LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 1983, Page 91

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THEOLOGY AND CHURCH RELATIONS 91

logical foundation according to which social ministry pro-
grams may be evaluated and planned. The commission im-
mediately assigned this study to its Social Concerns Committee
and has been informed that the SCC has proceeded to carry out
the initial work on this assignment.

6. Church Discipline

At its September 1980 meeting the commission, at the
request of the President of the Synod, placed on its agenda a
study of church discipline and excommunication. From time to
time the commission has received inquiries from persons
seeking guidance as they deal with questions that often arisein
this area of pastoral care. The commission has assigned this
study to one of its standing committees.

7. Role of Women in the Church

In response to a 1977 request of the Synod that the CTCR
and its Social Concerns Committee give particular attention
“to studying and clarifying issues concerning woman suffrage
and women teachers’’ (1977 Res. 3-06), the commission is in the
process of preparing a study on the role of women in the church,
with special attention to be given to what the Scriptures and
Lutheran Confessions teach concerning the order of creation.

8. Church-State Issues

In May 1982 the President of the Synod asked the CTCR
and its Social Concerns Committee to review synodical docu-
ments, position papers, and other materials on the question of
church-state relationships and to report the results of this
review to his office. He noted that this request was occasioned
in part by a request from LCUSA asking its member bodies to
review their documents related to civil disobedience and report
on any necessary steps they might be taking ‘“‘to assure their
adequacy for this new context.” President Bohlmann also
indicated that the Board of Directors of the Synod requested
that a committee explore the whole matter of church-state
relationships in the light of issues which have surfaced in
recent discussions (tuition tax credits, prayerin public schools,
increased support in the voluntary sector, the peace question,
etc.). The commission has forwarded this assignment to its
Social Concerns Committee.

9. Studies on Scripture

Two studies related to the doctrine of Scripture are presently
on the agenda of the commission. The 1973 convention of the
Synod adopted a resolution presented from the floor requesting
the CTCR ‘‘to conduct an intensive study of the doctrine of
inerrancy and also of the traditional] interpretation of Genesis
1—3 and the interpretation of the Book of Jonah” (1973
Proceedings, p. 46). In addition to this assignment the com-
mission itself, noting 1975 Overture 3-126 (‘To Publish Theses
and Antitheses on the Term ‘Word of God. 1975 Workbook,
pp. 100—101), initiated a study of the “Word of God” in 1975.
The commission believes that these assignments address
critical issues in the area of contemporary Biblical studies and
hopes that it can complete these studies in the not too distant

uture.

10. Conscience and the Third Use of the Law

As the commission reported to the 1981 convention of the
Synod, the study of conscience and the third use of the Law was
placed on its agenda in response to a suggestion made by the
President of theSynod in his January 1975 report to the CTCR.
While recognizing that this issue continues to be a matter of
some concern, due to the press of other assignments the
commission has not given this study priority during the past
biennium.

11. The Charismatic Movement

In his report to the November 1982 meeting of the com-
mission, the President of the Synod expressed the need for the
CTCR to continue its evaluation of the goals and strategies of
the charismatic movement as indicated by leaders in the
movement. The commission has assigned this matter to one of
its standing committees to assist the commission in evaluating
and monitoring recent developments within the movement.

12. Christian Counseling

At the request of the CTCR, the Social Concerns Committee
has been conducting a basic study on “Christian Counseling.”
This assignment was made tothe SCC in response to inquiries
to the commission regarding the evaluation, from a Christian
perspective, of the various methods of counseling in use today.

C. Requests for Theological Opinions

1. Board for Mission Services Request Regarding Joint
Mission Work with Lutheran Mission in Thailand

The Board for Mission Services, through its executive
secretary, has requested an opinion from the CTCR on whether
or not it would be appropriate for the LCMS to carry out joint
mission work with the Lutheran Mission in Thailand (LMT),
an organization composed of Norwegian and Finnish mission
societies. (The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Hong Kong
has contributed funds to LMT but does not have personnel in
Thailand.)

In requesting this opinion the Board for Mission Services
has provided the CTCR with the following background in-
formation: (1) Due to governmental restrictions, affiliation with
the LMT is the only way that LCMS missionaries can enter
Thailand. (2) The Lutheran Mission in Thailand is an associ-
ation of mission societies affiliated with the state churches of
Norway and Finland. (3) The LCMS is not in altar and pulpit
fellowship with the state churches of Finland and Norway. (4)
One of the expressed purposes of LMT is the formation of a
new, confessional Lutheran Church in Thailand.

On the basis of this information, the CTCR understands the
fundamental question before it to be the following: Is it
consistent with the fellowship principles of the LCMS for the
Synod through the Board for Mission Services to join an
agency which willinvolve synodical missionaries in acommon
ministry of Word and Sacrament with missionaries of mission
societies associated with church bodies not in altar and pulpit
fellowship with the LCMS?

In response to this question, the CTCR offers the following
opinion: The Board for Mission Services may join an agency in
behalf of the Synod which will involve synodical missionaries
in a common ministry of Word and Sacrament with mission-
aries of mission societies associated with church bodies not in
altar and pulpit fellowship with the LCMS without violating
the fellowship principles of the Synod when the following two
conditions exist: (1) When one of the expressed purposes of the
agency is the formation of a new, confessional Lutheran
church where none presently exists; and (2) where there is
agreement in doctrine among the individual members of the
agency engaged in the common ministry.

In offering this opinion the commission emphasizes that it
is not rendering an opinion as to whether or not these
conditions do in fact obtain with respect to the situation in
Thailand. If the Board for Mission Services is inclined to
proceed in the direction of joining Lutheran Mission to Thai-
land, the commission recommends that the Board for Mission
Services request the President of the Synod to make provisions
for ascertaining whether the two conditions set forth above
exist in this situation. The commission further recommends, in
view of the differing views which it has received from the
partner churches of the Synod in response to its request for
assistance in offering this opinion, that, regardless of action
taken with reference to Thailand, the President of the Synod
request that a study of the meaning and implications of
fellowship be placed on the agenda of the next meeting of the
International Lutheran Conference, with special reference to
the theoretical issues involved in this opinion.

2. Luther’s *‘Anti-Semitic” Statements

In the summer of 1982 President Bohlmann forwarded
to the CTCR requests from the South Wisconsin District and
the Board for Evangelism Services for guidance regarding the
“anti-Semitic” statements of Luther such as those found in his
1543 treatise ‘On the Jews and Their Lies.” Dr. Bohlmann
asked the CTCR “to develop a statement for use by the various
boards, agencies. and individual members of the Synod as they
see fit in dealing with the above question.” The commission
recognizes that this is a matter of some sensitivity in certain