# LCMS Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1944_S351
# Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

“Appeal Matters 851 -

District’s supporting decision) must be respected by every sister
egation, even though appeal be entered, until the proceedings
ch their conclusion and thereafter until any disciplinary verdict
properly recalled or rescinded. Any other procedure disrupts
#hé fellowship and provokes anarchy and chaos in the Church.
fe‘assert that by its failure to heed the information and protests
‘advanced on this point and by its silence on this primary considera-
*of ecclesiastical order the Opinien of the Board of Appeals
: “hullifies the Constitution of Synod, Art. III, Sec. 8, and commits
ynod to a rule of ungovernable disorder. .

0
A. In Section I the Opinion states that “the absolutely essential
fe‘starting. point for church discipline proceedings which may lead
xcommunication is the establishment, the proof of a mortal
sin We hold that the Board of Appeals has failed to distinguish
between “church discipline proceedings” and essential “church.
ipline,” that is, admonition and declaration of a verdict. We
grant that proof of mortal sin must be established in order to
eceed to admonition and excommunication. But the congrega-
tion, first of all, must investigate the charge which the complaining
member brings against the accused. Cf. C. F. W. Walther, Theo-
logical Quarterly, I, 411, par. 30; A. L. Graebner, Theological
Quarterly, VI, 4, pp. 216—231. In order to accomplish this, the
congregation must arrange for hearings to receive the charge of
the. complainant, to hear the defense of the accused, and thereby
to establish the facts in the case. Toward this end both parties’
must co-operate with the congregation. This is the essential pre-
requisite for church discipline and the starting point for such
roceedings. To refuse such co-operation is tantamount to sever-
ing the bond of fellowship. The congregation is compelled to
recognize such refusal as self-exclusion from the congregation.
CE. Mezger, Magazin fuer Homiletik, March, 1906, pp. 91, 92; June,
1906, p.192. By demanding. the establishment of proof of mortal
Sin.as the absolutely essential starting point for church discipline
proceedings, the Board of Appeals ignores this prerequisite and
:in- doing so does violence ‘to the principles of justice and to.Scrip-
“tural order for church discipline.

B. With regard to Section I], we cannot accept the Board of