LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 2001, Page 395

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ADDITIONAL THEOLOGICAL DOCUMENTS AND REPORTS—OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT 395

SHEEHAN, Thomas 1984 Review of Hans Kueng’s Eternal
Life? In New York Review of Books, 14 June.

SMYTH, Charles 1958 “The Church of England in History and
Today,” in The Genius of the Church of England, pp. 23-46.

TAPPERT, Theodore G., tr. and ed. 1959 The Book of Concord.
The Confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. Philadelphia:
Fortress Press.

THE PORVOO COMMON STATEMENT 1993 Conversations
between The British and Irish Anglican Churches and The Nordic
and Baltic Lutheran Churches. Text agreed at the fourth plenary
meeting, held at Jarvenpaa, Finland, 9-13 October 1992. London:
The Council] for Christian Unity of The General Synod of the
Church of England. Occasional Paper No. 3.

THE PORVOO DECLARATION: REFERENCE TO THE

DIOCESAN SYNODS AND STUDY GUIDE 1994 Memorandum
by the Standing Committee and Study Guide by the Council for
Christian Unity. London.

THURIAN, Max, ed. 1986 Churches Respond to BEM, 6 vols.
Geneva: World Council of Churches.

VAITA, Vilmos, ed. 1963 Church in Fellowship: Lutheran In-
terchurch Agreements and Practices. Minneapolis: Augsburg.

The Porvoo Common Statement

Foreword
by the Co-chairmen

1. Dramatic changes have swept across Northern Europe in re-
cent years. Many new links of commerce, education, tourism and
consultation on environmental matters are now being actively de-
veloped across the Nordic/Baltic and British/Irish region. In this
fast changing scene the Anglican and Lutheran churches have a key
role to play, and the present report offers the vision of twelve such
churches—with a total membership of some 50 million Chris-
tians—entering into closer communion and joining in various
forms of practical cooperation as they carry out their contemporary
mission. It is a cause of great joy that the Anglican and Lutheran
strands of Western Christendom which have so many common
roots and display remarkably similar characteristics, have redis-
covered one another in the present century and begun growing
closer together. ;

2. The Porvoo Common Statement is the result of several major
influences. The first was the series of theological Conversations
which took place between Anglicans and Lutherans in the Nordic
and Baltic region during 1909-1951, and the agreements to which
these talks gave rise. Secondly, acquaintance between these
churches was greatly strengthened by other joint events not directly
concerned with church unity negotiations, notably the series of
Anglo-Scandinavian theological conferences (begun in 1929) and
pastoral conferences (begun in 1978) which still continue. Thirdly,
a new climate of theological debate was created at world level by
the bilateral and multilateral ecumenical dialogues of the 1970s and
80s, as evidenced by the following reports in particular: Pullach
1973, Lima (BEM) 1982, Helsinki 1982, Cold Ash 1983 and Nia-
gara 1988. This last report in particular has thrown new light on
old questions of Faith and Order.

3. The immediate stimulus to move beyond the earlier agree-
ments came from the personal initiative of Archbishop Robert Run-
cie (Canterbury) and Archbishop Bertil Werkstrém (Uppsala), cou-
pled with the efforts of those officers who set preliminary
arrangements in hand: Canon Christopher Hill and Canon Martin
Reardon (England), together with Dean Lars Osterlin (Sweden) and
Prot. Ola Tjgrhom (Norway). We owe them a debt of gratitude for
their vision and determination, which evoked a positive response
in each participating country.

4. A further impulse was added by the Lutheran-Episcopal
Agreement of 1982 in the USA and by The Meissen Common
Statement of 1988 between the Church of England and the Evan-

gelical Churches in East and West Germany. Each of these agree-
ments led to mutual eucharistic hospitality, a limited degree of
sharing ordained ministry, occasional joint celebrations of the eu-
charist and a commitment to common life and mission. Represen-
tatives who had been involved in both these ventures told us about
them at first hand.

5. Four plenary sessions of official Theological Conversations
were held during 1989-92, interspersed by meetings of a small
Drafting Group. We take this opportunity of thanking members of
the Drafting Group, especially Bishop Stephen Sykes (Ely), Bishop
Tord Harlin (Uppsala) and Dr. Lorenz Grénvik (Finland), who gave
their time unstintingly in carrying this extra burden. We also wish to
record our appreciation and warm thanks to other particular persons:
those who generously provided accommodation and hospitality dur-
ing our meetings; our consultants and ecumenical observers for their
sensitive encouragement and constructive advice; Director Gunnel
Borgegard for her work in coordinating the Nordic translations; all
those involved in making this report available in other languages;
and those staff members who contributed their theological and ad-
ministrative skills: Dr Mary Tanner, The Reverend Geoffrey Brown,
Mr Colin Podmore and the Reverend Kaj Engstr6m.

6. The aim of these Conversations was to move forward from
our existing piecemeal agreements towards the goal of visible
unity. By harvesting the fruits of previous ecumenical dialogues
we hoped to express a greater measure of common understanding,
and to resolve the longstanding difficulties between us about epis-
copacy and succession. We found that we had similar histories and
faced similar challenges in contemporary society, and that there
were no essential differences between us in the fields of faith,
sacramental life or ministry (each church already being episcopal in
structure). We became convinced that the way was now open to re-
gard one another’s churches, each with its own distinctive charac-
ter, as sister churches. The time was ripe to move closer together
and to implement a practical agreement which would be relevant
to laity and clergy alike in carrying out our common mission.

7. This purpose proved so attractive to Anglicans and Luther-
ans in neighbouring countries that our membership was extended.
The original participants came from the five Nordic countries (Den-
mark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden) together with Latvia,
Estonia and England. From the outset and at every stage of the
Conversations full information was shared with church representa-
tives in Lithuania as well as Ireland, Scotland and Wales. Their at-
tendance and full membership was encouraged by Archbishop
George Carey who, before his translation to Canterbury, had been
one of the original English delegates, and was warmly welcomed
when it came about. A full list of those who took part is shown to-
wards the end of the document.

8. The final text was agreed unanimously on Tuesday, | 3th Oc-
tober 1992 at Jarvenpaa, and entitled The Porvoo Common State-
ment after the name of the Finnish city in whose cathedral we had
celebrated the eucharist together on the previous Sunday. Indeed,
the context of worship in which Anglicans and Lutherans shared
the eucharist and daily morning and evening prayer throughout
these meetings played an important rdle in bringing us, under God,
to a common mind.

9. As regards the structure and content of this report we offer
the following brief commentary: Chapter I sets the scene, both his-
torically and today, and anchors the ensuing doctrinal discussions
firmly in the context of the Church’s mission. In this respect it fol-
lows the perspective of The Niagara Report. Chapter II spells out
our agreement on the nature of the Church and the goal of visible
unity. Especially crucial to the later argument are paras 20 and 28.
Chapter III records in brief compass the substantial areas of belief
and practice which Anglicans and Lutherans have in common. The
twelve sections of para. 32 draw on the doctrinal agreements
reached in earlier dialogues. Chapter IV begins by identifying in

2001 Convention Workbook