Church fellowship

A church fellowship , sometimes also referred to as fellowship or communion , is the fellowship given by a church or the mutual recognition between churches or denominations that the partner churches embrace the essence of the Christian faith. According to the biblical understanding, it is Jesus' will that the believers are one, just as he and the Father are one ( John 17:11  LUT ). Church divisions began in early Christianity at the time of Paul, when individual denominations were founded ( 1 Cor 1: 10-12  LUT ). Going further than the church community, the Catholic church union and the Protestant union are in administration or also confession.

Complete church fellowship - usually referred to as "full pulpit and communion fellowship" in the Reformation churches - includes:

• mutual recognition of baptism
• common celebration of the Lord's Supper / the Eucharist ( communion in communion )
• mutual recognition of ordained ministers
• mutual recognition of the sacraments
• shared commitment to mission
• Pulpit community

The partner churches of a church fellowship retain their theological, traditional and organizational independence.

Complete church fellowship exists e.g. B. between

• the 15 autocephalous Orthodox churches of Byzantine tradition;
• the pre-Chalcedonian ancient oriental churches of the Alexandrian and Antiochene tradition, that is, the Armenian , Syrian , Malankar (South Indian), Coptic (Egyptian), Ethiopian and Eritrean Christianity ;
• the churches of the Roman Catholic tradition, i.e. the Latin Church and the Eastern Catholic Churches ;
• the Anglican churches , the Old Catholic or Christian Catholic churches of the Union of Utrecht , the Independent Philippine Church and the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Sweden ;
• the 145 Evangelical Lutheran churches that belong to the Lutheran World Federation ;
• the churches of the Community of Evangelical Churches in Europe , which includes Lutheran , Reformed and Methodist churches;
• the four major Protestant churches in the United States united on the basis of the Formula of Agreement (1997) ( Evangelical Lutheran , Reformed , Presbyterian, and the United Church of Christ );
• the major Lutheran and Anglican churches of the United States ( Evangelical Lutheran Church in America , Episcopal Church of the United States of America ) and Canada ( Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada , Anglican Church of Canada );
• the United Church of Christ and the German Union of Evangelical Churches (UEK);
• the twelve Reformation churches of the Porvoo community (on the one hand the Anglican churches of the British Isles and the Iberian Peninsula, on the other hand the Nordic and Baltic Lutheran churches);
• the free churches and other Baptist churches in the Baptist World Federation ;
• the 76 churches that make up the World Council of Methodist Churches ;
• the Waldensian and Methodist Church in Italy and the Baptist Union there ;

Excluded from this performance are some "non-canonical" Orthodox churches , some Protestant denominations ( Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) , Quakerism ), anti-Trinitarian church communities ( Unitarianism , Christadelphian , Jehovah's Witnesses ) and Mormonism .

See also

• Pre-Reformation churches

Web links

• Council of the Evangelical Church in Germany: Church fellowship according to the Protestant understanding. A vote on the orderly coexistence of different denominational churches ; EKD texts 69; 2001.
• Statement from Bishop Dr. Diethardt Roth (Independent Evangelical Lutheran Church) on the document “Church fellowship according to Protestant understanding. A vote on the orderly coexistence of churches of different denominations - A contribution from the Council of the Evangelical Church in Germany "(= EKD Text 69, 2001) (PDF file; 29 kB)