From 2000 through 2007, in response to requests from participating churches and other sending bodies, the Faith and Order Commission engaged in a study of the Authority of the Church. During the 2000-2003 period, two groups worked on the topic, one studying Authority in the Church and the other, the Authority of the Church in the World.  One completed outcome of this work was a response of the Commission to a Roman Catholic document, A Petrine Ministry: A Working Paper, seeking to learn how the pope can carry out the ministry he is called to exercise by the self-understanding of the Catholic Church, in a manner that all may perceive as a "ministry of love," and that fosters the unity of the churches. The response, completed in 2003, is available here.

The Commission has now completed a second text, drawing on these eight years of work. The Authority of the Church in the World brings together voices from a very wide spectrum of Christian bodies: Evangelical, Pentecostal, Holiness, Emergent, Catholic, Orthodox, Episcopalian, Historic Peace Churches, Historically Black Churches, Lutheran, Reformed, Methodist and Baptist. (See Dr. Kireopoulos' introduction to the document here.) Perspectives of Commissioners of differing racial communities and ethnicities were incorporated and theological colleagues from communities not represented in the Commission generously continued as well. While some serious differences are carefully noted, the study found much on which the churches agree. The convergence document is available here.

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