At the end of September 2001, leaders and officials in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) were informed of the fundamentally flawed nature of Called to Common Mission (CCM), the ecumenical agreement between the ELCA and the Episcopal Church in the USA. At that time, ELCA leaders were also asked to take decisive action to address the miscarriage of basic Lutheran principles embodied in CCM (click here for details).

The response by ELCA leaders during the six months since then has been less than encouraging. Most ELCA leaders have not replied to the detailed research presented to them regarding the defective nature of CCM. Of those leaders who have responded, none has chosen to question either CCM or the way in which CCM was adopted.

It would thus seem to appear that ELCA leaders find acquiring "historic episcopacy" from the Episcopal Church more compelling than exhibiting the basic attributes of academic, intellectual, or personal integrity befitting their offices of leadership. This less than exemplary behavior brings the ELCA into disrepute and belies the very nature of the episkopé (oversight) which these leaders seem to desire so deeply.

Because the ELCA has few, if any, internal checks and balances, CCM Verax on behalf of many US Lutherans has opted to take decisive action regarding CCM. In a letter dated 12th March 2002 (in English and in German), CCM Verax issued an appeal to member churches of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) for their support and intervention. In that letter, CCM Verax has asked LWF leaders:

• Firstly, to study the nature of the grand deception in CCM as detailed in the article "Called to Common Mission: A Lutheran Proposal?", (Click your preferred format: MS Word, WordPerfect, PDF) recently published in the Lutheran theological journal Logia, and as described in other materials available on the CCM Verax web site.
• Secondly, to encourage the ELCA leadership to suspend CCM until CCM itself and the methods used to obtain its passage can be fully investigated by an independent arbitrator.
• Finally, to prepare themselves to assist US Lutherans who, being ecumenical in a Protestant sense, feel obliged to form a new Lutheran church in the USA which is true to the unity principle of Christ alone as expressed in Article VII of the Augsburg Confession.

If you would like to join LWF leaders in any of these three endeavors, CCM Verax would be grateful if you could communicate the commencement of your action(s) to:

Mark S. Hanson,
Presiding Bishop
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
8765 W. Higgins Road
Chicago, IL 60631
USA

For responses to the Lutheran World Appeal click here

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