The first fruits of the Augsburg Agreement – full communion between The Episcopal Church (TEC) and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria (ELKB) – emerged recently in Augsburg and Munich as Episcopal and Lutheran ministers celebrated communion in one another’s churches.
The first exchange “of pulpit and altar” actually took place in Augsburg when the Rev. Dr. Lutz Ackermann, vicar of the Church of Saint Boniface, took the Lutheran service in their host church, the ELKB Auferstehungskirche. Later in January 2026, Rev. Steve Kennedy Henkel of the ELKB preached and celebrated the Eucharist in the Church of the Ascension in Munich.
“Our full communion with the ELKB is a living testimony that we are stronger together, able to share gifts, carry one another’s burdens, and step in with grace when needed,” said the Rev. Dan Marrow, rector of Church of the Ascension (Munich). “I am deeply thankful for Steve’s care in leading worship during my absence and eager to celebrate his new call at his installation.”
The Augsburg Agreement was signed after some 10 years of negotiations on the eve of Pentecost 2025 in Munich, Germany. The formal agreement was passed earlier by TEC General Convention in Louisville, KY, in June 2022, and by the ELKB Landessynode (General Synod) in Amberg, Germany, in November 2024.
“We rejoice this is exchange is happening in accordance with the Augsburg Agreement and that seems to have been very successful,” said the Rev. Walter Baer, canon for ecumenical relations. The development of a contact group to manage and facilitate these types of exchanges is a work in progress, he added.
