Called to Communion and Common Witness "Lutherans and the Reformed have come a long way together," says the Lutheran-Reformed joint working group. "The time has come for our highest governing bodies to make a joint declaration on the importance that they attach to the further development of Lutheran-Reformed relationships."

The working group was set up in 1999 to review the present state of Lutheran-Reformed relations; examine ways in which the two communions might fruitfully cooperate; and consider whether it would be helpful to begin a new round of international dialogue.

Called to Communion and Common Witness, the report of the working group which was finalized earlier this year, was welcomed by the executive committee of the Alliance and the council of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF), and will now be sent to member churches for study and discussion.

In four chapters, it surveys Lutheran-Reformed developments in recent years; explores what is involved in developing visible structures of communion; describes the present state of collaboration between the LWF and WARC; and makes recommendations for the future.

Already in 1989, Towards Church Fellowship, a report of the international Lutheran-Reformed dialogue, called on all Lutheran and Reformed churches throughout the world "to declare communion with one another" and to "make their unity more real and visible for their members as well as for the world".

Although progress since then has been uneven, the bonds between the two church families have become stronger and, at the international level, cooperation between the LWF and WARC has significantly advanced.

In 1997, the Formula of Agreement established full communion between the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the Presbyterian Church (USA), the Reformed Church in America and the United Church of Christ. A joint coordinating committee implements the agreement in areas such as the exchange of pastors, training of global missionaries and planning theological consultations. Other areas of cooperation between the programme boards of the churches are emerging.

In Europe, the Leuenberg Fellowship has been consolidating, strengthening and expanding the communion among Lutheran, Reformed and United Churches.

Lutheran and Reformed churches cooperate closely within the Fellowship of Middle East Evangelical Churches and, together with the Anglicans, form one "family" of churches in the Middle East Council of Churches.

The 61 Lutheran and Reformed churches belonging to the Communion of Churches in Indonesia continue to work with their Evangelical, Methodist and Pentecostal partners towards the long-stated goal of a United Church in Indonesia (Gereja Kristen yang Esa di Indonesia).

The report notes interesting developments since 1989 in Argentina, Brazil, the Czech Republic, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Germany, Hungary, India, the Netherlands, Sweden and Venezuela.

The report concludes that there is no need for further dialogue on the classical differences which in the past kept Lutheran and Reformed churches apart. The challenge today is not to discuss whether communion is possible, but "to help churches in our families to move towards declarations of communion, to advance in communion, and to celebrate unity as God's gift to us all".

"A new set of tasks needs to be faced: to encourage churches that are in altar and pulpit fellowship to deepen their relationship, to invite churches that are not yet in altar and pulpit fellowship to move towards it, and to consider ways in which, at the world level, the two communions may intensify their common life and witness."

Lutheran and Reformed churches need, however, a common reflection on the appropriate forms of the visible unity of the church. They need to address together different ecclesiological emphases within their families: the Reformed emphasis on confessing the gospel faithfully in today's world and the Lutheran emphasis on building up communion in and among Lutheran churches are not mutually exclusive and may prove to be mutually enriching.

They need also to recognize different starting points: while churches in the north - Lutheran or Reformed - often concentrate on declaring communion for the sake of common mission, churches in the south often begin by taking common steps in life and mission and move on the basis of this experience to new forms of communion. "We see a need for the churches in the north to acquire increased understanding and appreciation of how ecumenism develops in the south" - a mild sentence concealing a rebuke.

There is a difference in self-understanding also at the universal level. The Alliance provides for its member churches a theological and ethical forum and an instrument for mutual aid and public witness. The LWF defines itself explicitly as a communion of churches that share the same confession and see in it an instrument for their common commitment. Thus, to a larger extent than WARC, the LWF has sought to contribute to the wider ecumenical movement also through its own common life and witness.

The differences between the two bodies need to be addressed. "How can they represent together in constructive ways the voices of the Reformation within the ecumenical movement and promote together the wider ecumenical cause?"

The report recognizes that the path towards closer Lutheran-Reformed fellowship may differ greatly from one part of the world to another. "While recognizing that only individual churches have the authority to establish church fellowship with other churches, WARC and the LWF should play an active role in enabling and deepening communion relations between Reformed and Lutheran churches in different areas."

It recommends that the LWF and WARC establish a joint study project on structures of church communion, and sponsor a common history of the relations between Lutheran and Reformed churches.

It calls on them to prepare the next LWF assembly (Winnipeg, 2003) and WARC general council (Accra, 2004) in ways that encourage the formation of a mandate for common Lutheran-Reformed work in the period that follows; and, in pursuit of this, to schedule parallel meetings of the LWF council and WARC executive committee in 2005 or 2006, with blocks of time reserved for a common agenda.

Copies of Called to Communion and Common Witness may be ordered from the Alliance communications office.