Lutherans approve pact with Episcopalians
Lutheran News Service, August 20, 1999
DENVER – The 1999 Churchwide Assembly of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) approved full communion with the Episcopal Church.
The vote on Thursday was 716 to 317 – or 69.3 percent approval. A two-thirds majority – or at least 66.7 percent approval – was required for passage. The Episcopal Church is expected to approve the pact when its national convention meets later this year.
Opponents objected to the agreement’s requirement that Lutherans follow an ordination practice known as the historic episcopate, in which a bishop is installed by a laying-on of hands by three predecessor bishops from a line believed to extend back to Christ’s apostles. Lutheran teachings don’t require such historic succession, and many of the world’s Lutheran bodies do not practice it.
This is the first time that any U.S. Protestant body has approved such a relationship with an American denomination that follows the historic episcopate. Catholic and Orthodox churches also follow the practice.