Collection › LCMS Convention Workbook (St. Louis, Missouri) › 1969 · 48th Convention › Page 241
LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 1969, Page 241

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

CONSTITUTIONAL MATTERS 241

(5-33)
To Divide the Synod into Two Bodies

By means of this overture we desire to petition the
Synod to make the following declarations:

1. That the present unsatisfactory situation in the
Synod has reached such a stage as to make the prospect
of restoring peace and unity practically nonexistent.

2. That therefore the Synod should be divided into
two ecclesiastical bodies.

3. That steps should be taken to bring about a peace-
ful separation.

4. That the assets of the Synod should be divided in
a just and equitable manner.

In support of our petition we make mention of the
following:

a. God wants those who work and worship together
to do so in peace and harmony, as we learn from such
Bible passages as the following: 1 Cor. 1:10: “Now
I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus
Christ, that ye all speak the same thing and that there
be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly
joined together in the same mind and in the same judg-
ment.” 1 Cor. 11:17-18: “Now in this that I declare
unto you I praise you not, that ye come together not
for the better but for the worse. For first of all, when
ye come together in the church, I hear that there be
divisions among you.” Eph. 4:3: “Endeavor to keep
the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”

b. We no longer are one, but very definitely there
are divisions among us. It now happens quite often that
congregations, pastors, and professors in the Synod are
referred to as being of the liberal wing or again as be-
longing to the conservative faction. There are many
who take very seriously the Lord’s command earnestly
to contend for the faith which was once delivered unto
the saints; there are others who frankly state that purity
in doctrine no longer can be regarded as being relevant.
Some say that no false doctrine is being tolerated within
the Synod while others are ready to present a rather
lengthy list of men who are teaching falsely and con-
tinue in such teaching and at the same time continue in
membership and office in the Synod. Some are eager
to see all our strength and energy used for the preach-
ing and the teaching and the spreading of the Gospel
of salvation while others are just as eager to divide our
resources between the Gospel of salvation and the so-
cial gospel. Some are well satisfied with the record of
establishing new mission stations made in 1967; 38 in
the U.S.A. and 2 in Canada; others are keenly disap-
pointed because of this record since formerly we suc-
ceeded in establishing more than twice this number in
a single year (134 in 1953). Some have ceased con-
tributing money to the Synod, and of these some do so
because they claim that the Synod is too liberal, others
because they believe that the Synod is too conservative.
There are those who are satisfied to affiliate with the
ALC because they see no conflict between its doctrine

and ours: neither do they see conflict between the lodge
practice of that synod and of Missouri. Others are hor-
rifled at that kind of claim and consider the differences
in doctrine and practice to be divisive of altar and pul-
pit fellowship. Laymen, pastors, professors, and entire
congregations have left the Synod and joined other
bodies because they have given up hope of restoring
the Synod to its former position of purity in doctrine:
at this very writing another pastor is reported as having
cut his tie with Missouri, and others are contemplating
doing the same thing. There has been no lack of effort
on the part of offended and dissatisfied members of the
Synod to bring about an improvement, but the same
irritating situation continues to be with us. Some pray
for God’s blessing upon the activity of our officials while
others feel it their duty to pray Him to guard us against
them and their acts. Other pertinent items could be
mentioned, yet this ought to suffice to indicate the des-
perateness of the situation which has now been with us
for many a year.

It is well-nigh impossible to give a true description
of the distress, the disappointment, the anguish, and the
sadness of those people in the Synod, both lay and
clerical, who have observed how greatly the Synod has
gone to the left in recent decades, thus following the
evil example set by many other Protestant communions
of stressing a variety of man-made activities, coupled
with an increasing determination ever to do less in the
way of teaching and preaching the Holy Scriptures, to-
gether with the redemption which is in Christ Jesus, at
the same time making concessions in the interest of
ecumenicity. so that church bodies might be merged or
at least declared to be in spiritual fellowship with one
another, although there is between them no harmony,
neither in doctrine nor in Scripture-demanded practice.
This leftist trend has been with us so long and has be-
come so strong in some spots that such members of the
Synod as are minded to be and to remain truly Scrip-
ture-based and Scripture-guided, both theoretically and
practically, have no hope of restoring a God-pleasing
unity in our midst: hence this present petition.

To present this kind of petition is not an act of joy
but of sorrow, yet one demanded by the Word of God
which bids us to mark them which cause divisions and
offenses contrary to the doctrine which we have learned,
and to avoid them. If this petition is granted and then
carried out, each faction can then do church work of
that character and in that manner which each considers
right and proper and desirable.

MEssIAH LUTHERAN CHURCH
Detroit, Mich.

HARLEY GREENBURG, Chairman
Pau. A. Roberts, Secretary

(5-34)

This overture was also received from the following
group of pastors in Michigan: Paul Gold, C. Trosien.,
A. H. A. Loeber, Henry Moehring, Jacob M. Rauf.