Church Fellowship – An Ecumenical Model of Unity?

This article, by one of those involved in the process that led to the 1973 Leuenberg Agreement between Lutheran, Reformed, and United churches, considers the significance of the agreement and its methodology, often described as “differentiated consensus,” for ecumenical efforts aimed at church unity. The article begins by reviewing the Leuenberg Agreement against the background of other models of church unity and the significance of the aim of church fellowship or communion. It then reviews how the agreement stimulated theological conversations between Lutherans and Roman Catholics, and the contribution of the insights of the Leuenberg Agreement to the process of the mutual recognition of churches, in which the communion in Jesus Christ founded in baptism plays a central role. In this process, the churches are on a pilgrimage together whose ultimate goal is the coming of the kingdom of God.