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- Theme of this issue:
 Christian Unity and the Prayer for
Peace
- Welcome to Ecumenical Life
e-newsletter by Michael R. Trice, Associate Director for Ecumenical
and Inter-Religious Relations
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Churchwide Restructuring - The ELCA Department for Ecumenical
Affairs is now a section of the Office of the Bishop called Ecumenical and Inter-Religious Relations
- NEW Ecumenical
Opportunities, Resources and Involvement |
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Seeking Peace, Understanding, and Ecclesial
Unity
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-
 ELCA Churchwide
Assembly, Orlando Florida, August 8-14, 2005. View all
voting results,
videos,
photos,
worship,
news
releases.
Voting members urged Lutherans to
participate in
"Peace Not Walls: Stand for
Justice in the Holy Land," a campaign designed to build awareness. The Churchwide
Assembly also encouraged engagement in accompaniment and advocacy activities
for "peace with justice" between Israel and Palestine. By 668-269, the
assembly adopted the campaign, a primary component of the "ELCA Strategy
for Engagement in Israel and Palestine," approved by the ELCA Church
Council in April, 2005.
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ELCA and UMC Come to the Table
- Voting members at the ELCA Churchwide Assembly initiated “Interim
Eucharistic Sharing” with the United Methodist Church (877-60). The
agreement fosters mutual prayer, support and study. It encourages
joint services of Holy Communion following guidelines established by
both churches. Interim Eucharistic Sharing is a step that may lead to
a relationship of full Communion.
Read more
about the bilateral dialogues with other churches!
-
 Ecumenical Women of Peace!
The magazine of Women of the ELCA is
participated in a landmark ecumenical issue on peace. The
July-August
2005 issue of Lutheran Woman Today was designed to help celebrate the International Peace Day in
2005. Four women’s religious publications—Glad Tidings (published by the
Women’s Missionary Society of the Presbyterian Church in Canada),
Horizons (published by Presbyterian Women), Response (published by
United Methodist Women of the United Methodist Church), and Lutheran
Woman Today (ELCA)—published a joint issue as part of their regular magazine
cycle, reaching a combined audience of 200,000 women. Readers are
encouraged to coordinate ecumenical gatherings to talk about how they
can work together to promote peace. To learn more, visit the
Women of
the ELCA Web site.
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Worship Resources for Peace: The ELCA, Moravian Church in America,
Episcopal Church and Reformed Churches have united together to provide
a variety of resources from our various worship traditions to aid
congregations as they pray for peace. By following the links, you can
access liturgies, prayers, scripture and hymn suggestions, planning
ideas, and other information that can be printed or downloaded and
adapted for congregational use.
Read more...
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What is a
Conciliar Body? |
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NCC - The ELCA and the
National Council of Churches USA
(NCC) participate in ecumenical work throughout the country, from
disaster
response to victims of Hurricane Katrina, to
The Decade For a Culture of Nonviolence.
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CCT - A
pioneering new ecumenical effort,
Christian Churches Together in the USA, met for the fifth time
June 1-3, 2005 in Los Altos, California. Participants listened
to a presentation about the Global Christian Forum, a global
initiative to bring together the wide diversity of Christian
traditions into fellowship and cooperation. The next Steering
Committee meeting is in Washington D.C., September 18-19, 2005.
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CUIC
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Churches Uniting in Christ
is a relationship among nine Christian church bodies that have pledged
to live more closely together in expressing their unity in Christ and
to combat racism together.
Read more...
- WCC - The World Council of Churches
Pre-Assembly Event in Chicago Illinois, in preparation for the WCC 9th
Assembly in Porto Alegre, Brazil, February 14-23, 2006. See
Bible
Study material and
major
topics to be discussed.
- special program October 8-10 for young
adults called "Shift Your Space, Transform the World" in Hyde
Park, Chicago. Read more and register
today!
-
Violence and Christian Spirituality: An
Ecumenical Conversation --
International conference in Boston, MA., October 27-29. Hosted
by Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology (in cooperation with
the World Council of Churches and the Boston Theological Institute)
with renowned speakers from around the globe... Read
about the program and register today!
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- NCC - NCC
Hosts Global Meeting -- The general secretaries of nine regional
ecumenical councils and the WCC meet for their annual exchange, hosted
by the National Council of Churches this year. On Friday,
September 23, there will be a press conference in the National Press
Club in Washington, D.C. Read more...
- WCC - International Day of Prayer for Peace - The
World Council of
Churches (WCC)
calls all churches to join faith communities worldwide September 21,
2005, for the International Day of Prayer for Peace. For additional
information, visit The U.N. International Day of Peace,
The
International Day of Peace Vigil and The Decade to Overcome Violence.
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| © LWF/D.-M. Grötzsch |
LWF - The
Lutheran World Federation - The
LWF Council met in
Jerusalem and Bethlehem August 31 - September 6, 2005. The
accompanying picture is of morning prayer of LWF Council participants
at the Israeli separation wall near Bethlehem.
Read more about the LWF
and how it assists over 400,000 refugees in the world at any given
time.
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- Strategy for Engagement
in Israel and Palestine
Recommendation
passed (688-269) with Amendment
- ELCA Global Mission has
traditionally pursued this church's relationships with our
Muslim neighbors,
whereas the ELCA Section on Ecumenical and
Inter-Religious Relations has assisted with the Presiding Bishop's
appointment of a
Lutheran-Jewish Consultative Panel. The ELCA continues to
benefit from a rich understanding of other historical expressions of
religion throughout the globe. In the coming months
Global Mission and Ecumenical and Inter-Religious Relations
will work more closely than ever before with our neighbors throughout
the world.
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The LERN network is
comprised of ELCA clergy and laypeople appointed by their synodical bishops
throughout the ELCA to conduct ecumenical activity on local and regional
levels. LERN reps. meet annually at the
National Workshop
on Christian Unity and with staff members of the ELCA Ecumenical and Inter-Religious Relations. These representatives and the LERN Executive Board
meet the challenge of the ELCA’s strategic directions to authentically
“step forward as a public church, support congregations, assist
synods, produce wise and courageous leaders, and deepen and extend
our... ecumenical relationships.”
- LERNing is the premier
LERN
newsletter. Check out the September issue
on Christian Unity and reconciliation with faiths
other than Christian.
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- News & Events
- ELCA and the Lutheran Communion throughout the world!
- Worldwide Faith News
(WFN) - is a database of full text official news releases and other
documents, including policy statements, from the news offices of
national and world faith groups. This collection indexes more than
18,000 documents.
- Ecumenical News
International (ENI) - Israel to seek preservation of Gaza
synagogues; Pope Benedict XVI
and World Youth Day in Cologne, Germany; the Legacy of Brother
Roger of Taize.
-
World
Jewish Congress
- See recent
news releases from the World Council of Churches:
- US Conference prepares for WCC 9th Assembly
around theme: "God, in your grace, transform the world";
- Kobia Visits Churches in Ethiopia, September
24-29;
- Theological guidelines for Accompaniment in
Palestine and Israel, September 28-30
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