LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 1981, Page 145

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3. THEOLOGY AND CHURCH RELATIONS

3-01

Report of Commission on Theology
and Church Relations

The Commission on Theology and Church Relations, estab-
lished by the Synod in 1962, serves “to provide guidance to the
Synod in matters of theology and church relations” and “‘to
assist the President at his request in discharging his constitu-
tional responsibilities” (Handbook 2.109 b 1-2). In carrying out
these responsibilities during the past biennium, the commis-
sion has addressed itself to assignments and requests given to
it by the Synod and its officials, boards, and commissions and
has assisted the President in monitoring official contacts of the
Synod with other church bodies and ecumenical agencies.

The commission is served by two staffmembers, Dr. Samuel
H. Nafzger, executive secretary, and Rev. Jerald C. Joersz,
assistant executive secretary. The officers of the commission
during the biennium were Dr. Kar] Barth, chairman; Dr. Ralph
Bohlmann, vice-chairman; and Dr. Norbert Mueller, secretary.
The commission carries out its functions by assigning its
members to three standing committees: I—Church Relations;
II—Biblical Studies; and III—Church and Society. The chair-
men of these committees were, respectively, Dr. Lowell Schoer,
Prof. Kurt Marquart, and Dr. Richard Schultz. The officers of
the commission comprise the membership of the executive
committee. Dr. J. A. O. Preus and Dr. Samuel Nafzger have
served as ex-officio members of the executive committee.

In addition to the officers listed above, the following are
currently members of the commission: Dr. Richard Bardolph,
Mr. Walter Bleke, Rev. Arthur Crosmer, Rev. George Dolak,
Mr. Marvin Erdman, Mr. Don Graf, Prof. Roland Hopmann,
Dr. Erich Kieh], Dr. Eugene Klug, Rev. John Korcok, Dr. James
Manz, Dr. Don Ridgeway, Dr. Joseph Schradie, Dr. Michael
Stelmachowicz, Mr. Philip Tanger, and Dr. George Wollenburg.
One position is vacant in February 1981. First Vice-President
Edwin Weber serves as an ex-officio member of the CTCR and
is chairman of the Division of Theology and Church Relations.

The term of Mr. Norman Troyke expired in December 1979.
During the biennium the following members of the commission
resigned: Dr. Wilbert Rosin in May 1979 and Rev. Dean Wenthe
in June 1980. The members of the commission were saddened
by the death of Dr. Paul Barth, who served from May 1978 until
his death in July 1979.

In the two-year period covered by this report CTCR met in
nine plenary sessions of three days each. The meeting
scheduled for May 1980 was cancelled. A special meeting of the
executive committee was held in July 1980. Numerous other
committee meetings were held during the biennium.

In the following paragraphs the commission reports its
major activities since the 1979 convention of the Synod, and
offers several recommendations pertaining to theology and
church relations. Included in this report is a summary of
the responses to the commission’s 1979 “Bible Study on
Fellowship.”

I. THEOLOGY
A. Assignments Completed

1. Nature and Implications of the Concept
of Fellowship

a. Responses to Bible Study on Fellowship

In 1978 the CTCR conducted 56 “Formula for Concord”
conferences throughout the Synod as part of the “That We May
Grow” program initiated by the Synod in 1975 (1975 Res. 3-01
“To Seek Unity’’). In its report to the 1979 convention of the
Synod, the commission noted that over 4,000 pastors, teachers,
and other professional workers attended these conferences and
discussed three essays dealing with the confessional principles
that form the basis for peace and concord in the church. The
commission also reported that these discussions revealed that
considerable confusion exists within the Synod on the question
of fellowship. Throughout the Synod the need was voiced fora

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study of the Scriptures on the question of church fellowship
and for a reexamination of the Scriptural foundations which
undergird the confessional heritage given to our church. In
response to this Synodwide request, the commission prepared a
“Bible Study on Fellowship” and in December 1979 distributed
this study to all congregations and pastors not serving congre-
gations. The congregations and pastors of the Synod were
urged to make use of a ‘‘Response Questionnaire” provided at
the end of the study as a means by which they might share the
results of their Scriptural studies with the commission as it
worked toward the completion of its report on “The Nature and
Implications of the Concept of Fellowship” (assigned to the
CTCR by the 1977 convention, Res. 3-02A, second resolved, 3).
The commission is grateful to the many individual pastors,
professors, laymen, adult and youth Bible classes, boards of
elders, pastoral conferences, and special study groups who
formulated their responses to the questions raised by the Bible
study. The commission has carefully reviewed all of these
responses and has taken the numerous concerns which they
have raised into account as it prepared its final report on the
nature and implications of the concept of fellowship. While
only a few of the responses offered what might be termed
a Biblical ‘rationale’ for local fellowship practices, the
responses, together with the information gathered at the
Formula for Concord conferences, were useful in providing the
commission with a current picture of the wide range of
problems pastors and parishes are confronting as they strive to
remain faithful to what the Scriptures say on this subject.
While it is not possible to report in detail on the numerous
responses to the Bible study, it may be helpful to summarize
some of the reactions of those who returned the ‘‘Response
Questionnaire.” The responses listed below are in no way a
representative sampling, but are merely illustrative of the
kinds of questions pastors and congregations are asking as
they deal with the subject of fellowship on the local level.

1. As you analyze your congregation’s practice of church
fellowship, what specific problems do you think need to be
studied in more detail?

In the introduction to the “Bible Study on Fellowship” the
commission stated that “the complexity of the present denom-
inational scene and the high degree of mobility in our world
have made it increasingly difficult for people to make respons-
ible decisions regarding fellowship matters. Problems in this
area of church life range all the way from situations in which
joint worship services are held with a congregation of another
church body to the participation of an individual in a com-
munity Bible class, an ecumenical organization, or an evangel-
istic crusade.”’ Responses to the first question enumerated
some of the problems that confront pastors and congregations
at the parish level:

a. The extent to which the members of the Synod can
participate with Christians of other denominations in such
joint activities and groups as neighborhood Bible studies, mass
evangelism rallies, interdenominational seminars and work-
shops, local prayer groups, joint educational programs,
occasional worship services (Christmas, Lent, Easter, etc.),
baccalaureate and graduation exercises, ministerial associa-
tions, and lodges.

b. Communion practices, with attention to the question “To
what extent does synodical affiliation affect the decision of
admission to the Sacrament?”

c. Clarification of terminology used in speaking about
fellowship questions (e.g., unionism, invisible/visible church,
unitas/concordia, orthodox/heterodox church bodies, altar
and pulpit fellowship, church fellowship, doctrine, fellowship
in protest, prayer fellowship).

d. Participation in interdenominational weddings and
funerals.

e. The doctrinal differences which exist among Lutheran
churches.

f. The importance of public witness as a factor in determin-
ing the extent of participation in local ecumenical activities.