WHEREAS, The Episcopal Church openly and directly stated that its adoption of Called To Common Mission (CCM) at its 2000 General Convention in Denver, Colorado, was based on The Episcopal Church and the ELCA "...having agreed that the threefold ministry of Bishops, Presbyters, and Deacons in historic succession will be the future pattern of the one ordained ministry shared corporately within the two churches in full communion ..."; and

WHEREAS, the proposal to ordain diaconal ministers, brought by the ELCA Task Force on Ministry, was overwhelmingly rejected by the 1993 ELCA Churchwide Assembly; and

WHEREAS, the Concordat of Agreement, which openly and directly stated that "the threefold ministry of bishops, presbyters, and deacons in historic succession will be the future pattern of the one ordained ministry...shared corporately within the two churches..." (3) was rejected by the 1997 ELCA Churchwide Assembly; and

WHEREAS, open and direct language about the threefold ministry as the future pattern of shared ministry was deleted from CCM which was narrowly passed by the 1999 ELCA Churchwide Assembly; and

WHEREAS, ELCA leaders have repeatedly assured ELCA members that CCM does not include any expectation or requirement that the ELCA adopt the threefold order of ministry, and the ELCA Bishops' Tucson Resolution (A.1) states clearly that "CCM contains no requirement that the ELCA must eventually adopt the threefold order of ministry;" therefore be it

RESOLVED, that the SPAS memorialize the 2001 ELCA Churchwide Assembly to hold a new vote on CCM, using the same open and direct language as adopted by the Episcopal Church, in order to determine whether the required two-thirds support is truly present in the ELCA for an agreement through CCM that "the threefold ministry of Bishops, Presbyters, and Deacons in historic succession will be the future pattern of the one ordained ministry shared corporately within the two churches in full communion.

Original Resolution submitted by

Michael Sparby,
Forest Lake