LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 2001, Page 397

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ADDITIONAL THEOLOGICAL DOCUMENTS AND REPORTS—OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT 397

6. Above all, we face a common challenge to engage in God’s
mission to the people of our nations and continent at a time of un-
paralleled opportunity, which may properly be called a kairos.

B. Our Common Ground as Churches

7. The faith, worship and spirituality of all our churches are
rooted in the tradition of the apostolic Church. We stand in conti-
nuity with the Church of the patristic and medieval periods both
directly and through the insights of the Reformation period. We
each understand our own church to be part of the One, Holy,
Catholic Church of Jesus Christ and truly participating in the one
apostolic mission of the whole people of God. We share in the litur-
gical heritage of Western Christianity and also in the Reformation
emphases upon justification by faith and upon word and sacrament
as means of grace. All this is embodied in our confessional and
liturgical documents and is increasingly recognized both as an es-
sential bond between our churches and as a contribution to the
wider ecumenical movement.

8. Despite geographical separation and a wide diversity of lan-
guage, culture and historical development, the Anglican and
Lutheran churches in Britain and Ireland and in the Nordic and
Baltic countries have much in common, including much common
history. Anglo-Saxon and Celtic missionaries played a significant
part in the evangelization of Northern Europe and founded some
of the historic sees in the Nordic lands. The unbroken witness of
successive bishops in the dioceses and the maintenance of pastoral
and liturgical life in the cathedrals and churches of all our nations
are an important manifestation of the continuity of Christian life
across the ages, and of the unity between the churches in Britain
and Ireland and in Northern Europe.

9. Each of our churches has played a significant role in the so-
cial and spiritual development of the nation in which it has been
set. We have been conscious of our mission and ministry to all the
people in our nations. Most of our churches have had a pastoral and
sometimes a legal responsibility for the majority of the population
of our countries. This task is today increasingly being carried out in
cooperation with other churches.

C. Our Common Mission Today

10. Our churches and their nations are today facing new tasks
and opportunities, in the context of many ideological, social and
political changes in Europe.

These include:

(a) a growing awareness by the European nations of their inter-
dependence and mutual responsibility, and the need to rectify injus-
tices resulting from the European wars of many centuries, but espe-
cially the twentieth century, which have affected the whole world;

(b) new opportunities which are especially dramatic in the
Baltic context for evangelism, re-evangelism and pastoral work in
all our countries, and the challenge to restate the Christian faith in
response to both a prevalent practical materialism and a yearning
among many people for spiritual values;

(c) a need to react to the vacuum arising from the collapse of a
monolithic political system in Eastern Europe and to the increas-
ingly pluriform character of society in Britain and Ireland and in
the Nordic countries;

(d) opportunities to work for peace, justice and human rights,
to diminish the imbalance between the prosperous nations and
those impoverished and suffering from undue economic depen-
dency, and to protect the rights and dignity of the poor and desolate
in particular, migrants, refugees and ethnic minorities;

(e) an ecological debate within and between the countries of
Northern Europe, to which the churches have begun to bring a pos-
itive theology of creation and incarnation according permanent
value to the earth and life in all its forms;

(f) a need for dialogue and understanding with people of other
races, Cultures and religious traditions as partners and fellow-citi-
zens of a new Europe.

11. All the major European churches are now consulting together
about these issues, especially in the follow-up to the European Ecu-
menical Assembly (Basel, 1989), co-sponsored by the Conference
of European Churches (CEC) and the Council of Catholic Bishops’
Conferences in Europe (CCEE). We are committed to encouraging
this process of consultation and to playing an active part in the ini-
tiatives arising from it. Through such joint efforts in witness and
service we shall build upon the unity we already enjoy, and con-
tribute to a deeper unity which lies ahead of us.

12. Within the wider relationship of the Lutheran World Feder-
ation and the Anglican Communion our churches have become
aware of the necessity of facing problems and undertaking tasks in
a global perspective.

13. In the face of all the questions arising from our common
mission today, our churches are called together to proclaim a duty
of service to the wider world and to the societies in which they are
set. Equally, they are called together to proclaim the Christian
hope, arising from faith, which gives meaning in societies charac-
terized by ambiguity. Again they are called together to proclaim
the healing love of God and reconciliation in communities
wounded by persecution, oppression and injustice. This common
proclamation in word and sacrament manifests the mystery of
God’s love, God’s presence and God’s Kingdom.

If. The Nature and Unity of the Church
A. God’s Kingdom and the Mystery and Purpose of the Church

14. Our times demand something new of us as churches. Our
agreement, as set out in this text, about the nature of the Church
and its unity has implications for the ways in which we respond to
the challenge of our age. We have come to see more clearly that
we are not strangers to one another, but “fellow-citizens with God’s
people, members of God's household... built on the foundation of
the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the corner-
stone’ (Eph. 2: 19-20 REB). By the gift of God’s grace we have
been drawn into the sphere of God’s will to reconcile to himself all
that he has made and sustains (II Cor 5: 17-19), to liberate the cre-
ation from every bondage (Rom. 8: 19-22) and to draw all things
into unity with himself (Eph. 1: 9f), God’s ultimate purpose and
mission in Christ is the restoration and renewal of all that he has
made, the coming of the Kingdom in its fullness.

15. To bring us to unity with himself, the Father sent his Son
Jesus Christ into the world. Through Christ’s life, death and resur-
rection, God’s love is revealed and we are saved from the powers
of sin and death (John 3: 16-18). By grace received through faith
we are put into a right relationship with God. We are brought from
death to new life (Rom. 6: 1-11), born again, made sons and daugh-
ters by adoption and set free for life in the Spirit (Gal. 4:5, Rom. 8:
14-17). This is the heart of the gospel proclamation of the Church
and through this proclamation God gathers his people together. In
every age from apostolic times it has been the purpose of the
Church to proclaim this gospel in word and deed: “It is this which
we have seen and heard that we declare to you also, in order that
you may share with us in a common life (koinonia), that life which
we share (koinonia) with the Father and his Son Jesus Christ’
(I John 1.3 REB).

16. Faith is the God-given recognition that the light has come
into the world, that the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us
and has given us the right to become children of God (John 1:1-
13). Faith, as life in communion with the triune God, brings us into,
and sustains and nourishes us in, the common life of the Church,
Christ’s Body. It is the gift of forgiveness which delivers us from
the bondage of sin and from the anxiety of trying to justify our-

2001 Convention Workbook