The Montana Synod Pastoral Conference for ELCA clergy opens today, and for the first time opens its invitation to all Episcopal clergy in the area to attend. The Presiding Bishops of both the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and the Episcopal Church will address the conference.
The Billings Gazette reports on the historic meeting.
“Montana is not the biggest player,” said the Rev. Jessica Crist, bishop of the Montana Synod of the ELCA, in a telephone interview from Great Falls. “So to have either one of them there is noteworthy, but to have them both there is additionally noteworthy.”
Lutherans and Episcopalians entered nationally into a full communion agreement in 1999, based on the document “Called to Common Mission.” …
The agreement allows the two denominations to share resources and people. For instance in Montana, a Lutheran pastor serves a trio of tiny congregations, two Episcopal and one Lutheran, in the northeast part of the state. In another instance, an Episcopal priest has covered for a Lutheran pastor who was on sabbatical.