Resources promote interaction
with Episcopalians


United Methodist News Service
United Methodists and Episcopalians have a new way to get to know each other.
The United Methodist Church and The Episcopal Church have released resources to promote joint study at all levels. The publications build upon an interim agreement of shared Eucharist approved by the United Methodist Council of Bishops in 2005 and the Episcopal General Convention in 2006.
“Make Us One With Christ” reports on sessions between the Episcopal and United Methodist dialogue teams from 2002 to 2006. A second resource is a study guide version of the report. It includes discussion points, questions for reflection and worship tips.
The dialogue report covers points of shared theology, information about shared heritage, explanations of the character and ethos of each body, and a discussion of what it means to be in full communion.
United Methodist Bishop William Oden, co-chairperson of the dialogue with Episcopal Bishop Frank Brookhart, said the interim sharing agreement is “at the point of asking the churches to be partners in this dialogue.”
From local congregations to annual conferences and dioceses, all levels of the two denominations are encouraged to use the resources as they interact, Oden said.
The Council of Bishops is leading the dialogue process for The United Methodist Church in coordination with the General Commission on Christian Unity and Interreligious Concerns.
Oden said the process between United Methodists and Episcopalians “is open-ended” but that both denominations hope the final result will be a formal relationship in full communion—a sharing of faith, sacraments, ministry and mission.
In such a relationship, “each church retains its own identity and its own polity but … sees each other as full members of the one holy, catholic and apostolic church,” Oden said.
In some regions, United Methodist-Episcopal interaction is already occurring, Oden reported. For example, Seattle area United Methodists, led by Bishop Edward Paup, are conducting special services with the Episcopal Church.
In Des Moines, Iowa, Bishop Gregory Palmer and the Episcopal diocese “are in joint conversations at every level,” Oden said.
Dialogue between the two denominations began after the 1948 Methodist General Conference and the Episcopal General Convention voted to form joint commissions on union. Those talks were set aside in the mid-1960s when the Consultation on Church Union was formed.
“The nine denominations of COCU agreed they would not enter bilateral conversations as long
as COCU was in process,” Oden said.
In the 1980s, “when it became evident that COCU would not go forward, bilateral dialogues began to resume,” he said.
The most recent round of dialogues began in 2002.
A resolution to ratify the action of the Council of Bishops approving the interim agreement will be presented next spring to the 2008 United Methodist General Conference in Fort Worth.