Lutherans say no to Reformed churches’ invitation to joint meeting
By John H. Adams, The Layman Online, October 17, 2005
Clifton Kirkpatrick’s vision of forging a global Protestant ecumenical body stumbled recently when the Lutheran World Federation rejected the invitation from the World Alliance of Reformed Churches to hold its next assembly at the same location and time as WARC’s.
The Lutheran body notified the WARC executive committee last week that it will hold its assembly in Stuttgart in 2010. WARC has not set the date and time for its next assembly, but hoped to make it a joint affair.
Kirkpatrick, the stated clerk of the Presbyterian Church (USA) and president of WARC, said last week that the LWF’s decision was a “deep disappointment.” He and the Rev. Setri Nyomi, WARC’s general secretary, had called for the meeting of the two groups “to set the example … as an expression of our commitment” to Christian unity, according to Ecumenical News International.
Another reason was also mentioned – to cut expenses, particularly since WARC is struggling financially.
The Rev. Ishmael Noko, the Lutheran Federation’s general secretary, responded to WARC’s request by saying that Lutherans remain committed to ecumenical cooperation, but warning that a joint meeting that did not include the World Council of Churches could be misleading.
The Lutheran World Federation is a global communion of Christian churches in the Lutheran tradition. The federation says it has 140 member churches in 78 countries and represents nearly 66 million Christians.
WARC claims it has ties with 75 million Christians in more than 100 countries. The World Council of Churches says it represents 400 million Christians in more than 340 congregations, denominations and fellowships in more than 100 countries.
The world’s Protestant churches do not presently gather under a single umbrella body. Many belong to organizations representing their church traditions, such as the Lutheran federation and the World Alliance of Reformed Churches, and also are members of the World Council of Churches.
WARC, the Lutheran Federation and the World Council of Churches all have offices in the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva, where their staffs often coordinate their work with the view of working toward a global Protestant communion.
Of the three, the World Council of Churches is the most ecumenical. Its membership includes many of the major Orthodox denominations.
Both WARC and the World Council of Churches have reported serious financial problems because of declining support for the liberal ecumenical movement.
But Lutherans and Reformed churches also have some doctrinal snags that have prevented full cooperation, according to Ecumenical News International, the press agency for the World Council of Churches.
Noko mentioned some of those problems in a statement in 2000 when he described the lack of progress in “coordinating or bringing together” the Lutheran and Reformed bodies. He indicated then that Lutherans and Reformed churches needed time for “processes of mutual familiarization on the local level to continue, or be started, around the world.”
Kirkpatrick, who has served as stated clerk of the General Assembly for 13 years, has been a prime mover in the effort to expand – or prevent the collapse of – national and global ecumenical movements. Although ordained as a Presbyterian minister, he has never served as pastor of a local congregation. He began his career in the ministry as an employee of a local ecumenical group in Texas.
As stated clerk, he is the chief ecumenical officer of the PCUSA. Besides his leadership of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches, Kirkpatrick has served as a member of the Central Committee of the World Council of Churches and the executive committee of the National Council of Churches.
He has helped to persuade the general assemblies of the PCUSA to provide major financial support for the ecumenical groups.