Vollkonferenz der UEK am 4./8. November 2011 in Magdeburg

Resolution on Kirchengemeinschaft between the UCC and the UEK

I

The UEK Full Assembly is grateful for the report on the most recent missionary campaigns of the United Church of Christ (USA) presented by its president, Rev. Geoffrey Black.

The Full Assembly respectfully acknowledges that the UCC addresses its members as well as people who are not part of the church while conveying a testimony that is both spiritual and unequivocal. For the churches in Germany the “God is still speaking” campaign as well as the ”Mission 1” campaign can be inspiring and exemplary. This shows how Kirchengemeinschaft with the UCC enriches our Churches.

The Full Assembly suggests that the UCC campaigns should be studied and be used in view of the missionary challenges facing the EKD.

II

1. Kirchengemeinschaft (i.e. ecclesial communion) which includes the mutual recognition of Baptism, Holy Communion and Ordination has existed between the churches of the former Evangelical Church of the Union (EKU) and the United Church of Christ in the USA (UCC) since 1980/81. After the EKU merged with the churches of the Arnoldshain Conference to form the Union of Evangelical Churches in the EKD (UEK) the UCC General Synod decided to extend Kirchengemeinschaft to the UEK as a whole.
2. All churches of the former Arnoldshain Conference having now given their consent to Kirchengemeinschaft between the UEK and the UCC, the Full Assembly hereby asserts that the UEK with its member churches are in a relationship of ecclesial communion with the UCC. This communion includes the mutual recognition of Baptism, Holy Communion and Ordination.
3. The UEK is grateful for the experience of Kirchengemeinschaft with the UCC, which finds its expression particularly in a joint advocacy for Justice in the respective social contexts, in the common search for contemporary forms of church life and in the shared commitment to an ethic of just Peace.
4. The Lutheran, United and Reformed member churches of the EKD have reached agreement in their understanding of the Gospel and the Sacraments on the basis of the Leuenberg Agreement (1973). A similar communion has been achieved between the UCC, the ELCA and other churches on the basis of the “Formula of Agreement” (1997). Therefore it is the UEK’s aspiration to extend this communion to the EKD as a whole. The UEK invites the other member churches of the EKD to be open for Kirchengemeinschaft with the UCC and to envisage the possibilities of a partnership.