Lutherans, Methodists to Share Pastors

At their recent churchwide gathering in Fort Worth, Texas, United Methodist Church officials approved a proposal to share pastors and to combine congregations with churches from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

The Columbus Dispatch reported that because of declining memberships and lacking support for isolated rural congregations, churches from two of the largest mainline Protestant denominations will have the option of joining up. Newly merged congregations would be called “Lutheran/Methodist,” said the Rev. Donald McCoid, executive of inter-religious relations for the ELCA. The ELCA, however, will have to vote to approve the resolution at their next churchwide assembly, which is in 2009.

The two denominations have a combined 16 million members in the United States, and the UMC is the largest mainline Protestant denomination in the country. The ELCA is based in Chicago, while the UMC has headquarters in Nashville, Tenn.