# LCMS Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1941_S296
# Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

204 Intersynodical and Doctrinal Matters

Urging Open Conferences with American Lutheran
Church Pastors
; (Memorial 605)

We, pastors of Iowa, South Dakota, and Minnesota, forming the
Interstate Conference, at our conference held at Rock Rapids, Iowa, :
on September 24, 1940, adopted the following resolution and in-
structed our Executive Committee to transmit it to the proper com-
mittee of Synod at the time of the synodical convention for con-
sideration and action: ;

Relative to the matter of church union with the American Lu-
theran Church we ask

That Synod instruct its pastors to hold open Conferences with
the pastors of the A.L.C., for the purpose of diligently and thor-
oughly studying the Doctrines in question; that complete reports on’
these conferences be sent to our Committee on Church Union; that .
the Union Committee report on the progress of the work to Synod
for further action at its next session.

Respectfully submitted by
WatterR F. Preuss, Secretary

In addition to these overtures a large number of unprinted
memorials, mentioned in the report of the Committee and listed
in the Synodical Proceedings, were considered by Committee 3.
One of these, Unprinted Memorial 4, by the Southwestern Minne-
sota District, took the same position as Memorial 604, that Synod
discontinue its Committee on Lutheran Union. Others expressed
their disagreement with the doctrinal basis for future church-
fellowship mentioned in the resolutions of 1938 (Memorial 603).
On the other hand, forty-three overtures asked that negotiations
with the American Lutheran Church be continued. On the basis
of its deliberations on these documents, too numerous to be printed
in the Proceedings, Committee 3 submitted the following report:

Report of Committee 3

Your Committee 3, appointed by the President to review, and
report on, Memorials 601—606 and 46 unprinted memorials: (4, 13,
19—49, 98, 100, 101, 104, 106, 126, 131, 138, 144, 150, 168), all referring
to what has been called Lutheran Church Union, more specifically,
to the effort to establish doctrinal unity and conformity in church
practice between our Synod, including our sister synods of the
Synodical Conference, and the American Lutheran Church, here-
with respectfully submits its report.

I, Historical Data ;
At our Cleveland Convention in 1935 a communication was

presented to our Synod from the American Lutheran Church
seeking to establish with us pulpit- and altar-fellowship, a com-