Lutheran – Reformed dialogue

Relations between the LWF and the World Communion of Reformed Churches

Lutherans and Reformed Christians enjoy a “special theological relationship” which has allowed churches in some parts of the world to enter into full communion of ministry and sacraments.

In 1968, an ad hoc Lutheran-Reformed Evaluating Committee stated that dialogue should be encouraged and coordinated by the LWF and the World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC). Two decades later, in 1988, the first round of international dialogue suggested that all Lutheran and Reformed churches should enter into fellowship but this recommendation has still not been received on a global level.

In 2010, WARC joined with the Reformed Ecumenical Council to form the World Communion of Reformed Churches (WCRC). In 2017, the LWF signed the Wittenberg Witness with the WCRC, affirming the call to continued renewal and cooperation and committing “to explore new forms of life together that will more fully express the communion we already have in Christ.”

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LWF General Secretary, Rev. Dr Martin Junge, addressing the WCRC Executive Committee in May 2019. Photo: WCRC/P. Tanis

World Communion of Reformed Churches

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Photo: LWF/S. Gallay

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Photo: WCRC / Anna Siggelkow

  • Predestination
  • Christology
  • Lord’s Supper
  • Understanding of the church
  • 1989 | Toward Church Fellowship (Lutheran-Reformed Joint Commission)
  • 2002 | Common statement Called to Communion and Common Witness (Lutheran-Reformed Joint Working Group)
  • 2010 | Common statement Communion: On being the Church, Svätý Jur, Slovakia
  • 2014 | Communion: On Being the Church - Report of the Lutheran—Reformed Commission, 2006—2012
  • 1973 – Leuenberg Agreement (Agreement between Reformation Churches in Europe)
  • 1988 – Meissen Declaration (Church of England, the Federation of the Evangelical Churches in the German Democratic Republic and the Evangelical Church in Germany)
  • 1997 – Formula of Agreement (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the Presbyterian Church (USA), the Reformed Church in America, and the United Church of Christ)
  • 1999 – Reuilly Common Statement Called to Witness and Service (Conversations between the British and Irish Anglican Churches and the French Lutheran and Reformed Churches)
  • 2006 – The Amman Declaration (Agreement of Full Mutual Recognition of Lutheran and Reformed Churches in the Middle East and North Africa)
  • 2017 – The Wittenberg Witness (Common call to continued renewal and cooperation on the occasion of the 500th anniversary of the Reformation)
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Lutheran – Mennonite dialogue

Official reconciliation between Lutherans and Mennonites began during the 450th anniversary of the Augsburg Confession in 1980. It led to a process of working through the painful legacy of persecution of Anabaptists, whom Mennonites regard as their predecessors, in the 16th century. Lutherans and Mennonites continue to build on the process of reconciliation that resulted in the 2010 action of Lutherans asking forgiveness for the persecution of Anabaptists by their ancestors in the 16th century.
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Lutheran – Orthodox dialogue

High-level visits and discussions between the LWF and the Ecumenical Patriarchate, the spiritual leadership of the Orthodox world, began in 1967. Plans for a global ecumenical dialogue between the two sides began shortly afterwards and were developed over the following decade. Significant common statements include Salvation: Grace, Justification and Synergy (1998) and Baptism and Chrismation as Sacraments of Initiation into the Church (2004). The topic of the current phase of dialogue, which began in 2019, is focused on the Holy Spirit in the life of the Church.
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Contact

Rev. Dr Dirk Lange
Assistant General Secretary for Ecumenical Relations

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