Collection › LCMS Convention Workbook (St. Louis, Missouri) › 1969 · 48th Convention › Page 140
LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 1969, Page 140

Scan: The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod
Transcription machine transcription, uncorrected

140 CHURCH RELATIONS

ganizations have sought church fellowship without
agreement in doctrine and practice; and

Wuereas, The American Lutheran Church voted to
establish altar and pulpit fellowship with the Lutheran
Church in America, with whom neither they nor The
Lutheran Church — Missouri Synod are in doctrinal
agreement; and

Wuereas, These practices violate a traditional Scrip-
tural principle of seeking church fellowship only
through agreement in doctrine and practice, a principle
which The Lutheran Church — Missouri Synod has re-
affirmed time and again; and

Wuereas, The official statement of The American
Lutheran Church entitled “Doctrinal Concerns” calls
the assumption of having correct doctrine “a symptom
of pride” and thus challenges the possibility of attaining
doctrinal agreement; therefore be it

Resolved, That The Lutheran Church — Missouri
Synod in convention assembled in Denver, Colo., refrain
at this time from declaring altar and pulpit fellowship
with The American Lutheran Church; and be it further

Resolved, That we wholeheartedly continue to work
and pray for true Lutheran unity which is based on full
agreement of doctrinal truth as it is set forth in the in-
spired and inerrant Scriptures and in the Confessions

f the Luth h .
of the Lutheran Church ZIon Ev. LUTHERAN CHURCH

Chicago, III.

Rosert Piack, Secretary

WILLIAM Pepin, Chairman

C. O. BEIDERWIEDEN, Pastor
(3-123)

To Refrain from Declaring
Fellowship in 1969

Wuereas, In our experience it is evident that in many
areas the assumed doctrinal consensus does not actually
exist between The American Lutheran Church and The
Lutheran Church — Missouri Synod; and

Wuereas, The establishment of altar and pulpit fel-
lowship at this time would tend to delay the resolving
of doctrinal unrest in our own Synod; therefore be it

Resolved, That before our Synod enters into any
formal fellowship agreement, every effort be made by
further conferences and meetings to arrive at a doc-
trinal consensus which we believe does not at present
exist; and be it further

Resolved, That meetings between American Lutheran
pastors and people and our Synod’s pastors and people
continue; and be it finally

Resolved, That our Synod refrain from declaring
fellowship in 1969.
TRINITY LUTHERAN CHURCH

Wyandotte, Mich.

RUDOLPH GOHROGGE, Secretary
Rev. P. F. WIENEKE, Pastor

Rev. JoHN Opepa, Assistant Pastor

(3-124)

An identical overture was received from the pastors
of the Wyandotte and Monroe Circuits, Michigan Dis-
trict, per Rev. Philip Janz and Rev. P. F. Wieneke.

(3-125)

To Refrain from Precipitate Action
in Fellowship

Wuereas, Much emphasis is laid upon doctrine and
practice when the Lord Himself teaches in Matt. 7:21:
“Not everyone that saith unto Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall
enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the
will of My Father which is in heaven”; and

Wuereas, The ‘Joint Statement and Declaration,”
with which the Synod has expressed agreement time and
again, clearly states in paragraph 5 that “we are obli-
gated to reject everything that conflicts with this grace
of God in either doctrine or life’ (emphasis ours); and

Wuereas, The selfsame statement further declares in
paragraph 7: “Likewise, practices in the church that
militate against the Gospel impair the true unity of the
church”; and

Wuereas, The 47th regular convention of the Mis-
souri Synod declared that “the Scriptural and confes-
sional basis for altar and pulpit fellowship between The
Lutheran Church — Missouri Synod and The American
Lutheran Church exists” and further resolved that “the
President of the Synod in conjunction with the Council
of Presidents make the appropriate recommendations to
the 1969 convention”; and

Wuereas, Current materials prepared for the Board
of Parish Education and the Board of Publications of
The American Lutheran Church reveal that The ALC
holds views differing from those of the Missouri Synod
on inspiration and inerrancy:

Underscore the fact that the Bible has a very human
quality. In a sense it is a human book. God did use sinful
men as his instruments. Some of their wrong or inade-
quate ideas got into the Scripture. (Emphasis ours)

When it is argued that inspiration precludes the pos-
sibility of error in the Bible, a very unreal and basically
dishonest rationalization must be called into service.

In the discussion, emphasize that inspiration is related
to the message and not to the words which bring the mes-
sage except in a secondary sense. (God’s Word and My
Faith, Teachers Guide, 1966, pp. 31, 32, 34)

The infallibility of the Scriptures is the infallibility of
Jesus Christ and not the infallibility of the written text.
(The Bible: Book of Faith, 1964, p. 148)

The ALC holds that the inerrancy referred to here
(Constitution of ALC, ed.) does not apply to the text but
to the truths revealed for our faith, doctrine and life.
(“The Church’s Confessional Stand Relative to the Scrip-
tures,” Dr. Fredrik A. Schiotz, June 9, 1966, Tacoma,
Wash.)

According to the myth of (Genesis 3), history began
with man’s disobedience. (God’s Word and My Faith,
p. 167)

and

Wuereas, The American Lutheran Church is guilty
of a lodge practice and unionism not in conformity with
Scripture; therefore be it

Resolved, That the Immanuel Lutheran Church,