Calvin Synod Herald, 1981 (81. évfolyam, 1-6. szám)
1981-05-01 / 5-6. szám
6 CALVIN SYNOD HERALD UNITY PLANS TORONTO, CANADA, February 21 - A proposal for renewed dialogue between representatives of the Lutheran and Reformed confessional families was approved here today by the Caribbean and North American Area Council of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches. The conversations will not be for the purpose of planning mergers or altering the positions of participants on ecumenical conciliar movements, but rather will have the goal of discovering “further theological steps we might take together.. . and build on what we have discovered.’’ The talks are to involve basic delegations of seven persons each from the Lutheran Council in the U.S.A. and the Reformed group. The proposal calls for two, two-or-three day meetings a year involving the dialogue groups, over a period of three years. At that time each confessional family is to review the project and decide on whether to continue. The talks are expected to start next fall, and probably will begin on the subject of the ministry, reported the Rev. James E. Andrews, secretary of the area council. The participants also are expected to consider whether similar conversations at parish, city, or county levels might be worthwhile and if so how they might be arranged. Andrews was authorized to consult with member churches in the United States about the appointment and financing of delegates representing the Area Council. An earlier series of conversations began in 1962 and culminated in 1966 with the publication of a document titled “Marburg Revisited — A Reexamination of Lutheran and Reformed Traditions.” — vie jameson Presbyterian Office of Information * PHILADELPHIA, PA, JANUARY 27: The 20- member Steering Committee of the United Church of Christ and the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), meeting here January 25-27 asked the congregations of their denominations to observe January 24, 1982 as Covenant Sunday. The activities of Covenant Sunday will provide information on a union study process going on in the two churches. The Steering Committee, created in 1979 and made up of 10 representatives of each denomination, is engaged in a six-year period of deliberation. This may lead to a recommendation in 1985 on whether formal union negotiations should begin. Background papers designed to assist congregations of the two denominations in work and study on the ministry, mission and sacraments of the church as well as unity in general were given preliminary approval here this week by the Steering Committee. “Congregations of both churches are anxious to engage in the study of unity and union, which can now proceed more easily from an understanding of the mission given to the church,” according to Dr. Kenneth L. Teegarden, President and General Minister of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). “We are pleased to note that over 3,000 study packets have been ordered by the congregations and regional units of the two denominations in spite of the fact we are still in the preparation process. The packets will be available July, 1981,” he added. “I learned more about the theology of the two churches in one day of working with the study papers, than I have learned in a lifetime of attending church,” remarked one member of the steering committee. According to the Rev. Gretchen Sterrett, a United Church of Christ pastor from Washington, MO, and member of the Steering Committee, the study paper on unity “produces an appreciation of the two heritages, an affirmation of our mutual call by God to unity, and a challenge to look at new options of unity that can inform our faith in the future.” The 20-member Steering Committee is chaired jointly by Dr. Teegarden and Dr. Avery D. Post, President of the United Church of Christ. “This meeting has provided a most provocative and stimulating opportunity to celebrate the faith we have in common, and also to shape the faith which is pertinent to these times and addresses the religious hungers of our congregations,” said Dr. Post. Congregations of the two denominations are being asked to study the union and unity papers in the context of the mandate given to the two churches by their respective governing assemblies in 1979. More than 200 pairs of United Church of Christ and Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) congregations will prepare special programs built around the study documents presently being completed. In addition, some 300 other churches are being asked to participate individually in a study aimed producing comprehensive feedback on the subject of union. The more than 700 congregations, encompassing ad 50 states, will include large, small, rural and urban churches as well as congregations with ethnic memberships. News Release, January 1981. 1980 BASIC SUPPORT GIVING WAS $22.1 M, UP 6.03% IN - KY JOINS OH, CT, MA. IL, PA CENTRAL IN OVER $1 MILLION RAISED; SOUTHWEST, NORTHERN CA, SOUTHWEST, ND ARE TOP PERCENTAGE GAINERS
