# LCMS Convention Workbook_St. Louis Missouri_1975_S240
# Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

240 CONSTITUTIONAL MATTERS

Identical or similar:

5-80B

New England District Robt. Riedel

5-81A

To Approve Seminex Graduates
and Vicars

WHEREAS, The theological institution know as Seminex is
composed of a faculty of pastors and teachers of The Lutheran
Church — Missouri Synod: and

WHEREAS, Most of the students of Seminex are members of
Lutheran Church— Missouri Synod congregations and desire
to enter the pastoral ministry of this Synod: and

WHEREAS, Seminex was established within The Lutheran
Church— Missouri Synod as a reaction to accusations against
faculty members which were not substantiated specifically
and individually, which faculty members denied: and

WHEREAS, The faculty of Seminex is committed to the Holy
Scriptures as the written Word of God without reservation and
the Lutheran Confessions as the proper exposition of the
Scriptures: and

WHEREAS, The Board for Higher Education of the Synod has
received highly favorable reports on Seminex vicars as Christ-
centered servants in the Synod: and

WHEREAS, All men ordained to the pastoral ministry are
under constant surveillance of the congregation and supervision
of fellow clergy, Circuit Counselors, and officers of the District
and the Synod as to their faithfulness to the Holy Scriptures
and Lutheran Confessions: therefore be it

Resolved, That the graduates of Seminex who accept the Holy
Scriptures without reservation as the written Word of God and
the Lutheran Confessions as a true exposition of the Scriptures
and thus commit themselves to the vow of ordination in The
Lutheran Church — Missouri Synod be approved and received
by the Synod as pastors on the basis of their divine call by a
Missouri Synod congregation and their ordination vow: and be
it further

Resolved, That students from Seminex be approved as vicars
for The Lutheran Church — Missouri Synod.

Zion Lutheran Church
Bensenville, II.

James Fischer, President
Marie Sievert, Secretary

Identical or similar:

3-81B to 5-81E

Trinity, Schenectady, N. Y.
Our Redeemer, Scotia, N. Y.
Our Saviour, Mineola, N. Y.
Redeemer, Newton, N. J

A. Hawlicheck
Otto Spurgat

J. Marschhausen
B. Rudolf

5-82A

To Recognize Seminex Graduates

WHEREAS, The graduates of Concordia Seminary-in-Exile
have been trained and certified by a faculty properly called to
instruct them and doctrinally competent to evaluate their con-
fession of faith according to the doctrinal standards of the Synod
(Scripture and the Book of Concord): and

WHEREAS, These graduates have themselves personally
given public testimony to their orthodox faith when measured
by these standards: and

WHEREAS, Many member congregations of the Synod have
called these candidates to be their pastors and have sought
counsel and support from District church officials for this
exercise of their congregational “right of self-government”:
therefore be it

Resolved, That the graduates of Seminex who have been so
certified by their faculty be welcomed as full-fledged clergy in

the Synod with no restrictions because of their alma mater:
and be it further

Resolved, That congregations and church officials who were
instrumental in calling, ordaining, and installing these candi-
dates be exonerated from any stigma of malfeasance or impro-
priety because of such action.

Bethel Lutheran Church
University City, Mo.

James C. Flowers, President
Virginia E. Burmeister, Secretary

Identical or similar:

5-82B and 5-82C

Pastoral Conference, Atlantic District
Redeemer, Corning, N. Y.

Daniel Hodgson
F.R. Jordan

5-83
To Clarify Meaning of Book of Concord
on Right of Congregations to Elect
and Ordain Ministers

WHEREAS, ELIM has used The Treatise on the Power and
Primacy of the Pope, found in the Book of Concord, to support
the illegal ordinations of Seminex graduates: and

WHEREAS, The passage referred to reads as follows: ‘‘From
all these facts it is evident that the church retains the right of
electing and ordaining ministers. Wherefore, when the bishops
are heretics or refuse to administer ordination, the churches are
by divine right compelled to ordain pastors and ministers for
themselves” (Tappert, p. 332, par. 72): and

WHEREAS, The passage continues, though, with: ‘And it is
the wickedness and tyranny of the bishops that give occasion
to schism and discord, for Paul commands that bishops who
teach and defend impious doctrines and impious forms of wor-
ship should be regarded as anathema” (Tappert, p. 332, par. 72):
and

WHEREAS, The context makes it clear that, for a congregation
to ordain, it does so on the grounds that the leaders of the
church are considered anathema: and

WHEREAS, The context also makes clear that a congregation
which ordained apart from the church structure and authority
of the leaders also removed itself from membership in that
organization: and

WHEREAS, ELIM has not officially judged the leaders of the
Synod as anathema: and

WHEREAS, ELIM has not removed itself from membership
in The Lutheran Church — Missouri Synod: therefore be it

Resolved, That the Synod assembled in convention reject
ELIM’s use of the Confessions as a basis for support of the
illegal ordinations of Seminex students.

St. James Lutheran Church
University City, Mo.

John Essen, President

Carl Meinecke, Secretary
Tom Baker, Pastor

5-84A

To Void District Convention
Resolutions That Conflict with
Synodical Goals and Authority

WHEREAS, The term “‘synod” means “walking together’: and

WHEREAS, The Lutheran Church — Missouri Synod has been
established that we might walk together not out of force but
voluntarily because of our unity: and

WHEREAS, The established doctrines, policies, and programs
of the Synod have been defiantly challenged by those who
support, work for, teach, and attend the Seminary-in-Exile and
use the channels of ELIM for such defiance: and