I am a member of the ELCA, a denomination with full communion relationships with the United Church of Christ, the Reformed Church in America, the Presbyterian Church, USA, the Moravian Church, and the Episcopal Church, USA. We are also on the road towards full communion with the United Methodist Church.
In central Texas, you can't tell by looking. Our various congregations are not in active fellowship in social projects or theological conversation. We don't officially visit one another except as delegations to formal assemblies or meetings. In the pews, attention is not on moving into new stages of official ecumenism. It is, however, found in the perception that we are all free to join whatever local congregation makes sense for our needs/wants (day care, easy drive time, great music program, a solid youth program, good preaching, etc.).
The one area where there is overt cooperation between ECUSA and the ELCA is on the college campuses. We have joint campus ministries in both San Marcos and the Austin campus of the UT system.
So what does full communion look like from where you stand?
Laura Lincoln
