Collection › LCMS Convention Workbook (St. Louis, Missouri) › 1969 · 48th Convention › Sheet 548
LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 1969, Sheet 548

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

WOMAN SUFFRAGE IN THE CHURCH 517

4, San Francisco, 1959

Pursuant to the above resolution the President of
the Synod appointed a committee of three to continue
to study the entire question of the place of woman in the
church. This committee reported to the Synod at San
Francisco in 1959. Its report indicates that the com-
mittee had had personal interviews with both protago-
nists and opponents of woman suffrage in the church
and that they had held a number of committee meetings.

This committee appropriated the first seven points
from Section III, E of the report of the previous com-
mittee verbatim and added points 8—1], which we quote
in full from Reports and Memorials of the San Francisco
convention (1959), pp. 496—497:

8. Scripture teaches that for the administration of these
matters two principles must not be violated: (a) women
must not engage in preaching or in publicly teaching men
in the church; (b) whatever participation of women in
congregational affairs is granted, the principle must be
upheld that women do not usurp authority over men,
1 Cor. 11:2-16; 14:34-36; 1 Tim. 2:11-15.

9, Recognizing this situation, attention is called to the
necessity of a constant process of education directed to
both men and women: (a) men should not relinquish to
women their rights and obligations in the work of the
church because of their own lack of stewardship con-
sciousness; (b) women should not pre-empt areas of ac-
tivities in which the principles stated above are violated,
but should be directed into, and led to find opportunity
for, service in the church where their potential of talent
is fully utilized in harmony with Scriptural principles.

10. Meanwhile all congregations who administer their
affairs through the male voters’ meeting are urged to con-
tinue this policy, but are also urged to inform the entire
membership of the transactions of the voters’ meetings,
and to impress upon the men the importance of utilizing
this blessed privilege of suffrage to the utmost to the
glory of God and the welfare of the church.

11. Any congregation — in the membership of Synod
now or applying for membership — which grants woman
suffrage is urged to reconsider this practice in the light
of Scripture and the glorious position of woman in mar-
riage and in the home, and also in the light of the conse-
quences of such practice in the history of the church,
and to consider the danger of offense to others and to con-
form to the historic position of Synod in this matter.
Floor Committee 3, which studied this committee

report, recommended approval by the Synod in Resolu-
tion 8, Proceedings, 1959, pp. 190—191:

Resolved, That we reaffirm the position of The Lu-
theran Church — Missouri Synod on the place of woman
in the church as indicated in the theses prepared by the
committee and recorded in the book of Reports and Me-
morials, pages 495 and 496.

This resolution was adopted.

The Proceedings of the 1962 convention of the Synod
do not indicate that the matter of woman suffrage was
discussed in Cleveland.

5. Detroit, 1965

The Detroit convention in 1965 had received four
overtures concerning woman suffrage in the church.
Committee 2 considered the overtures and submitted
a resolution under the title “A Statement on Woman
Suffrage in the Church.” It was adopted by the conven-
tion in the following form (Proceedings, p. 103, Res.
2-36):

Resolved, That we adopt the following statement for
guidance in this matter:

1. On the basis of 1 Cor. 14:34, 35 and 1 Tim. 2:11-15
we hold that God forbids women publicly to preach and
teach the Word to men and to hold any office or vote in
the church where this involves exercising authority over
men with respect to the public administration of the Office
of the Keys. We regard this principle as of binding force
also today because 1 Tim.2:11-15 refers to what God
established at creation.

2. As stated at the St.Paul convention in 1956 and at
the San Francisco convention in 1959, we consider woman
suffrage in the church as contrary to Scripture only when
it violates the above-mentioned Scriptural principles.

3. In Gal. 3:28 St. Paul speaks of the redeemed children
of God and their blessed relationship with Christ and
with one another. This blessed relationship through faith
does not cancel the order God has established at the time
of creation but sanctifies and hallows it.

This resolution may be regarded as expressing an
awareness which had not explicitly come to the surface
in previous synodical statements. When point 2 of the
Detroit resolution says:

|. . we consider woman suffrage in the church as contrary

to Scripture only when it violates the above-mentioned

Scriptural principles,
it leaves open the possibility that there may be a use
of woman suffrage in the church which is not anti-
scriptural and therefore permissible, namely, when it
does not involve publicly teaching the Word to men and
exercising authority over men with respect to the pub-
lic administration of the Office of the Keys. The Detroit
“Statement” revealed a feeling that the passages usually
cited to support the prohibition of woman suffrage
(1 Cor. 14: 33-35; 1 Tim. 2:11-15) do not really address
themselves to the question of the vote but set forth the
more general principle of not putting or having a woman
in the position of exercising authority over men. It is
not surprising, therefore, to discover that three memo-
rials were submitted to the New York convention on
this subject. One called on the convention to confirm
Synod’s previous Scriptural position; another asked the
Synod to authorize woman suffrage; and a third sug-
gested that our church body discourage any action that
would restrict woman suffrage.

In view of the fact that the President of the Synod
had meanwhile requested the Synod’s Commission on
Theology and Church Relations to study the question
of woman suffrage in the church, the floor committee
recommended, and the Synod resolved, to await the re-
port of that commission.

6. New York, 1967

The Detroit convention, however, had passed another
resolution which appears to have some significance in
the matter of woman suffrage. At the direction of this
convention a special committee had undertaken a study
of the question of the eligibility of women for service
on synodical boards, commissions, and committees.
Floor Committee 2 recommended and the Synod ac-
cepted the following (Proceedings, 1967, p. 89, Res.
2-06):

Resolved, That we reemphasize the wisdom of using
men for service on synodical boards, commissions, and