LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 1983, Page 116

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116 THEOLOGY AND CHURCH RELATIONS

Resolved, That our Synod in convention direct our Presi-
dent and all responsible officers, boards, and commissions to
diligently build on all previous theological discussions and
fellowship arrangements with other Lutherans, Roman Catho-
lics. and Episcopalians in order to pursue our Lord's will for
unity of witness to His saving Gospel: and be it further

Resolved, That all individual members of the LCMS be
urged to practice responsible Christian witnessing and fellow-
ship with other Christians as guided by the Holy Scriptures
and set forth in our Mission Affirmations (Detroit, 1965) on the
congregational, Circuit, District, and synodical level; and be it
finally

Resolved, That congregations inform their Circuit Counse-
lors of the discoveries and relationships in Gospel-centered
ministry that they make in the practice of responsible Chris-
tian fellowship so that the church at large can benefit.

Board of Directors
Ohio District
Douglas E. Riley, Secretary

3-68

To Seek Confessional Lutheran Agreement,
Fellowship, and Cooperation

WHEREAS, The current U.S. Lutheran merger efforts and
simultaneous moves towards altar fellowship (inter-Commu-
nion, “interim Eucharistic sharing”) with non-Lutheran
churches underscore the confessional instability which has
overtaken large parts of world Lutheranism; and

WHEREAS, Restoration of fellowship with former sister
churches (Evangelical Lutheran Synod and Wisconsin Evan-
gelical Lutheran Synod) must receive a higher priority than
relationships with nominally Lutheran churches which delib-
erately embrace the historical-critical destruction of Biblical
and confessional authority; and

WHEREAS, Routine professions of loyalty to the Book of
Concord—when at the same time historical criticism is allowed
to subvert and deny central mysteries of the faith like the very
Trinitarian and Christological confessions of the Ecumenical
Creeds—is a scandal to the faithful. and institutionalizes
confessional dishonesty; and

WHEREAS, Edmund Schlink has justly observed: ‘Even the
most solemn reaffirmation of the Confessions may be a denial
of them, if the errors of the day are passed overin silence.... At
the very least the church, confronted with new heresies, will
have to furnish up-to-date and binding interpretations of her
official Confessions. But also beyond this we must soberly
reckon with the possibility, perhaps even the necessity, of
meeting the invasion of new errors with the formulation and
validation of new Confessions” (Theology of the Lutheran
Confessions, p.31. See also E. F. Klug, “A Call for Addenda to
the Formula of Concord,” CTQ. October 1980, pp. 234—37);
therefore be it

Resolved,

1. That “Before God, who searches the heart, the Synod will
reexamine its dealings with [the Evangelical Lutheran Synod
and the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod], invite dis-
cussion of the issues that still form a barrier between us, and in
true humility repentifit has been guilty of loveless disregard of
the concerns of fellow Lutherans, beseeching God to grant us
agreement in the truth of His Word so that once again we can
with one voice witness to the faith that binds us together in one
church and fellowship” (CTCR, A Lutheran Stance Toward
Ecumenism, 1974, p. 14); and

2. That the Synod favors and will actively seek, with the
help of God, a contemporary doctrinal settlement among the
confessionally faithful Lutheran Churches of the world, a
settlement which would, especially in the articles of Holy
Scripture and of the church, do for the Book of Concord what
the Formula of Concord did for the Augsburg Confession; and

3. That the Commission on Theology and Church Rela-
tions, after preliminary and informal consultation with other
churches likely to be interested in cooperating in such a

venture, present concrete proposals toward this end to the next
synodical convention; and
4. That the Synod urges and will facilitate the holding of
Free Conferences throughout North America for the purpose of
substantive theological discussion; and _
5. That as regards a successor organization to LCUSA. the
Synod will work only towards a nonunionistic body, preferably
one that is acceptable also to the Evangelical Lutheran Synod
and the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod, and that for
this reason the Synod will seek to secure for the ELS and the
WELS invitations to participate in the initial planning of any
such proposed body.
Faculty
Concordia Theological Seminary
Fort Wayne, Ind.
Norbert H. Mueller, Secretary

3-69

To Maintain Our Synodical Principle
of Congregational Responsibility

WHEREAS, The synodical principle of congregational polity
for determining faith and practice is to be conscientiously
maintained; and

WHEREAS, Bylaw 2.593 b, in defining the function of the
Commission on Theology and Church Relations, is consistent
with this principle when it prescribes that the CTCR is to
“provide guidance... through special studies and documents
to the membership of the Synod and to conferences”; and

WHEREAS, The 1977 Res. 3-02A (note also 1979 Res. 3-03)
instructed the CTCR to provide guidance for a study on the
nature and implications of the concept of fellowship and
further instructed that its document be “distributed for wide-
spread study throughout Synod before the 1979 convention”:
an

WHEREAS, The CTCR did not publish this document until
April 1981, which did not fulfill the requirements of the
enabling resolutions, or allow time for study, nor allow a
response by resolution to the 1981 convention; and

WHEREAS, The results were a prevention of a proper imple-
mentation of the principle of congregational responsibility as
well as placing the CTCR study document into a position of
authoritative “guidance” for faith and life (1981 Res. 3-10);
therefore be it

Resolved, That this convention respond to the instructions
of its Bylaws and the enabling resolutions, 1977 Res. 3-02A
and 1979 Res. 3-03, by implementing as a study document the
CTCR document “The Nature and Implications of the Concept
of Fellowship” (April 1981), and furthermore, clarifying that it
is not to be considered a position paper commended to the
members of Synod as “guidance” for faith and practice.

St. Andrew Lutheran Church
Cape Girardeau, Mo.

David Hahs, President

Louis H. Launhardt, Pastor

3-70

To Distinguish Between Altar
and Pulpit Fellowship

Preamble

The unity of all who have been baptized into Christis a fact
of faith that is affirmed in Holy Scripture. The strength of the
Lutheran Church is its concern for doctrinal consensus and its
emphasis upon the centrality of the Gospel in seeking Christian
unity. It cannot be denied that important differences do exist
between major Christian denominations and even between the
Lutheran bodies, i.e., the LCMS, ALC, LCA, and AELC.
However, at this time there is a strong interest among
Christians to work out some problems and gain a greater
understanding of others in order to attain a greater quality of