LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 1981, Page 154

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154 THEOLOGY AND CHURCH RELATIONS

Resolved. That the Synod continue to pray that the Lord of
the church will bless our association in the Lutheran Council
and in all other joint efforts.

V. Our Quest for Altar and Pulpit Fellowship

We recommend that the Synod assure The American
Lutheran Church, the Lutheran Church in America and the
Association of Evangelical Lutheran Churches of its continu-
ing desire to establish altar and pulpit fellowship on the basis
of agreement in Biblical and confessional doctrine and
practice, whether those church bodies continue to exist as
individual denominations or in anew organizational structure.

VI. Discussion with the ELCC

We recommend that the Synod encourage its President and
official representatives to meet regularly with the representa-
tives of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Canada during
the coming biennium in order to reexamine the relationship
between our two church bodies, particularly in view of
Canadian Lutheran union discussions, and to make appropri-
ate recommendations to the 1983 synodical convention through
the CTCR.

VII. Invitation to Other Lutheran Church Bodies

We recommend that the Synod invite the Wisconsin Evan-
gelical Lutheran Synod, the Evangelical Lutheran Synod, the
Evangelical Lutheran Federation, and all other Lutheran
church bodies to engage in doctrinal discussions intended to
lead toward mutual declarations of altar and pulpit fellowship.

VIII. Guidelines for Inter-Christian Relationships

We recommend that the Synod prepare practical guidelines
to assist the officials, pastors, teachers, congregations, and
individual members of the Synod in determining which
practices and activities are appropriate to the various levels of
inter-Lutheran and inter-Christian relationships in which the
Synod is involved.

C. Lutheran World Federation

The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod is not a member of
the Lutheran World Federation. The CTCR, however, in
response to various directives from synodical conventions (cf.
1965 Res. 3-14; 1967 Res. 3-18; 1971 Res. 3-06), has carried out a
number of reviews of the LWF (‘Preliminary Report Regard-
ing the Lutheran World Federation,” Convention Workbook,
1969, pp. 66—68; “Evian in Retrospect,” Convention Workbook,
1973, pp. 40—42). Moreover, the Synod has kept itself informed
regarding developments in the LWF by accepting invitations
to attend LWF assemblies and by participating in some of its
functions as official observers. The Synod contributes to the
work of the LWF’s scholarship and exchange program through
the CTCR’s Exchange Study Committee.

D. Ecumenical Dialogs

The commission has received reports from LCMS partici-
pants in five ecumenical dialogs. Through representatives
appointed by the President of the Synod, the LCMS has
participated in dialogs with representatives from the Roman
Catholic Church, the Protestant Episcopal Church, the United
Methodist Church, Conservative-Evangelical churches and a
number of Baptist churches during the past biennium. The
Lutheran-Roman Catholic dialog is sponsored by Lutheran
World Ministries (the U.S.A. National Committee of the
Lutheran World Federation) and by the National Conference
of Catholic Bishops. The Synod has participated in the other
four dialogs through its membership in LCUSA and LCUSA’s
Division of Theological Studies, which makes arrangements
for these discussions with the ecumenical agencies of the other
participating bodies. The commission wishes to express its
gratitude to the LCMS participants for representing the Synod
in these dialogs and for their regular reports to the commission.

1. Lutheran-Roman Catholic

During the 1979—81 biennium four meetings of the
Lutheran Roman Catholic dialog were held under the auspices
of Lutheran World Ministries of the Lutheran World federa-

tion. The meetings were held at Princeton, N.J., Sept. 16—19.
1979; Atlanta, Ga., March 6—9, 1980; Gettysburg. Pa., Sept.
18—21, 1980; and Cincinnati, Ohio, Feb. 19—22, 1981. The
LCMS representatives on the dialog are Dr. John F. Johnson
and Dr. Fred Kramer. The topic discussed at all these meetings
was the doctrine of justification.

2. Lutheran-Episcopal Dialog

The second round of the Lutheran-Episcopal dialog, which
began in January 1977, concluded with three sessions during
the 1979—81 biennium, held at Sewanee, Tenn., Aug. 22—235,
1979; at Fort Wayne, Ind., April 9—12, 1980; and at Nashotah,
Wis., Nov. 5—8, 1980. The dialog sessions were held under the
auspices of LCUSA and the Episcopal Church’s Joint Com-
mission on Ecumenical Relations.

These final sessions of Round 2 of the LED were devoted to
the preparation of statements of agreement on the subjects of
Gospel, Eucharist, Apostolicity, and Holy Scripture. At the
final meeting held at Nashotah, Wis., the participants of the
dialog completed these statements. A statement on justifica-
tion had been completed in 1978. The statements on Gospel,
Eucharist, and Apostolicity were agreed upon by the LCMS
participants. However, due to a number of difficulties in the
statement on Scripture, not all LCMS participants agreed to
this document. A statement of dissent drafted by an LCMS
participant was appended to this statement on Scripture. The
above statements register levels of agreement and acknowledge
that there are weighty matters in which agreement has not yet
been found.

As a result of the deliberations of LED 2, the participants
belonging to the Episcopal Church and the AELC, ALC, and
LCA recommended to their constituent bodies that a policy of
“interim eucharistic hospitality,” joint worship, publication
and circulation of the LED reports, programs of study, educa-
tion, theological discussion, and other joint activities be carried
out at the local level where possible. Furthermore, these
representatives recommended athird round of dialogs, with an
emphasis on “the means and models for implementing” the
proposals of the first two rounds of discussion.

The LCMS participants submitted the following set of
separate recommendations as a result of the discussion which
took place in Round 2 of the dialog:

We, the LCMS participants, recommend the following:

1. That we urge our constituent church bodies to publish and
circulate the agreed statements for local discussion and dialog
among local pastors and parishes of the respective bodies for
information. edification, reaction, and mutually agreed upon action:

2. That the unresolved issues listed in the documents calling for
further amplification and clarification be commended to LED series
III on the national level as well as to local dialogs urged above:

3. That we give thanks to God individually and corporately for
His gift to us of one Lord, one faith, one Baptism, one God and Father
of us all, even as we continue to pray that “all they who call upon
Your holy name may come to agree in the truth of Your holy Word
and live in unity and godly love.”

The LCMS members of this dialog wish to express their
gratitude forthe opportunity to participate in these discussions
and for the cordial and brotherly manner in which they were
conducted. While the LCMS representatives recognize that the
Synod does not place such interconfessional dialogs on the
same level as fellowship discussions, nevertheless, they are
convinced that such conversations have much value, especially
because they provide an occasion for joint study of the Word of
God on theological issues and for a witness to the Gospel of our
Savior as it is revealed in the Holy Scriptures (cf. 1979 CW’ p.
79).

Participating in this dialog during 1979—81 were Rev. Carl
Bornmann, Rev. Jerald Joersz, and Dr. Norman Nagel.

3. Lutheran-United Methodist

The sixth and final session of the Lutheran-United
Methodist dialog was held at Wesley Theological Seminary,
Washington, D.C., Dec. 9—11, 1979 (see 1979 Workbook for
dates and places of the first five sessions).

At the final session, all participants except the representa-
tives of the LCMS approved a common statement on Baptism.
The common statement is substantially the same as a working
paper which had been considered in the spring 1979 dialog