It had been preceded by the International Consultation on English Texts (ICET). That group had been convened in 1969 by the International Commission on English in the Liturgy (ICEL). In conjunction with the (North American) Consultation on Common Texts (CCT) and the Joint Liturgical Group (JLG) of Great Britain, with JLG and ICEL providing the co-chairs (Ronald Jasper and Harold Winstone, respectively).
The program of ICEL continuing earlier initiatives of CCT in which ICEL had shared, was limited to the preparation of common liturgical texts translated into English for the eucharist and other services of Christian worship. The project was carried out by specialists in pastoral liturgy, languages, and other disciplines who had been invited by the convening bodies to participate in meetings held in London. The results of ICET's work were recommended to the Christian churches in the countries where English is spoken for common use in the liturgy. ICET's program was completed in 1975 with the publication of a final, revised edition of the booklet Prayers We Have In Common. This common, ecumenical understanding may be considered highly successful in view of the number of churches, which approved or adopted the proposed liturgical texts.
At the time of the congress of Societas Liturgica in Vienna in 1983, It was agreed by ICEL and CCT to convene a new organization similar in ecumenical purpose to ICET but with a more clearly defined membership and with broader goals of ecumenical-liturgical collaboration. The latter are described below under 'Mission.' The formal organizational meeting of the English Language Liturgical Consultation was held in Boston in 1985, again at the time of Societas Liturgica’s biennial congress.
The ordinary group membership of ELLC was agreed to be the national or regional associations in which the respective churches or their liturgical committees or commissions come together on an ecumenical basis. Such associations appoint or otherwise designates their representatives and thus constitute the working body that is known as ELLC and that meets every second year. Regularly each of the national or regional associations includes churches of the Anglican, Lutheran, Methodist, Reformed (Presbyterian), Roman Catholic, and United traditions but is open to the Orthodox and other Eastern churches and to other (Christian traditions such as the Free Churches.
ICEL as one of the original conveners of both ICET and ELLC, was a full member of ELLC until 2001, when it had to withdraw following the publication of the Vatican Instruction, Liturgiam Authenticam which proscribed its involvement in ecumenical bodies. Although entirely Roman Catholic in its own membership and not constitutionally ecumenical, ICEL had participated in ecumenical undertaking from its inception in 1963. It was established by the national Catholic churches throughout the English speaking world and is a joint commission established by twenty six conferences of Catholic Bishops on behalf of those churches, a communion of more than 80 million English speaking Christian believers. Their withdrawal was accepted with great regret, and we look forward to the day when it is once again possible for ICEL to return to membership. In the meantime ELLC has continued to maintain formal and informal contacts with the Pontifical Council for the Promoting of Christian Unity, the Congregation for Divine Worship, and have exchanged information with ICEL itself.
Together with the agreed inclusion of analogous or parallel bodies, liturgical and ecumenical in purpose, ELLC is thus formed by member associations, which send their representatives to the plenary sessions of ELLC.
The first major project of ELLC was completed in 1990 with the publication of revised common liturgical texts, based upon ICET's earlier work, In the booklet Praying Together. Other parts of the program have included gathering and studying eucharistic prayers of common interest, the promotion of The Revised Common Lectionary prepared by CCT, and surveys of member associations and through them, their parent churches about liturgical developments, so as to provide a common forum for the exchange of information.