LCMS Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 1986, Sheet 93

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ALIVE IN CHRIST—THE LOCAL CONGREGATION 91

The portion of Scripture which the chaplain read a few
moments earlier from Eph. 4:1—6 is most fitting for our
consideration this morning. It also underscores the reason
for our living together in the synod, namely to conserve
and promote the unity of the true faith (Art. II, objectives).

In addition to that, there are those terrific sections of
Scripture which tell us about the church in Eph. 2:19-20,
which read:

Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners,

but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the house-

hold of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and

prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone. . .”
The additional section from Scripture that we want to focus
on as we think of the local congregation is one of Dr. C. F.
W. Walther’s favorite Bible passages taken from 1 Peter
2:9-10:

But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy

nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the

praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His mar-
velous light.

As we celebrate the Walther anniversaries shortly—the
175th of his birth this October and the centennial of his
death next May—we have a special opportunity to see what
this great theologian had to say about the local congre-
gation.

While the role, responsibilities, and authority of the lo-
cal congregation are again critically debated, discussed,
and examined by many Lutherans in America today, where
does our Synod stand? We are most fortunate that our
church has a rich heritage, and a certainty in knowing
what the local congregation is. Look at that briefly in your
small group discussions.

Welcome back. I hope you have been intrigued by your
discussions and have gained a great deal from them.

This presentation has a twofold objective:

1. To glance at some Scripture passages with respect
to the local congregations and

2.To review what Walther had rediscovered in the
midst of great confusion on the issue

One of the greatest Lutheran theologians in America
who held most high the role, work, functions, and authority
of the local congregation was Dr. C. F. W. Walther. Permit
me to illustrate that by way of two instances:

First, 140 years ago a handful of pastors met in St. Louis
to draft a constitution for a new church. This was to become
the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod one year later. Lu-
theranism in America during the 1840s was in consider-
able disarray and was faced with deep theological
uncertainty and confusion. Some had knowingly aban-
doned their Lutheran heritage; others did so unknowingly.
Some called themselves Lutherans when they weren’t, and
others were trying to determine what it meant to be Lu-
theran. There was also a great deal of suspicion that the
clergy wanted to control the church. In the midst of all
this, a handful of pastors, some who had never met each
other before, gathered to write a constitution for this
church which we affectionately call the Missouri Synod
today. What is particularly interesting and amazing is
that, in this kind of atmosphere Walther, the host pastor
in St. Louis, invited his entire voters assembly to attend

sessions. These sessions consisted of three lengthy evening
meetings during which the draft of the constitution was
most thoroughly discussed and debated, revealing many
hidden fears.
One of the pastors present, Friedrich Lochner, de-
scribed these meetings later on:
At this time several meetings were held in the St. Louis con-
gregation, in which their pastors presented the plan for con-
sideration. I, ... occasionally opened my eyes wide in
astonishment when I saw that the congregation did not at once
acquiesce, but questioned this and that item; indeed, several
members disputed sharply with the pastors. These men, how-
ever, entered into their doubts and objections with such calm
consideration as if the congregation were made up of none but
scholarly theologians, (Polack, How the Missouri Synod Was
Born, p. 25).

What a demonstration of an active congregation!—de-
scribed as consisting of “scholarly theologians” who were
profoundly interested in the formation of a new synod.
They had, indeed, been nurtured—through study of the
Holy Scriptures, Lutheran Confessions, and also Luther’s
writings. These people sought the will of God because of a
deep fear of “priest rule” (i.e., the control of the church by
clergymen) and still harbored anticlerical and antiheir-
archical feelings. One of the historians observed:

Walther’s five year’s experience on American soil with a con-
gregation that suffered from morbid fear of priest rule . . . left
their marks on the constitution. From past experience Walther
knew that the voters of Trinity would not tolerate another
priest rule. In a certain sense one may call the constitution of
the Missouri Synod the result of a seven-year battle for con-
gregational rights. (Mundinger, 1947, p. 179).

The second instance comes from the oft-quoted presi-
dential address of 1848 when, two years after the St. Louis
meeting took place and one year after the Missouri Synod
was organized, President Walther again emphasized the
role of the local congregation and its relationship to the
Synod:

We have merely the power to advise one another, only the
power of the Word and of persuasion. According to our con-
stitution we have no right to formulate decrees, to pass laws
and regulations, and to make judicial decisions, to which our
congregations would have to submit unconditionally in any
matter involving imposing something on them. Our constitu-
tion by no means makes us a consistory, by no means a su-
preme court of our congregations. It rather grants them the
most perfect liberty in everything, with the exception of the
Word of God, faith, and love. According to our constitution we
are not above our congregations, but in them and at their side,”
(CHIQ, vol. XXXII, April 1960, p. 13).

But what does all this mean to us today in 1986?

It means first of all, that we have a wonderful and
noteworthy heritage. What we have inherited has been
particularly won for us through years of theological dis-
cussion and even battles.

It means, secondly, that our congregations have enor-
mous responsibilities to be involved in the five basic func-
tions of worship, nurture, witness, service, and support.

An excellent working definition of the local congregation
is one that our first synodical president himself gave us:

An Evangelical Lutheran local congregation is an assembly of
believing Christians at a specific place among whom God’s
Word is preached purely according to the Confessions of the
Evangelical Lutheran Church and the holy sacraments are
administered according to Christ’s institution as stated in the
Gospel (Walther, The Proper Form; Drickamer, Walther on the
Church, St. Louis: CPH 1981, p. 125).