# LCMS Convention Workbook_St. Louis Missouri_1969_S168
# Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

168 CHURCH RELATIONS

lowship have not been settled (uniform lodge practice,
etc.); therefore be it

Resolved, That we decline to enter into altar and
pulpit fellowship with The American Lutheran Church.
Rev. DaNnieEL Q. JOHNSON
Anaheim, Calif.
(3-198)

To Decline Fellowship with The ALC

WuereEas, The Synod’s Constitution, Art. VIII, states:
“All matters of doctrine and conscience shall be decided
only by the Word of God. All other matters shall be
decided by majority vote”; and

Wuereas, The proposal to declare altar and pulpit
fellowship with The American Lutheran Church deals
with matters of both doctrine and conscience; and

Wuereas, Resolution 3-23 of the New York conven-
tion recognizes “that the Scriptural and confessional
basis for altar and pulpit fellowship between The Lu-
theran Church — Missouri Synod and The American
Lutheran Church exists” but says nothing about the
unscriptural teachings which are being allowed and
tolerated to exist both on an official and on an un-
official basis within The American Lutheran Church;
and

Wuereas, Resolution 3-23 recognizes that “disturb-
ing diversities still exist, particularly in reference to
unchristian and anti-Christian societies"; and

Wuereas, Such “disturbing diversities’ do not merely
have to do with ‘different approach or method of deal-
ing with this [the lodge] issue” but actually represent
diverse doctrines on fellowship, church discipline, union-
ism, open Communion practices, and syncretism: and

Wuereas, The three documents on Sola Gratia, Sola
Scriptura, and the doctrine of the church, though pre-
pared as a basis for unity and fellowship, are being vari-
ously interpreted by pastors and informed leaders
within The American Lutheran Church so as not to
teach the type of Scriptural inerrancy and inspiration
which The Lutheran Church — Missouri Synod con-
fesses in its Brief Statement; and

Wuereas, Most ALC pastors in our area reject the
6-day creation account as recorded in Gen. 1—2: do not
believe in the historical Adam and Eve: do not accept
the Flood account as recorded in Gen. 6—7; do not be-
lieve in the Tower of Babel, Gen. 11, and the story of
Jonah being swallowed by a whale, Jonah 1: 17—2:1-10:
and

Whereas, Our experiences with The American Lu-
theran Church in our area have proved to be most frus-
trating because of their unionistic practices, their dis-
regard for church discipline, their open Communion
practices, and their toleration of the lodge and lodge
members in their church membership: and

Wuereas, Zion Ev. Lutheran Church of New Salem,
N. Dak., cannot in obedience to Holy Scripture and con-
science recognize sufficient basis for altar and pulpit

fellowship with The American Lutheran Church for the
reasons stated above; therefore be it

Resolved, That Zion Ev. Lutheran Church of New
Salem, N. Dak., herewith petition The Lutheran Church
— Missouri Synod at its Denver convention:

1. Not to declare altar and pulpit fellowship with
The American Lutheran Church; and

2. To inform The American Lutheran Church and
the other Lutheran bodies with which fellowship is
desired and being planned that altar and pulpit fellow-
ship can only then be established among the various
Lutheran bodies when both teaching and practice in
such synods is brought into harmony with the Word of
God, the Lutheran Confessions, and the Constitution of

beloved Synod.
our beloved wyno ZI0N Ev. LUTHERAN CHURCH

New Salem, N. Dak.
Evmer T, BAver, Chairman
WILFRED FLEISCHER, Secretary

(3-199)

St. Peter's Lutheran Church, Hannover, N. Dak., H.
H. Soper, Pastor, submitted the same overture with the
Tth whereas deleted.

(3-200)

St. Paul's Lutheran Church, Fairmont, Minn., Lorin
Gellert. Secretary: Vernon H. Harley, Pastor, proposed
practically the same overture but omitted the 7th and
8th whereases and changed the last whereas to read:
“in the three mentioned documents” instead of “for the
reasons stated above.”

(3-201)

To Decline Fellowship

Whereas, The Lutheran Church — Missouri Synod
in its 1969 convention at Denver, Colo., will have the
responsibility of declaring itself regarding altar and
pulpit fellowship with The American Lutheran Church;
and

Wuereas, The ALC has adopted an official position
which questions the authority and reliability of Holy
Scripture; and

Whereas, The ALC maintains membership in the
Lutheran World Federation and the World Council of
Churches, organizations which our Synod has repeatedly
recognized as unionistic in nature: and

Wuereas, The ALC, by recommendation of its very
influential Church Council, will be requested in 1970
to approve membership in the National Council of
Churches, an alliance which we consider highly union-
istic and whose public declarations on various issues
have elicited widespread criticism even within its own
membership; and

Wuereas, The ALC has declared official altar and
pulpit fellowship with the Lutheran Church in America
(1968 convention), a Synod with which we have not