The year 2011 marks 10 years of full communion between Anglicans and Lutherans in both Canada and the United States. In 2001, the Anglican Church of Canada (ACC) and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada (ELCIC) signed the Waterloo Declaration. In that same year The Episcopal Church, USA, and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America signed a similar agreement, Called to Common Mission.
On May 1, 2011, the four churches will celebrate this landmark year with parallel services in Fort Erie, Ont. and Buffalo, N.Y. Anglicans and Lutherans will gather to mark the anniversaries and honour the possibility for future collaboration.
In a statement issued Ash Wednesday [PDF], Archbishop Fred Hiltz (ACC) and National Bishop Susan Johnson (ELCIC) call for wide participation: “We invite the people of the Anglican Church of Canada and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada to pray for each other and for this holy endeavour. At the same time, communities are encouraged to host their own celebrations, on the Second Sunday of Easter or sometime thereafter, in their own churches.”
The full statement from Archbishop Hiltz and National Bishop Johnson is available for download [PDF] and includes liturgical material for a service celebrating full communion.
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