# LCMS Convention Workbook_St. Louis Missouri_2007_S178 # Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration) 178 THEOLOGY AND CHURCH RELATIONS Wuereas, The 1995 LCMS convention declined to approve the CTCR document, The Service of Women in the Congregational Of- fices, citing a dissenting opinion by five theologians (CTCR mem- bers) stating that the CTCR document lacked consideration of God’s order of creation; and Wuereas, President Dr. Al Barry in 1994 published his “regret” in the Reporter concerning both the content of this document and the manner in which the CTCR’s executive committee distributed the document; and WHEREAS, The 1995 LCMS convention directed the CTCR to continue to study this document along with dissenting opinions in consultation with the faculties of the seminaries; and WHEREAS, This 1994 report reappeared on the docket for the 2004 convention unchanged, and without discussions mandated by the 1995 convention ever having taken place; and WHEREAS, The 2004 LCMS convention approved Res. 3-08A by a vote of 576-520; and WHEREAS, This approved resolution (3-08A) may have violated God’s order of creation and His instruction “to all the congrega- tions of saints” (1 Cor. 14:33b~38; 1 Tim. 2:11-12); therefore be it Resolved, That Iowa District West, in convention, praise God for creating us uniquely male and female, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God has prepared in advance for us to do (Eph. 2:10); and be it further Resolved, That Iowa District West praise God for the more than 4,000 women serving in full-time church ministries in our Synod; and be it further Resolved, That Iowa District West urge the 2007 LCMS con- vention to rescind Res. 3-08A of the 2004 LCMS convention; and be it finally Resolved, That a joint task force consisting of three professors each of Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, and Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, and three representatives appointed by the CTCR author a new document concerning the service of women in congregational offices to be presented for discussion and possible approval at the 2010 LCMS convention. Towa District West 3-70 To Rescind 2004 Resolution 3-08A and Provide for Review WHEREAS, The adoption of 2004 Res. 3-08A changed our position with respect to the service of women in congregational offices; and WHEREAS, 1969 Res. 2-17 utilized two criteria to determine whether women could serve in various lay congregational positions: (1) By serving in a given office, does a woman do things that only pastors should be doing? “The Synod itself and the congregations of the Synod are at liberty to alter their policies and practices in regard to women’s involvement in the work of the Church according to these declarations, provided the polity developed conforms to the general scriptural principles that women neither hold the pastoral office nor ‘exercise authority over men.’” (2) Might a woman be violating the order of creation by serving in certain congregational offices where she is not carrying out “distinctive” functions of the pastoral office? “The principles set forth in such passages, we believe, prohibit hold- ing any other kind of office or membership on boards or committees in the institutional structures of a congregation, only if this involves women in a violation of the order of creation”; and WHEREAS, 2004 Res. 3-08A utilized only the first of these two criteria; and WHEREAS, 2004 Res. 3-08A was adopted following conclusions from a 1994 report of the CTCR that none of the theological pro- fessors then serving on the Commission voted to adopt (the dis- senting opinion is printed in the 1995 Workbook, pp. 310-313); and WHEREAS, The dissenting 1994 CTCR members called atten- tion to the way in which the Commission’s 1994 report sketched the history of the matter in such a way as to omit references to the order of creation made by the Synod in 1969 Res. 2-17; and WuereaS, In 1995 Res. 3-06A, the Synod directed the CTCR to continue studying the issues in its 1994 report and the dissenting opinion, and to do so “in consultation with the faculties of the sem- inaries”; and WHEREAS, The CTCR’s 1998, 2001, and 2004 convention re- ports mentioned the Commission’s work on Women in the Church issues, but in none of them did it provide an accounting of any communication that it either sought from the seminary faculties or received from them concerning women in congregational offices, yet in 2004 the Synod adopted Res. 3-08A; therefore be it Resolved, That the Central Illinois District memorialize the Synod: 1. to rescind 2004 Res. 3-08A and anything based upon it, such as policies or administrative procedures; 2. to reaffirm its previous position that congregations may allow women to hold all congregational offices except those of chairman, vice-chairman, elder, and any other board or policy- making committee whose chairmanship the congregation might wish to restrict to men (see 1995 Res. 3-06A); 3. to assign the faculties of its two seminaries to give input to the CTCR on these matters in “open letters,” which are to be made available to the entire Synod at the time they are delivered to the CTCR; and 4. to assign the CTCR to review all the recommendations in its 1994 report and their basis in its 1985 Women in the Church document in light of the seminary input mentioned above and input from other members of the Synod and also in light of the scholarly studies concerning relevant biblical passages (many aided by ancient literature databases) that have appeared since 1985. Central Illinois District 3-71 . To Rescind 2004 Res. 3-08A and Affirm Prior Position Rationale When the Synod adopted 2004 Res. 3-08A, it changed its posi- tion with respect to the service of women in congregational offices. Previously (see, for example, 1969 Res. 2-17), the Synod had em- ployed two criteria to determine whether women could serve in various lay congregational offices such as elder or president of a congregation. But under 2004 Res. 3-08A, the Synod now officially uses only one of these two. That criterion is this: By serving in a given office, does a woman do things that only pastors should be doing? The Synod no longer asks the second question it used to ask on the basis of Scripture, namely: Might a woman be violating the order of creation by serving in certain congregational offices where she is not carrying out “distinctive” functions of the pastoral of- fice? In 2004 Res. 3-08A the Synod affirmed conclusions from a 1994 report of the CTCR that none of the theological: professors then serving on the Commission voted to adopt. Five of them put their objections in writing via a dissenting opinion. (For these two documents, see 1995 Workbook, pp. 310-—313.) This dissenting opinion called attention to the way in which the Commission’s 1994 report even sketched the history of the matter at hand in such a way as to omit references to the order of creation made by the Synod in 1969 Res. 2-17. In 1995 Res. 3-06A, the Synod directed the CTCR to continue studying the issues in its 1994 report and the dissenting opinion, and to do so “in consultation with the faculties of the seminaries.” The CTCR’s 1998, 2001, and 2004 convention reports mentioned the Commission’s work on Women in the Church issues, but in none of them did it provide an accounting of any communication that it either sought from the seminary faculties or received from them concerning women in congregational offices. Yet, in 2004 the Synod adopted Res. 3-08A.