Formula of Agreement

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Formula of Agreement is an ecumenical agreement through the four mainline churches in the USA, namely the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), the Reformed Church in America (RCA), the Presbyterian Church (USA) and the United Church of Christ (UCC), declared church fellowship ("full communion").

The church fellowship comprises as essential elements:

  • mutual recognition as churches in which the gospel is properly proclaimed and the sacraments are established in accordance with the foundation;
  • a declaration that the previous mutual doctrinal condemnations are no longer viewed as affecting today's teaching of the churches;
  • the mutual recognition of baptisms and the authorization and encouragement of communion fellowship ;
  • the mutual recognition of offices and the facilitation of an orderly exchange of ordained ministers;
  • the commitment to theological dialogue to further clarify common understanding of the faith and to promote common realization in witness and service.

The Formula of Agreement goes back to talks that have taken place between the Lutheran and Reformed churches since 1962. In 1992 they concluded with A Common Calling: The Witness of Our Reformation Churches in North American Today , which comprehensively describes the doctrinal consensus among the churches. The Formula of Agreement summarizes the statements and, with the declaration of church fellowship , draws the necessary consequence from the agreement in understanding the Gospel. It was adopted in 1997 by the synods of the four participating churches with clear majorities and put into effect in 1998. In 2000 it was supplemented by an agreement that regulates the mutual exchange of officials.

The understanding of church fellowship corresponds to that of the Leuenberg Agreement of 1973, which was the model for the Formula of Agreement . The participating churches do not merge and neither give up their denominational character nor their legal independence, but are united in the core of being a church. Unlike in Europe, where the Leuenberg Agreement resulted in the Community of Evangelical Churches in Europe , the institutional structures of the Formula of Agreement are deliberately kept very weak. Further theological discussions were only occasionally held. Most recently, the document Scripture and Moral Discernment was published in early 2013 , which was developed by the four churches together with the Christian Reformed Church in North America , the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and the Moravian Church in North America .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ German translation: A formula of agreement, 1997 . In: Harding Meyer , Damaskinos Papandreou , Hans Jörg Urban, Lukas Vischer (Eds.): Documents growing agreement (3). All reports and consensus texts of interdenominational talks at world level, 1990-2001 . Paderborn, Frankfurt am Main: Bonifatius / Lembeck, 2003, pp. 784–793.
  2. ↑ The Orderly Exchange of Ordained Minister ( PDF file on the website of ELCA).
  3. ↑ To download from the ELCA website .