# LCMS Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1950_S524
# Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

524 INTERSYNODICAL AND DOCTRINAL MATTERS

652] Joint Report on Scouting

At its Saginaw Convention (1944) Synod adopted this policy
with regard to Scouting, as recommended by Synod’s Bureau of
Information and Board for Young People’s Work, “That the matter
of Scouting should be left to the individual congregation to decide
and that under the circumstances Synod may consider her in-
terests sufficiently protected.” (Proceedings of 39th Regular Con-
vention, Saginaw, Mich., 1944, pp. 257 and 258.)

In its report to the Centennial Convention (Chicago, July,
1947), the Bureau of Information, after consultation with Synod’s
Board for Young People’s Work, stated: “Nothing has developed
that would cause our boards to modify our opinion, endorsed by
the 1944 convention.” (Proceedings of 40th Regular Convention,
p. 646.)

Largely as a result of Memorial 617 (Proceedings, 1947,
page 538f.) and an unprinted memorial by the standing Committee
on Church Union, Wisconsin Synod, our Synod, in its Chicago
Convention, authorized the President of Synod to appoint three
men “who, in conjunction with the Bureau of Information and
the Board for Young People’s Work, shall restudy the matter [of
Scouting] and report to the next convention.” (Proceedings of
40th Regular Convention, p. 538f.)

This special committee of three men (John F. Choitz, Felix
Kretzschmar, George C. Stohlmann), authorized by Synod and
subsequently appointed by the President of Synod, attempted
honestly and objectively to perform the task assigned to it. It
studied the official pronouncements of the Boy Scouts of America.
It met on three separate occasions in all-day meetings with the
Wisconsin Synod Committee on Scouting. It was in correspondence
with the authors of Memorial 617 (Proceedings, 1947, p.538) and
others in an attempt to gather together all the factors in the
Scout program which might be disturbing our brethren. It solicited
other information from additional sources relative to Scouting.
It mailed a questionnaire to brethren in whose congregations Scout
troops exist, requesting their views and seeking to determine if
the operation of the Scout program in their troops presented
obstacles that violated Scripture and conscience. The special
committee met in a two-day joint meeting with Synod’s Bureau
of Information and Board for Young People’s Work. The Wisconsin
Synod Committee on Scouting was invited to be present on one.of
the two days and attended.

As a result of their joint study of Scouting and on the basis
of their findings, the Special Committee authorized by the 1947
convention of Synod, the Bureau of Information, and the Board