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The 7^th General Assembly of the Community of Protestant Churches in Europe (CPCE) in Florence (20 to 26 September 2012) approved along with other texts the results of two doctrinal dialogues. The document “Scripture, Confession and Church” has just appeared as a separate brochure. The other report, entitled “Ministry – Ordination – Episkopé”, is documented in this volume along with a thematically related study on the subject of theological training.

The problems of “Ministry and Ordination” were already mentioned in the Leuenberg Agreement (LA 39) as one instance of the questions on which doctrinal differences persist in the various Protestant confessions without being grounds for division. In addition, since the mutual recognition of ordination was and is one of the central elements in the Leuenberg understanding of church fellowship, the understanding and praxis of ministry have repeatedly been discussed. As early as 1976 a doctrinal dialogue was commissioned on “Office – Offices – Ministries – Ordination” and ran for a considerable time.¹ Two series of theses, the “Neuendettelsau Theses” and the “Tampere Theses”, were received by the General Assembly in 1987, but, like the section on ministry in the study “The Church of Jesus Christ” of 1994, did not yet bring a complete agreement.² So there were two good reasons for the General Assembly in the year 2006 to put the subject on the agenda afresh. On the one hand, the existing fundamental consensus was to be deepened, further developed and made fruitful for the ecumenical dialogue with other confessions. This especially applied to the question of episkopé, which has become increasingly important in the ecumenical discussion in recent decades but has only been marginally raised in the CPCE. On the other, it was intended, as the Budapest General Assembly had just especially emphasised, to strengthen further the fellowship between the churches in CPCE. An important element in this can be the mutual exchange of ministers, which the mutual recognition of ordination actually suggests but whose realisation is limited by various obstacles. These include the differences in structures of ministry as well as in regulations for ordination and other forms of commissioning, and so work especially needed to be done on these issues.

As the differing theological training courses and qualifications often also hinder the moving of ordained ministers to the service of other churches, a study of theological training was also commissioned in 2006. The report was judged by the 2012 General Assembly to be “a guiding contribution for a common understanding of a good theological training” and recommended to the member churches for consideration. Further work is also intended in order to advance the cooperation of the churches in training and continuing education.

The two texts published in this volume are thus closely related in their aim, their themes and also in their procedure. Both bring out how the various forms of understanding of ministry, ordination and episkopé and also the various emphases in their theological articulation nevertheless lead back in the end to a shared basic understanding. Both argue in certain cases for a stronger convergence in praxis. Since, however, the Leuenberg Agreement does not aim for a „union detrimental to the lively diversity of styles of preaching, ways of worship, church order, and diaconal and social action” (LA 45), they do this only very cautiously. Since the unity of the church in Protestant understanding can only be realised as a unity in reconciled diversity, we also cannot expect any too rapid implementation of the numerous suggestions from the two texts. Each individual church will need to test and decide for itself – in part in conversation with partner churches – what it puts into practice. At any rate there is no lack of positive desire to draw closer together within CPCE.

The respective introductions and summaries give account of the patterns and main results of the two documents. Their working method was different. For the doctrinal dialogue a small initial group was first called together and delivered an initial draft of the text. This was thoroughly reworked in two sessions by a larger, representatively selected group and finalised by an editorial committee. The project on training was opened in 2008 with a consultation called by CPCE in cooperation with the Evangelical Church in Germany. This established parameters for the document, which was then compiled by an editorial group. A second consultation in 2010 discussed the draft and gave directions for its reworking, which was again undertaken by the editorial group. Both documents went to the CPCE churches (that on theological training also for further distribution to their training centres and theological faculties) and their responses were worked into the text by the two editorial groups.

The 7^th General Assembly of CPCE discussed the documents in several working groups and plenary sessions and suggested a few textual changes which are taken into account in the present version. It further decided on the status and future use of the texts. The resolutions are cited in full on the title pages of the documents.

It should be emphasised that the document “Ministry – Ordination – Episkopé” was not given the same status in all its parts. The highest degree of assent was ascribed to the Statement (Part II) and the Recommendations (Part III), while the Resource Material (Part IV) was only commended for consideration. The reason lies above all in the character of this section. It offers an historical sketch of the understanding and structures of ministry as well as a discussion of particular especially controversial questions without claiming a final resolution of them. By contrast, the Statement spells out what can be said together on the subject of ministry. It aims in this way not only to advance internal Protestant understanding, but also to mark parameters of a shared position towards other confessions, and in both respects to deepen the fellowship of the member churches of CPCE. Thus it is given to the public in the hope of a fruitful discussion in church and theology.

Both texts are first reproduced in the language in which they were composed, then in an (English or German) translation. As with most other documents from the work of CPCE, the French translations of both documents will initially only be available in the CPCE head office.

Vienna, January 2013

Dr. Michael Bünker, General Secretary

of the Community of Protestant Churches in Europe

Prof. Martin Friedrich, Study Secretary

of the Community of Protestant Churches in Europe

¹A full presentation with unpublished material is in HANS CHRISTIAN KNUTH: Gottes Wort und Wirklichkeit. Zwölf Jahre Leuenberger Lehrgespräche über „das Amt heute“. In: Gerhard Besier, Eduard Lohse (eds.): Glaube – Bekenntnis – Kirchenrecht. Festschrift für Vizepräsident i.R. D. theol. Hans Philipp Meyer zum 70. Geburtstag. Hannover 1989, 248–268.

²On these documents and their fruits cf. the introduction to the present document, No. 6–12.