# LCMS Convention Workbook_St. Louis Missouri_1969_S69 # Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration) THEOLOGICAL MATTERS 69 present-day Lutheranism as one of the Confessional churches, each of which has its own particular doctrine, but this doctrine is not to be understood in the sense of being exclusively or totally correct. The question of our church’s joining the Lutheran World Federation cannot be divorced from our relation to the World Council of Churches and is a question which our church ought to face at this time because of the extremely in- timate involvement between the World Council and the Lutheran World Federation. 3. The Lutheran World Federation, while calling itself a federation, has certain churchly features and functions, and thus, despite its protestations to the con- trary, our membership in the Lutheran World Federa- tion must of necessity involve us in certain forms of church fellowship, even though we might not at the beginning be in pulpit and altar fellowship with other member churches. For example, the Lutheran World Federation carries on mission work, supports theological chairs, and publishes theological literature. Moreover, many voices are raised in the Lutheran World Federa- tion suggesting that the organization move further in the direction of churchly activities. For example, Dr. E. Clifford Nelson has stated in the Lutheran World for November 1968: ‘Helsinki raised the question: Ought not all Lutheran ‘churches’ declare their fellowship with one another? I should like to see Porto Alegre (1970) be bold and even incautious by saying it is time not merely to declare fellowship but to declare that the Lutheran World Federation is itself an ecclesiological reality. It makes no pretense to being a ‘super-church’ (after all what and where is a super-church?), but simply declares itself to be the Lutheran Church on an international level.” As indicative of the same spirit, voices were heard at the Helsinki convention urging member churches to declare pulpit and altar fellowship with one another (Helsinki Report, pp. 483—91). 4. The inter-Communion practices of member churches, though of differing degree, are not soundly Lutheran. For example, no less a theologian than Dr. Peter Brunner has stated that altar fellowship should not be denied to adherents of either Luther’s Small Catechism or the Reformed Heidelberg Catechism. We regard this practice as a denial of the Lutheran Con- fessional principle. 5. Inasmuch as the Lutheran World Federation is carrying on certain churchly activities, we should have a right to expect that the organization could practice some kind of discipline or at least ask member churches to practice discipline among themselves. This matter should also deter us from joining. There is really no effective way whereby the Lutheran World Federation can discipline a member church for a violation of the Scriptural or Confessional principle, so long as the member church retains an official subscription to the Scriptures in the Confessions. For example, we cite the above inter-Communion arrangements. We might also mention such matters as the ordination of women, and departure from the historic Lutheran position in regard to Scripture. Another example is the failure of the Helsinki convention itself to come up with a formu- lation of the doctrine of justification. We realize that there were several reasons for this, but certainly among them is the disagreement among the member churches regarding even so basic a doctrine as justification. We have no reason to believe that the Lutheran World Federation has protested against these teachings and practices. Actually the Lutheran World Federation has no forum or department in which one member church could protest, even if it wanted to, against the unscrip- tural and anti-Confessional position of another member church. 6. In view of the financial condition of the Synod and in view of the tremendous needs we have in the field of missions and higher education, we believe that the Synod ought not spend its money on membership in this organization. The cost could be very great, de- pending on the projects we support. For these reasons we humbly but urgently and for reasons of conscience request our beloved church not to seek membership in the Lutheran World Federation at this time. We also ask that our Synod continue to sup- port the work of the Lutheran World Federation in such areas as are possible without compromise of our Bib- lical and Confessional principles. Thus we propose that the Synod decline the recommendations which have been made to it favoring membership in the Lutheran World Federation. Avin E. WAGNER J. A. O. Preus RICHARD KORTHALS (2-02) Report of Commission on Worship For a number of years the Commission on Worship has been actively engaged in the revision of the service books and hymnal of the Synod, in accord with the directives laid down in the Synod’s Handbook (11.113 a). At the Detroit convention in 1965 the Synod gave indication that it desired a change in approach by authorizing (Resolution 13-10) the project now known as the Inter-Lutheran Commission on Worship. Then in 1967 at New York the convention (Resolution 2-08) instructed the Commission on Worship to pub- lish a supplement to The Lutheran Hymnal. These directives have been the working orders for the com- mission during the past 2 years. Worship Supplement The primary activity of all committees of the com- mission has been directed toward completion of the supplement to The Lutheran Hymnal which is to be known as Worship Supplement. The Liturgical Text Committee occupied itself almost exclusively with the preparation of final text for materials to appear in the liturgical section of this Worship Supplement. This involved a careful paring down of the table of con- tents, the final editing of established texts, and sub- jecting certain new liturgies to a limited amount of experimental testing.