# LCMS Convention Workbook_St. Louis Missouri_1969_S105
# Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

CHURCH RELATIONS 105

(3-36)

To Practice Fellowship with The ALC

Wuereas, God alone through His Holy Spirit builds
the church: and

Wuereas, God through His Holy Spirit has brought
about a remarkable unity of faith between us and

our fellow Christians in The American Lutheran
Church: and

Wuereas, The Lutheran Church — Missouri Synod
has declared that unity in doctrine between our Synod
and The American Lutheran Church is a reality: there-
fore be it

Resolved, That The Lutheran Church — Missouri
Synod act in agreement with the unity now existing
and declare itself in favor of practicing altar and pulpit
fellowship with The American Lutheran Church.

IMMANUEL LUTHERAN CHURCH
Madison, Wis.
Gary Case, Secretary
(3-37)
To Declare Fellowship with
Thanksgiving to God

Wuereas, Our Lord Jesus Christ has clearly ex-
pressed His will that those who follow Him “love one
another even as I have loved you"; and

Wuereas, Our Lord, the Head of the church. desires
the oneness of His followers and prays to His Father
for this unity in the seventeenth chapter of the Gospel
according to St. John; and

Wuereas, We confess belief in one holy Christian
and apostolic church; and

Wuereas, Division among Christ's followers is a
scandal in the eyes of the world and a hindrance to
a complete witness in word and deed of God's love in
Christ, which makes us members of His one family
by the power of the Holy Spirit: and

Wuereas, Our Lutheran confessions state: “For it is
sufficient for the true unity of the Christian church that
the Gospel be preached in conformity with a pure un-
derstanding of it and that the sacraments be admin-
istered in accordance with the divine Word” (Augs-
burg Confession, Art. VII); and

Wuenreas, Our responsible members of The Lutheran
Church — Missouri Synod’s Commission on Theology
and Church Relations have investigated the official posi-
tion of The American Lutheran Church and found that
such unity does exist (“A Review of the Question,
‘What Is a Doctrine?’ III, 7, and “Theolozy of Fellow-
ship,” Part Two, B2); and

WuerEAS, We recognize individual di®erences from
official positions exist within The Lutheran Church —
Missouri Synod as well as The American Lutheran
Church; and

Wuereas, We believe differences in practice. for ex-
ample, regarding dealing with lodge members, while

committed to the same principle, should be respected
and dealt with in Christian love and not legalism; and

Wuereas, We trust the Spirit of God to resolve our
differences in practice on the basis of our mutual
commitment to the Word of God as we study it to-
gether: and

Wuereas, Each individual congregation has the final
authority under the Word of God to deal with individual
cases of particular concern; and

Whereas, We recognize the men, women, and chil-
dren of The American Lutheran Church as brothers
and sisters in Christ holding the same Lutheran Con-
fessions as our own: therefore be it

Resolved. That The Lutheran Church — Missouri
Synod, in convention at Denver, Colo., in the year of
our Lord 1969, declare pulpit and altar fellowship with
The American Lutheran Church with praise and thanks-
giving to God, who alone gives us unity not only in
essence but also in practice to the honor and glory of
His most holy name. Rev. T. H. Mites

TEACHER Kurt Rove
TEACHER WALTER SCHMUDLACH
TEACHER PHILIP GIESE
TEACHER RANDOLPH BANWART
Bensenville, I].

(3-38)

To Declare Altar and Pulpit Fellowship

WuereEas, Our Lord prayed that the church be one,
so that all men might know and believe “that Thou hast
sent Me and hast loved them as Thou hast loved Me”;
and

Wuereas, The fathers of our Lutheran Church in
their concern for the true unity of Christ’s body con-
fessed their unity with the universal church in the
Lutheran Symbols, and zealously sought to eradicate all
schism and division: and

Wuereas, In these same Lutheran Symbols we pro-
fess our unity with all those who subscribe to the Lu-
theran Confessions. and also pledge ourselves to unend-
ing efforts for the unity of the church; therefore be it

Resolved, That we ask our brethren to join us in
repenting of our sin against the unity of the church in
failing to recognize unity where it existed and in not
working for unity where it does exist; and

Wuereas, We have been led by the Holy Spirit to
acknowledge and confess that the basis for unity exists
between us and our brothers in The American Lutheran
Church on the basis of Holy Scripture and the Lutheran
Confessions; therefore be it

Resolved, That in accord with this unity we memo-
rialize the 1969 convention of The Lutheran Church —
Missouri Synod to declare The Lutheran Church — Mis-
souri Synod to be in altar and pulpit fellowship with
The American Lutheran Church: and be it further

Resolved, That we give unending praise and thanks
to our Lord for the guidance of His Holy Spirit, also
by pledging ourselves to continued fellowship in wor-