches in the Middle East signed the Amman Declaration (4) in 2006. In 1997, through the "Declaration of Vienna", the signatory churches of the Leuenberg Agreement declared themselves in communion with the Methodist churches in Europe.

The dialogue between the Evangelical Church in Germany and the Church of England was concluded by the 1988 Meissen Agreement. (5) The Anglican churches in the British Isles and the Lutheran and Reformed churches in France signed in 2001 the Reuilly Agreement, (6) In 1992, the Scandinavian and Baltic Lutheran churches declared themselves in communion with the Anglican churches in England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales by signing the Porvoo Common Statement. (7) The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America entered into communion with the Episcopal Church in the United States by the adoption of the agreement Called to Common Mission, (8) in 2001. In the same year, Anglicans and Lutherans from Canada signed the Waterloo Declaration. (9) In Australia, the Lutheran and Anglican churches established a "Common Ground" in view of a declaration of communion. The ratification of this process will soon be completed.

What These Declarations Hold in Common

These declarations are not equivalent to each other. They differ on matters of the integration of ministries, for instance. Some churches value certain declarations differently than others. In any case, the ten declarations mentioned above are based on the same understanding about the ways to communion, namely that a new phase should follow the phase of theological dialogue.

II. Church Communion: the example of the Leuenberg Agreement

The Leuenberg Agreement (LA) came into existence already in 1973. We will take it as an example of the ecumenical approach of the churches marked by the 16th century Reformation.

The Church: communion in word and sacraments

The Leuenberg Agreement takes up the understanding of the Church which was established at the time of the Reformation. The Church is a community of the faithful in which the gospel is preached in its pure form and the sacraments of baptism and the eucharist are administered properly. (10)

The Church is not a community which "has" the true understanding of word and sacrament, but a community in which this event rightly occurs. The act of conferring grace through word and sacrament is not identical with the necessary consensus in the understanding of word and sacrament. This tension between consensus and celebration is analogous to the difference between the theological conclusions of dialogues and declarations of church communion, as well as to the difference between the doctrine of justification and the message of justification. (11)

The Church is part of the justifying action of God. The instruments of salvation through which God justifies each person are at the same time the instruments through which God creates and upholds his Church. By justifying human beings, God incorporates them into God's Church. These same instruments of salvation become the necessary and sufficient criterion of the unity of the Church. (12) The communion in word and sacrament is the hallmark of the Church. In the place where word and sacrament are truly administered, the Church, that is the una, sancta, catholica et apostolica ecclesia, manifests itself.