Lutherans, Episcopalians link: interchangeability of clergy most visible result.Denver On a commanding vote in both houses, the 73rd General Convention approved the landmark agreement Called to Common Mission (CCM CCM Contemporary Christian Music CCM Critical Care Medicine CCM County College of Morris (New Jersey) CCM Chama Cha Mapinduzi (political party, Tanzania) CCM CORBA Component Model ) between the 2.3 million member Episcopal Church Episcopal Church, Anglican church of the United States. Its separate existence as an American ecclesiastical body with its own episcopate began in 1789. Doctrine and Organization and 5.2 million member Evangelical Lutheran Church in America The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) is a mainline Protestant denomination headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. Formed in 1988 by the merging of three churches and currently having about 4. . The accord sets out the conditions for the full interchange of clergy, and the sharing of ministry and sacraments. Since it was already adopted by a 27-vote margin by the ELCA's Churchwide Assembly in August 1999, the vote means that CCM goes into effect Jan. 1, 2001. The document adopted by Convention is a successor to the original Concordat concordat (kənkôr`dăt), formal agreement, specifically between the pope, in his spiritual capacity, and the temporal authority of a state. of Agreement that had been approved by the Episcopal Church, but was narrowly defeated by the ELCA ELCA Evangelical Lutheran Church in America ELCA European Landscape Contractors Association ELCA Excimer Laser Coronary Angioplasty ELCA English Language Communicational Association (Japan) ELCA Eagle's Landing Christian Academy in 1997. Both documents set the same conditions for full communion Full communion is a term used in Christian ecclesiology to describe relations between two distinct Christian communities or Churches that, while maintaining some separateness of identity, recognise each other as sharing the same communion and the same essential doctrines. : recognition that both the Lutheran Augsburg Confession and the Book of Common Prayer contain "the essentials of the one catholic and apostolic faith," a common understanding of baptism, Eucharist and the authority of Scripture; and a full acknowledgment of the authenticity of each church's ordained or·dain tr.v. or·dained, or·dain·ing, or·dains 1. a. To invest with ministerial or priestly authority; confer holy orders on. b. To authorize as a rabbi. 2. clergy. The main impact of CCM will be the interchangeability of clergy. Episcopal priests might be allowed to serve ELCA congregations, and ELCA pastors will be able to do the same for Episcopal congregations. In both instances the clergy will be required to function in ways consistent with each church's doctrine, discipline and worship. In cases where clergy agree to a long-term ministry in a congregation of the other denomination, they must transfer their residency to the diocese or synod they serve and make a vow of conformity to that church's doctrine, discipline and worship. For an Episcopal priest serving a Lutheran congregation this means reading and accepting the unaltered Augsburg Confession, while an ELCA pastor called to an Episcopal congregation must conform to the statements in The Book of Common Prayer. A joint commission will be appointed by the two presiding bishops this fall to implement the agreement. |
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