United Methodist Church and Episcopal Church put full communion plans on hold

News September 17, 2020

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The United Methodist – Episcopal Church Dialogue Committee has agreed that it is not prudent for our churches to press forward with action on full communion next year. Instead, the Committee recommends that both bodies take up the full-communion proposal at their next General Convention/General Conference after 2021.

The Committee met on July 30, via video conference to consider next steps in bringing the churches into a full-communion relationship. The hope was to bring the proposal “A Gift to the World: Co-Laborers for the Healing of Brokenness” before the two church-wide bodies in 2020 and 2021 respectively.

The delay has been blamed on the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic with its sweeping disruptions.

“Our churches and people are responding to unprecedented challenges in their local communities, conferences/dioceses, and at the denominational level. The United Methodist General Conference scheduled for May of 2020 has been postponed until Aug. 29-Sept. 7, of 2021. The Episcopal Church as well, is rethinking the format, timing, and range of issues that might be taken up by the next General Convention, “the Committee said in its statement released today.

Click here to read the full statement from the committee.