The Anglican Church of Canada and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada (ELCIC) have been in full-communion since 2001. This merger was approved in Waterloo, ON. in 2001 by the National Convention of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada and the General Synod of the Anglican Church of Canada.

Our two churches are using the following definition of Full Communion.

Full communion is understood as a relationship between two distinct churches or communions in which each maintains its own autonomy while recognizing the catholicity and apostolicity of the other, and believing the other to hold the essentials of the Christian faith. In such a relationship, communicant members of each church would be able freely to communicate at the altar of the other, and there would be freedom of ordained ministers to officiate sacramentally in either church. Specifically, in our context, we understand this to include transferability of members; mutual recognition and interchangeability of ministries; freedom to use each other’s liturgies; freedom to participate in each other’s ordinations and installations of clergy, including bishops; and structures for consultation to express, strengthen, and enable our common life, witness, and service, to the glory of God and the salvation of the world.

The Waterloo Ministries Directory provides a list of all the various full communion ministries and communities across our two churches.

Joint Anglican-Lutheran Commission

The Joint Anglican-Lutheran Commission (JALC) is a group of individuals from each church who meet twice yearly to explore ways our two churches can work even more closely together in full communion. One example of this growing cooperation is the 2013 Anglican-Lutheran Joint Assembly.

The members of the Joint Anglican-Lutheran Commission are:

Anglican Church of Canada

  • The Very Rev. Peter Wall (co-chair)
  • Bishop Chris Harper
  • Ms. Marilyn Malton
  • The Rev. Dr. William (Bill) Harrison
  • Ms. Dorothy Patterson
  • The Rev. Dcn. Maylanne Maybee
  • The Rev. Canon Dr. Scott Sharman (staff)

Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada

  • Bishop Larry Kochendorfer
  • Rev. Dr. Kayko Driedger Hesslein
  • Ms. Kathryn Smith
  • Rev. Susan Climo
  • Rev. Paul Gehrs (staff)