Full Communion with Episcopalians Delayed

By Heather Hahn
Sept. 18, 2020 | UM News

Citing the pandemic’s ongoing threat, United Methodists and Episcopalians have put plans for full communion between their two denominations on hold for now.

Leaders of both denominations initially had expected to take up a proposed full-communion agreement when their top decision-making bodies each met this year and next.
  
“The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic with its sweeping disruptions has regrettably, but understandably, necessitated a rethinking of this timeline,” the Episcopal Church-United Methodist Dialogue Committee said in a Sept. 17 statement.

The disease’s menace already has resulted in the postponement of The United Methodist Church’s General Conference from May this year to Aug. 29-Sept. 7, 2021, in Minneapolis. Now, The Episcopal Church is rethinking the format and timing of its General Convention currently scheduled for July 2021.
 
With all these changes in mind, the dialogue committee now recommends that both denominations wait to take up full communion until the next General Convention/General Conference after 2021. The committee includes five leaders from each denomination as well as a United Methodist and two Episcopal staff members. Read more>