History

A little over 50 years ago (1973), the Leuenberg Agreement achieved a historic reconciliation between churches that had been impossible for almost 500 years: mutual recognition of Protestant churches in Europe. It is thus the founding document of the Protestant Church Communion, which has far-reaching practical implications: ever since, a Lutheran pastor has been able to preach from a Reformed pulpit and a Reformed believer can receive communion at a Lutheran service.

The Lutheran and Reformed theologians who laid the foundation for a Protestant church communion in Europe in the early 1970s emphasised the common Reformation understanding of the Gospel between Martin Luther and John Calvin. Differences in certain doctrines were defined as bridgeable, and reconciliation in united diversity as the way forward.

Since then, much has happened in the ecclesiastical sphere as well as in society, politics and medical ethics. The CPCE deals with many current challenges on a biblical basis and in the light of the Leuenberg Agreement, seeking Protestant answers – broad, open to dialogue and also interdisciplinary – in order to provide its member churches with the most helpful impulses and ideas possible.

The Leuenberg Agreement is the founding document of the church communion (now the Communion of Protestant Churches in Europe). 96 Protestant churches have declared themselves to be part of the Church Communion on the basis of the Leuenberg Agreement. The Leuenberg Agreement is available in the following European languages:

Download the Leuenberg Agreement