# LCMS Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1950_S663
# Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

MISCELLANEOUS MATTERS 663

it

.; . During the war there was organized a federation of both
Reformed and Lutheran churches under the name “The Confessing
@ Church.” The purpose of this federation was to resist the encroach-
. ments of the State upon the Church. This organization was not
ganized along confessional lines.

F However, immediately after the war a strong movement to
f make this war-born Confessing Church an organization which
k.. would take in all Protestant church bodies was organized under
4 the aegis of Bishop Wurm of Wuerttemberg, backed by the World
. Council of Churches, which, in turn, is fostered by the Federal
§ Council of America.

a For the past two years the struggle has developed -between
E this now so-called EKiD (Evangelische Kirche in Deutschland)

sand the Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche in Deutschland. The
&: leaders of the EKiD contend that the life of the churches of Ger-
many is dependent upon the existence of a “Church to which all
fi Lutherans and Reformed belong.” However, the leaders of the
3 Lutheran Church contend that Lutheranism must preserve its
= confessionalism. They have, therefore, organized an Evangelische-
Lutherische Kirche in Deutschland in opposition to the EKiD.
; Bishop Meiser of the Lutheran Church of Bavaria, with whom
. the Emergency Planning Council has had contact for many years,
f- is the leader of this group.

4 When our commissioners first came to Europe immediately
after the war and became cognizant of this struggle of the Protestant
churches of Germany, they immediately recognized our obligation
to help preserve the Lutheran Church in Germany and threw their
full support behind Bishop Meiser.

The various Lutheran church bodies of Germany (Landes-
kirchen) represent all shades of Lutheranism. Some of them
are very liberal; some of them are very conservative. We do not
have, as our immediate goal, the development of an Evangelical
Lutheran Church in Germany with which our Missouri Synod can
have pulpit and altar fellowship. That is an ideal which we strive
for, but do not expect to attain it in our generation.

However, we do believe that it is our Christian obligation by
every means possible to help make this struggling Evangelical
Lutheran Church in Germany as Christ-centered and as confes-
sionally Lutheran as possible. In the attainment of this objective
the Lord has given His blessings particularly in the last three
years. Through the large amount of gifts, both spiritual and
physical, the Missouri Synod has become known to thousands of
Lutheran pastors and to. tens upon tens of thousands of Lutheran
families as a friend in need. It is our firm conviction that. in the