Proposed by TEC-ELKB dialogue committee members, The Venerable Walter Baer and The Reverend Christopher Easthill, Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe, approved by the Convention of the Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe, Nice, Oct. 23, 2021

The Convention resolves as follows: 

That this 2021 Convention of the Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe thank the 79th General Convention for its action approving and commending the ongoing ecumenical conversations between The Episcopal Church (TEC) and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria (Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche in Bayern – ELKB), as reflected in General Convention action: 

“Resolution 2018-C059 Commend Dialogue with the Evangelical Church in Bavaria 

Resolved, that the 79th General Convention approve and commend the existing relationship between the Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe (Convocation) and the Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche in Bayern (ELKB) (Evangelical Church in Bavaria), and be it further 

Resolved, that the 79th General Convention approve and commend the process of exploring deeper relations and the dialogue toward full communion between The Episcopal Church and the ELKB.” 

This 2021 Convention of the Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe approves and commends the ongoing dialogue toward full communion between TEC and ELKB and the work of the General Convention Task Force to Coordinate Ecumenical & Interreligious Work, encouraging the 80th General Convention of the Episcopal Church to move toward a full communion relationship between the ELKB and TEC by adopting the document “Sharing the Gifts of Communion.” 

The 2017 Convocation Convention commended this dialogue, with the subsequent action of the 2018 General Convention, cited in this resolution. Since 2018, considerable work has been done, and a draft agreement between TEC and ELKB has been completed and will be presented to General Convention of TEC and to the Landessynode of the ELKB, both in 2022. Participants in the conversations are ecumenical officers from TEC and ELKB, clergy representatives from each church, and the Convocation Bishop and an Oberkirchenrat. Other participants include representatives from the ecumenical office of the Anglican Communion, the Church of England, the Evangelische Kirche in Deutschland (EKD), the German Committee of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF), and the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA). The dialogue was initiated by a 2013 meeting between then Presiding Bishop, the Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts- Schori, and Landesbischof Heinrich Bedford-Strohm. It is also in response to Anglican Consultative Council resolution 16, commending a closer relationship between Anglicans and Lutherans globally. It is also in the spirit of Called to Common Mission, the full communion agreement between TEC and the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America, which went into effect in 2001. In practice, the current relationship between the Convocation and the ELKB is similar to the relationship expressed by the Meissen Agreement between the Church of England and the EKD, although TEC is not a party to that agreement. A preliminary meeting involving stakeholders took place in Munich in 2014. The working group made up of the parties listed above has met multiple times: 2015 in New York City (Episcopal Church headquarters), 2016 in Tutzing, Germany, 2017 in Paris (American Cathedral), 2018 in Augsburg, Germany, and many times online. A draft agreement was completed in 2020, which will be presented to the General Convention in 2022 by the General Convention Task Force to Coordinate Ecumenical & Interreligious Work.

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