The Moravian Church Southern Province Synod of 2010 adopted a resolution to form a Covenant Partnership with the Presbyterian Church USA (PCUSA)
The Covenant Partnership with the Presbyterian Church USA is the result of conversations between Moravians in the South and North and the PCUSA that took place between 2002 and 2007. Participants chose the language of “Covenant” since both Moravians and Presbyterians make common and frequent use of that term. Hardly a week passes that we do not speak of God’s Covenant with Israel or the New Covenant of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We both practice “covenant baptism” and we Moravians practice “the Cup of Covenant.”
The following areas of cooperation are taken either from the working document, “An Invitation to the Table: A Proposal for Moravian/Reformed Covenant Partnership,” or from the action on the proposal taken by the 218th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church USA in 2008. The language is abbreviated. A similar agreement was adopted by the PCUSA and the Moravian Church Northern Province at their Synod in June.
As Covenant Partners the PCUSA and the Moravian Church Southern Province will:
- Recognize each other as churches in which the gospel is rightly preached and the sacraments rightly administered according to the Word of God in the Scriptures. (This does not mean that we agree on all points of doctrine and practice.)
- Recognize each other’s ordained ministries as valid, and develop processes and procedures for the orderly exchange of ministers. (In past we have sometimes exchanged ministers. The covenant partnership gives the process more structure. In the Moravian Church the PEC will continue to function as in the call of a pastor already serving in our denomination.)
- Cooperate in mission—locally, regionally, and nationally. Such efforts may include sharing models of existing cooperation, as well as creating new opportunities for common witness and mission.
- Cooperate in developing resources, as appropriate. Such resources may include but not be limited to Christian Education curriculum, mission education resources, and liturgical resources that may serve to officiate mutual understanding.
- Invite one another to participate in governance and other activities. This means that we will regularly invite one another to participate in church-wide assemblies, synods, and councils, etc. (We had a delegate from the PCUSA at our 2010 Synod.)
The idea of “Covenant Partnership,” seems more modest than the idea of “Full Communion,” yet the effect is virtually the same. It offers the partners a wonderful opportunity of working together as we jointly profess our faith in Jesus Christ before the world. It goes without saying that we will continue to recognize and value our independent existence, and our Diversity and the Diversity of gifts—which we hope to share with one another.