Collection › LCMS Convention Workbook (St. Louis, Missouri) › 1969 · 48th Convention › Page 187
LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 1969, Page 187

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

CHURCH RELATIONS 187

constitutional foundation. We believe that this has been
one of the major causes for the dilemma in which the
Synod now finds itself. The New York convention was
responsible for this. We hold that the President of the
Synod did a noble job carrying out such a beclouded
assignment. No President of the Synod ought ever to be
given such a task again. Therefore —

Because of the reasons mentioned above, we recom-
mend to the delegates of the Synod meeting in Denver,
Colo., on July 11—19, 1969, that they remand to the
“dead-resolution file” Resolution 3-23 of the New York
convention as an improper, unconstitutional approach
toward declaring altar and pulpit fellowship with any-
one; and

Because neither the world nor the kingdom of God
will come to an end if we bide time to work out a better
approach, we recommend that they consider the effort
(which we would desire for the establishing of Lutheran
unity, not union) be made, as it has been our synodical
practice, on the basis of the entire body of doctrine and
our Confessions, with total agreement thereto by both
or more synods concerned; and

Because legitimate criticism requires a positive step
for reconsideration, we recommend that this convention
at Denver offer for complete restudy and prayerful
approval, as an official confessional document, the
“Common Confession — Parts I and II” as a statement
of faith on which all Lutheran synods may stand united
in doctrine and practice for our times, offering the
“Common Confession — Parts I and II” to all Lutheran
synods in the U.S.A. for study and approval. Let us
this time, in true humility and firm conviction, be the

catalyst.
y Grace LUTHERAN CHURCH

Lancaster, Calif.
JEROME BRANDT, President
LuTHER P. J. STEINER, Pastor

(3-238)
To Rescind Res. 3-23

We, the members of First Trinity Ev. Lutheran
Church, of Pittsburgh, Pa., respectfully but insistently
request the honorable Lutheran Church — Missouri
Synod 1969 Denver convention (July 11—19) to rescind
the New York resolution of 1967 favoring establishment
of pulpit-altar fellowship between our Synod and The
American Lutheran Church for these compelling rea-
sons:

1. Samplings and surveys of publicly proclaimed
beliefs in The ALC reveal weaknesses, if not heresies,
in the areas of the inspiration and inerrancy of the
Holy Scriptures, and the natural historical interpreta-
tion of Genesis, chapters 1, 2 and 3.

2, The ALC has established membership in the
unscriptural World Council of Churches and has in its
1968 convention established fellowship with the liberal-
minded and liberal-oriented Lutheran Church in Amer-
ica.

3. The ALC forbids its pastors to be members of
Christ-denying organizations such as Masonry and its
related lodges, but allows its laity to continue member-
ship in them without disciplinary action — which in
effect, amounts to a double and specious standard of
morality.

4, Continued efforts on the part of our responsible
leadership to irresponsibly sweep these difficulties,
problems, and obstacles in the way of full fellowship
“under the rug” is a violation of our individual con-
sciences and the 110-year-old church constitution of
our congregation (since 1857), which clearly defines
its seven-fold condition and terms of membership based
solidly on the Holy Bible and the Unaltered Augsburg
Confession.

5. The watchwords of our church seal come from the
lips of our holy Savior Himself: “If ye continue in My
Word, then are ye My disciples indeed, and ye shall
know the truth and the truth shall make you free”;
therefore, we feel constrained, both as individuals and
as Christian individuals bound together under the name
of First Trinity Ev. Lutheran Congregation of Oakland
(Pittsburgh 13, Pa.) as a congregation to confess our
joint conviction in the proposed fellowship matter. We
declare at this time that even an insufficient grass-roots
level dialog that has taken place thus far between
LCMS and ALC pastors has clearly shown that the
much publicized consensus in doctrine does not actually
exist, and that the CTCR should openly disavow the
insert that appeared in the Lutheran Witness Reporter
of Nov. 17, 1968.

6. Finally, we of First Trinity are of the considered
conviction that the merging of the LCMS and The ALC
is impractical, premature, and ill advised also from an
organizational point of view. Hasty action at Denver
would only compound some of our common problems
rather than reduce them. If it is difficult to staff our
boards and fill our posts at our colleges and seminaries
now, what will it be if the 3-23 fellowship resolution
is implemented after Denver?

The First Trinity Congregation and its pastor are
painfully aware of the crucial position in which our
Synod has been placed; are well aware of the God-
fearing admonitions of such leaders as Dr. Robert Preus
of Concordia Seminary, St.Louis (‘To Join or Not to
Join”), Dr. John Montgomery at Trinity Evangelical
School of Theology at Deerfield, Ill, and Dr. Herman
Sasse of our Lutheran Church in Australia; are of the
conviction that unless congregations are allowed the
right of a referendum or a vote on this issue and other
related issues, the doctrine of the priesthood of all be-
lievers is shamefully set aside and the role of theological
pressure politics is enthroned in the interest of the
falsely overemphasized and overrated causes of “ecu-
menicity,” “economy,” “offense to the world and secular
society,’ and other bogies that becloud the truth and
pursue the course of expedience rather than faithful-
ness to the rule of the divine Word.

We are convinced that if the trumpet gives an uncer-