Ecumenical & Interfaith
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Ecumenical Relations: United States

| Economic and ecological justice work |

International Relationships: Regional councils | Bilateral relationships | Other churches' relationships
U.S. Relationships: | Newest postings | PC(USA) bilateral relations | Others' bilateral relations | 

| Other churches' internal relationships |

For U.S. Local and Regional Relationships, go to Local Action

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Bilateral relationships

United Methodists share the Eucharist with Episcopalians

In 2006 the Episcopal Church and the United Methodist Church entered a relationship of interim Eucharistic sharing with the hope the churches would grow together by sharing worship while continuing to study remaining issues. Their growing unity is intended to provide for expanded witness and mission. Make Us One with Christ: A Study Guide was developed for congregations to use as part of the process. Both Methodists and Episcopalians have already shared the Eucharist with Lutherans. 

Episcopalians and Moravians moving toward full communion

In the summer of 2009 the Episcopal Church's General Convention House of Bishops passed a resolution calling for full communion with the Moravian Church in North America, Northern and Southern Provinces. In 2010 each of the two Moravian entities will vote. Nonetheless, Episcopal Church presiding bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori has said that sadly many Episcopalians know no Moravians. At a meeting at the Moravian Seminary in November, participants talked about ways the relationship may play out in the parts of the country where both Episcopalians and Moravians are concentrated. Peg Chemberlin (pictured), the current president of the National Council of Churches, is a Moravian minister. See "The Ground of the Unity," a doctrinal statement by the Moravian Church internationally in 1995.

U.S. Catholic-Anglican dialogue is fruitful but more is needed locally

The Anglican-Roman Catholic Consultation in the U.S. (ARC-USA) has been meeting since the 1960s. It will draft an agreed statement in response to the international (ARCIC) "Seattle Document," Mary: Grace and Hope in Christ. It is also working on a Spanish language document to clarify the distinctions between the two churches and point to progress in their relationship. ARC-USA is viewed as an extremely fruitful dialogue but, in addition to formal dialogue, more needs to be done at the local level, said Keith Pecklers during New York City talks in early 2008.

Lutherans and Catholics discuss life after death

The U.S. Lutheran-Roman Catholic Dialogue approved "The Hope of Eternal Life" in October 2010, bringing its eleventh round of dialogues to completion. The tone of the personal and pastoral dimensions of the document are intended to make it a resource for pastors and the laity. Dialogue co-chairs have been Catholic bishop Richard Sklba and Lutheran Lowell Almen (pictured). The dialogue's tenth round produced "The Church as Koinonia: Its Structures and Ministries." A significant earlier achievement remains the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification, signed in October 1999.

Seventh-day Adventists converse with Presbyterians

Conversations between the Seventh-day Adventist Church (SDA) and the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) began in 2006. When the two churches met in Louisville in mid-2007, their discussions showed agreement about the place of scripture as the only rule of faith and practice and on the role of law as a guide to Christian living, as well as on the Reformation teaching of salvation by grace alone. Significant differences remain about the role of apocalpytic in eschatology and the doctrine of election. Each's distinctives were the basis for talks in July 2008: the concern for social justice and divine sovereignty of Presbyterians, the emphases on health and on religious liberty of the Adventists. David Cortes-Fuentes (pictured), then teaching New Testament at San Francisco Theological Seminary, read one of the papers. The first step in a new formally authorized dialogue will be discussion of respective approaches to scripture, that is, hermeneutics. The PC(USA) will be represented by Sheldon Sorge, Eileen Lindner, Barbara Wheeler, and Cortes.

According to an earlier statement, the SDA "engages in conversation . . . but is not a member of the ecumenical movement." Nonetheless, the SDA internationally is regularly at the Conference of Secretaries of Christian World Communions (CWC); it held a dialogue in 2001 with the World Alliance of Reformed Churches. Its other recent conversations have included a 2009 meeting with the Baptist World Alliance in which both affirmed deep concern about religious freedom.

GO TO: Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) bilateral relationships

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Other churches' relationships

Christian Reformed Church repents the racism that marred its history

Christian Reformed Church expands its relations with ot

As part of a June 2007 celebratory worship marking its 150th anniversary, the Christian Reformed Church (CRC) offered a prayer of confession repenting the "racism that marred the church's history." It had split with the Reformed Church in America (RCA) in 1857. A month earlier, the CRC's Disaster Response Services and the RCA's World Service signed a partnership agreement intended to make them more effective in North American disaster situations. Many think the two churches are nearly the same in worship style and theology, though some say that, if they came together, there would be difficulties about their differing institutional expressions and struggles over homosexuality. Both are members of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches. The CRC is a member of the National Association of Evangelicals and the RCA is a National Council of Churches member.
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ELCA apologizes for 16th century Lutheran persecution of Anabaptists

In an action affecting their relationship with the Mennonite Church in the U.S., the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America has expressed sorrow for the suffering of Anabaptists during 16th century religious disputes and repudiated statements of earlier reformers on the Anabaptists. To read a report from the ELCA-Mennonite Church USA liaison committee, download Right Remembering in Anabaptist-Lutheran Relations.

"Orthodox Church Today" study breaks stereotypes of ecumenical partners

Orthodox churches are in frequent ecumenical groupings with Protestants but remain stereotypically defined by many of them. The "Orthodox Church Today" study seeks to provide groundbreaking insights through being the first national survey-study of ordinary parishioners in the Greek Orthdoxo Archdiocese of America and the Orthodox Church in America. There are numerous references in the report to the inclusion of converts from other Christian communities within the Orthodox community. Section IX (p.125 and following) deals with "religious particularism, ecumenical attitudes and relation to the outisde non-Orthodox community." The study comes from the Patriarch Athenagoras Orthodox Institute of the Graduate Theological Union.

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On the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) web site

Committee on Ecumenical Relations: information on this permanent General Assembly committee

The Department of Ecumenical and Agency Relationships, Office of the General Assembly: resources of the office

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On this web site

General Assembly: ecumenical and interfaith business

Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) ecumenical dialogues

Seeking Justice: ecumenical work on economic and ecological issues

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