LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 1981, Page 177

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THEOLOGY AND CHURCH RELATIONS 177

LCMS) has been eroded by means of our divergent under-
standing of the base for fellowship; and

WHEREAS, We of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod
dare not approach this matter of altar and pulpit fellowship
with The American Lutheran Church in a cavalier, haughty, or
supercilious manner (cf. Ps. 101:5; 1 Peter 5:5); and

WHEREAS, “We have no doubt at all that one can find many
pious, innocent people even in those churches which have up to
now admittedly not come to agreement with us” (preface to The
Book of Concord [Tappert]); and

WHEREAS, An admitted purpose and object of our unity and
fellowship within the LCMS is to “conserve and promote the
unity of the true faith (Eph. 4:3-6; 1 Cor. 1:10), work through its
official structure toward fellowship with other Christian
church bodies, and provide a united defense against schism,
sectarianism (Rom. 16:17), and heresy” (1979 Handbook, The
Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, p. 253); therefore be it

Resolved, That The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod at
this time sever ‘‘church fellowship” with The American
Lutheran Church because of the “divergent understanding of
the base for fellowship” that exists between our two church
bodies, realizing full well that the severance of “church
fellowship” does not imply that the LCMS is the ‘‘one holy
Christian church outside of which there is no salvation,” for as
Benedict Carpzov correctly states, “No special [particular]
church dare glory in itself as being the one church; for it is one
thing to be the one church and another to be of the church. The
whole church is one; ours is of the one.... We admit that our
church is a particular church, but we do not say that it alone is
the true church” (C. F. W. Walther, The True Visible Church of
God [CPH, 1961], pp. 45 and 48); and be it further

Resolved, That The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod
continue to recognize and affirm its practice of “church
fellowship” on the basis of agreement in doctrine and practice
(C. F. W. Walther, The True Visible Church of God, Thesis
XXIV); and be it finally

Resolved, That The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod
continue to work toward fellowship with The American
Lutheran Church and with “other Christian church bodies,” as
the object of our Handbook so states (p. 253), on the basis of
doctrine and practice.

Zion Lutheran Church
Ocheyedan, Iowa

Milton Consoer, Secretary
Noel D. Koss, Pastor

3-57A

To Rescind Fellowship

WHEREAS, Fellowship with The American Lutheran Church
was authorized by Res. 3-15 of the 1969 Denver convention; and

WHEREAS, Fellowship presupposes an agreementin doctrine
and practice that did not truly exist when it was instituted and
which has since further deteriorated; and

WHEREAS, The Commission on Theology and Church Rela-
tions has indicated five areas of basic belief wherein the ALC
practice is not in agreement with that of the LCMS and which
involve—

1) the inspiration, inerrancy, and authority of Scripture;

2) the ordination of women to the pastoral office;

3) the nature and basis of fellowship;

4) participation in ecumenical organizations (LWF, WCC,
et al);

5) lodge practices; and

WHEREAS, Positions over against homosexuality and abor-
tion are among additional areas wherein ALC practice can not
be tolerated in our Synod; and

WHEREAS, The ALC shows no likelihood of change relative
to the LCMS concerns in any of these areas; and

WHEREAS, The ALC is in fellowship with the LCA and the
AELC, whereas the LCMS is not; and

WHEREAS, For these reasons true fellowship has never
existed despite having been declared; therefore be it

Resolved, That the LCMS regretfully declare that fellowship
with the ALC is rescinded by reason of never having been truly
in existence; and be it further

Resolved, That discussions be continued involving the
specific areas of divergence of doctrine; and be it finally

Resolved, That in the future fellowship with this or any
other church body not be entered into without the presence of
total agreement in doctrine and practice.

Trinity Lutheran Church

Warren, Ohio

Norman Schinkel, Pastor

Edward Bellin, Chairman
Michael Mason, Secretary

Identical or similar:

3-57B and 3-57C
St. Peter’s, Forestville, Wis.
Zion, Wayside, Wis.

Alfred Zutz
Gerald Wittmaier

3-58A

To Declare Church Fellowship
with ALC No Longer Exists

Preamble: A Historical-Theological Perspective

In recent decades the paramount doctrinal issue dividing
U.S. Lutheranism has been the rift between “Old Lutheranism”
(acknowledgment of Scripture as the inerrant Word of God and
of the Lutheran Confessions as defining the basis and
boundaries of church fellowship) and ‘‘Neo-Lutheranism”
(surrender of Biblical inerrancy to historical criticism and
acceptance of formal confessional subscription in place of
actual agreement to the doctrinal content of The Book of
Concord). (See E. Clifford Nelson, Lutheranism in North
America 1914—1970 [Augsburg, 1972], and E. Clifford Nelson,
ed., in collaboration with Theodore G. Tappert, H. George
Anderson, August R. Suelflow, Eugene L. Fevold, Fred W.
Meuser, The Lutherans in North America [Fortress, 1975].)

Historically and theologically both the ALC and the LEMS
have deep roots in the common heritage of Old Lutheranism,
which common heritage has in the past been the overarching
frame of reference within which particular points of difference
were controverted.

The solid grounding in Old Lutheranism is documented for
all the antecedent bodies of the ALC and for the ALC itself in
the “Minneapolis Theses” of 1925, which have been incor-
porated into the ALC’s “Articles of Union” in 1958. The
Minneapolis Theses state:

I. The Scriptures

The synods signatory to these Articles of Agreement accept
without exception all the canonical books of the Old and New
Testament as a whole, and in all their parts, as the divinely inspired,
revealed, and inerrant Word of God....

III. Church Fellowship

1. These synods agree that true Christians are found in every
denomination which has so much of divine truth revealed in Holy
Scripture that children of God can be born in it; that according to the
Word of God and our confessions, church fellowship, that is, mutual
recognition, altar and pulpit fellowship, and eventually cooperation
in the strictly essential work of the church, presupposes unanimity
in the pure doctrine of the Gospel and of the confession of the same in
word and deed.

Where the establishment and maintenance of church fellowship
ignores present doctrinal differences or declares them a matter of
indifference, there is unionism, pretense of union which does not
exist.

2. They agree that the rule, “Lutheran pulpits for Lutheran
pastors only, and Lutheran altars for Lutheran communicants
only” is not only in full accord with, but necessarily implied in, the
teachings of the divine Word and the confessions of the evangelical
Lutheran Church. This rule, implying the rejection of all unionism
and syncretism, must be observed as setting forth a principle
elementary to sound and conservative Lutheranism (Richard C.
Wolf, Documents of Lutheran Unity in America[Fortress, 1966], pp.
340—341).