LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 1981, Page 168

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168 THEOLOGY AND CHURCH RELATIONS

the Synod before the Synod meets again in convention, thata
final conclusion to this matter may be achieved.

Zion Lutheran Church
Ocheyedan, Iowa

Larry Scheu, President
Milton Consoer, Secretary
Noel D. Koss, Pastor

Identical or similar:

3-26B

Mount Hope, Casper, Wyo. J.B. Brown

3-27

To Study Further the Issue
of Women’s Ordination

WHEREAS, God created man male and female in His own
image, therein reflecting in the unity the distinctness of each in
the human partnership the wonder of the distinction and unity
of the persons in the blessed Trinity, the churches are urged in
these present days especially to consider the life and work of
men and women in the church and in society in the full
partnership of their created interdependence, not isolating,
separating, or singling out women from men (or vice versa) as
if one could grow and develop into full humanity without the
other; and

WHEREAS, The partnership of male and female in reflecting
the mystery of the Trinity includes the dominion over the
created world, the particularity of male and female as the
suitable helpers is the primordial vocation that each must live
in order to discover, each to the other, the particular wonder of
their created lives, thus giving an ever-increasing display and
testimony to their Creator, especially in these times of confu-
sion; and

WHEREAS, Baptism into Christ Jesus, into His death and
resurrection, is the ordination into the priesthood of believers;
it is full participation in the ministry (service), mission, and
worship of God; and to eat and drink the Lord’s body and blood
in the Lord’s Supper is to proclaim the Lord's death till He
comes to judge the living and the dead, the churches are urged
to teach, train, and discipline all the baptized to live the daily
life of repentance and faith as the way to give glory to God, and
in no way are men and women to be led to believe that unless
they are ordained into pastoral office they somehow are
deprived of full participation in the mission, ministry, proclam-
ation, or adoration of God; and

WHEREAS, The bountiful generosity of God endows His
creatures, and particularly His church, with such gifts as He
wills to give and she needs, so as to lack nothing; and the same
Lord, by His Spirit calls each and all the baptized to use these
gifts in holy living for the common good, the churches are
urged to train the baptized to pray for a willing and faithful
spirit to receive and to give the various gifts and energies of her
members for the growth of the whole body in love, not
imagining that ordination to the pastoral office is the only
way, or the normative way, or the highest way to full participa-
tion in the calling as Christians; and

WHEREAS, The interior conviction and calling to serve God
in a particular way, joined with His special gifts for such
service, is a choice of God and manifestation of His own
intention; it is not and cannot be the proper grounds for
ordination, for sacred Scripture does not give us foundation for
ordering or bestowing such gifts; rather since the call to the
pastoral office is confessed to be the call of God through His
church, it alone constitutes the grounds for ordination into the
pastoral office; and

WHEREAS, This ordination to the pastoral office of ministry
to Word and Sacrament is the charge to tend with episcopal
curacy (Acts 20), to serve for the management of God’s
household (1 Timothy 3), and to be stewards of the mysteries of
God (1 Corinthians 4), itimposes the service of governance and
the exercise of the authority of the forgiveness of sins that
numbers among us believe is inappropriate to confer upon a

woman, by virtue of her creaturehood as woman, and by virtue
of the partnership of male and female in that creation; and

WHEREAS, Since there are numbers among us who are
convinced that in sacred Scripture there are no clear prohibi-
tions against ordaining women to the pastoral office, and who
believe that there are women who have the gifts to conduct the
pastoral office; therefore be it

Resolved, That the Synod continue to study further the
issue of human sexuality and the partnership of man and
woman in home, church, and society, and specifically the issue
of the ordination of women to the pastoral office of ministry to
Word and Sacrament in Christ’s church.

English District
Paul E. Bacon, Secretary

3-28
To Oppose Equal Rights Amendment

WHEREAS, The Christian Legislative Concerns Committee
(CLCC) of the Central Illinois District, in 1978, issued a report
entitled “An Evaluation of the Equal Rights Amendment,”
opposing such amendment; and

WHEREAS, The Commission on Theology and Church Rela-
tions, in January 1976, issued a report on the Equal Rights
Amendment which delineated many of the concerns presented
in the CLCC report; and

WHEREAS, The Equal Rights Amendment has been deter-
mined by both of the foregoing bodies to be in conflict with
Holy Scripture, which must remain as our guide concerning the
will of God for Christian men and women; and

WHEREAS, The Equal Rights Amendment, if adopted, will
adversely affect our doctrine on ordination of women (1 Cor.
14:34-36 and 1 Tim. 2:11-14), abortion on demand (Jer. 1:5; Luke
1:44; and Ex. 20:13), and on deviate sexual lifestyles (Rom.
1:26-27); therefore be it

Resolved, That the Synod go on record as being opposed to
the Equal Rights Amendment to the United States Constitu-
tion, as presently proposed.

St. John’s Lutheran Church
Beardstown, III.

Thomas D. Patterson, President
Norman E. Venz, Secretary:

3-29

To Protest Things to Come
for Planet Earth

WHEREAS, The Lutheran Church in its basic symbol, the
Augsburg Confession (Art. XVII, par. 5; cp. also Apol. XVI, 7)
rejects millennialism as a Jewish opinion, or dream; and

WHEREAS, The LCMS in its Constitution (Art. II: Confes-
sion) professes to accept the Unaltered Augsburg Confession
without reservation; and

WHEREAS, The LCMS requires such acceptance of every
member of the Synod as a condition of membership (Constitu-
tion, Art. VI); and

WHEREAS, The LCMS in its Brief Statement of its doctrinal
position (No. 42-28) ‘with the Augsburg Confession, Art. XVII”
expressly rejects “every type of Millennialism” and spells out
this rejection in unmistakable detail; and

WHEREAS, The Synod’s publication concern, Concordia
Publishing House, has nevertheless published a book, Things
to Come for Planet Earth: What the Bible Says About the Last
Times, the main thrust of which is its plea for a “synthesis” of
millennialism and amillennialism (nonmillennialism), as
witness:

It is devoutly to be wished that some sort of synthesis be found of
postmillennialism, premillennialism, and amillenialism. All three
have difficulties, and points of agreement, complementing one
another. All three end in a transcendent kingdom, real and eternal,
of finer substance and conditions that will endure for eternity. [p.95
f.; cp. also p. 8];

and