LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 2010, Page 59

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SYNOD REPORTS
CTCR regarding an amended Constitution and Bylaws submitted
by a district congregation.” The CTCR’s opinion was specifically
requested regarding the permissibility of a woman serving as congregational president in view of the duties and responsibilities
associated with that office in the congregation’s amended constitution and bylaws.
Response of the Commission:
In response to the questions submitted in your letter of February 16,
2007, the Commission refers your committee to the “Guidelines for the
Service of Women in Congregational Offices” prepared in January 2005 by
the task force appointed by the President of the Synod and including representatives from the CTCR, the CCM, and the COP. These “Guidelines,”
prepared in light of the adoption of 2004 Res. 3-08A, can be found on
pages 19–23 of The Service of Women in Congregational and Synodical
Offices (September 1994) with Guidelines for Congregations (January
2005).
These “Guidelines” do not provide specific answers to all questions of
congregational polity, nor were they intended to do so. As “Guidelines,”
they set forth principles that require application to specific circumstances
by those who have been entrusted with this responsibility and who have
access to the information required to make such application.
The Commission specifically calls the committee’s attention to the five
Scriptural and Confessional principles set forth on page 20 of the document
cited above, to the “Sample Paragraph for Congregational Constitutions”
on page 21, and to the “Recommendations” on pages 21–22. To assist the
committee in considering how the principles contained in this document
may apply to the specific questions forwarded to the Commission, the
CTCR offers the following comments related to each of these questions.

1. In the opinion of the CTCR, the response to the first question depends on what specific functions are involved in
serving as “an advisory member to the board of elders.”
2. See response to question 1 above.
3. The answer to this question depends on what is meant by
“assist[ing] the Pastor with the Administration of the Office of the Keys.” If this involves “carrying out the specific functions of the pastoral office,” then the answer to this
question is “No” (see “Sample Paragraph” on page 21). If
this means “assist[ing] the Pastor” as a layperson in ways
that do not involve “carrying out the specific functions of
the pastoral office,” such assistance is not excluded by the
“Guidelines” or the “Sample Paragraph.”
4.

“Investigating charges against a pastor” is not identified
in the “Guidelines” as a “distinctive function of the pastoral office.” The Synod holds that “God has instituted
the office of the pastoral ministry” and that “the one who
holds this office carries it out on behalf of and with accountability to God and those through whom God has
called him” (1992 Res. 3-06A).

5. The “Sample Paragraph” states that women may serve
not only as members but also as officers of “all boards
and committees … which do not call upon them to carry
out the specific functions of the pastoral office.” “Bringing charges to remove the pastor” is not identified in the
“Guidelines” as a “specific function of the pastoral office,” but is ultimately the responsibility of the congregation as a whole (cf. point #4 above).

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6. Chairing a meeting of the Voters Assembly at which
charges are brought to excommunicate a member is not
identified by the “Guidelines” as a “specific function of
the pastoral office.” The Synod has always understood excommunication as a responsibility involving “the entire
congregation” (Thesis IX of C. F. W. Walther’s “Theses
on the Ministry,” found on pages 44–45 of the CTCR’s
1981 report on The Ministry: Offices, Procedures, and Nomenclature).
7. 2004 Res. 3-08A affirmed the “conclusions” of the CTCR’s 1994 report on The Service of Women in Congregational and Synodical Offices, one of which reads as follows: “If the duties prescribed for the offices of chairman
and vice chairman in the congregation do not allow for
the assumption of the distinctive functions of the pastoral office, women are free to hold this office without any
scriptural restriction—a principle that applies to the chairmanship of all other congregational committees as well”
(13).

Adopted February 20, 2008
4. Request for an Opinion on the Consecration of Elements
The Request

In a letter dated Sept. 26, 2007, the president of the South
Wisconsin District asked the CTCR to render an official opinion concerning “the process for the consecration of sacramental elements
that occurred at the Mass Communion Service at the LCMS National
Youth Gathering on July 31, 2007, in Orlando, Florida.”

The text of this request reads as follows:
At the 2007 National Youth Gathering in Orlando, FL, some 150
Communion distribution teams were organized for the Mass Communion
Service on Tuesday evening, July 31. Each distribution team was to consist of one pastor and three others. The organizers of the event apparently
decided that, logistically, it would be best for the sacramental elements
to be already in place at the approximately 150 distribution stations scattered throughout the assembly hall rather than on or nearby the altar at the
front. Accordingly, at the training session for the distribution teams, both
written (PowerPoint slides) and verbal instructions were that the pastors
of the distribution teams were to “assist” in the consecration of the elements by making the sign of the cross over each of the elements while the
Presiding Minister said the Words of Institution. This request was challenged as comprising “a Lutheran variation of concelebration that focuses
on human action rather than on the clear Words of Institution of Christ.”
The request for an opinion is therefore the following: Is the practice
that occurred at the 2007 LCMS NYG in Orlando an “acceptable practice” for such mass Communion services? Or, is it rather preferable that
the elements intended for consecration in Holy Communion be set aside
in a central location (on or nearby the altar), that the Presiding Minister
alone engage in the consecration of the elements (with an emphasis on
the Words of Institution of Christ), and that no other clergy be involved
to “assist” in the consecration (either in action or in word)? What is the
“best practice” from a Lutheran perspective?

The Response of the CTCR

For the celebration of the Lord’s Supper, two things are necessary:
the public speaking of the Words of Institution in connection with
the elements of bread and wine that are present in the same worship
space (see Matt. 26:26–29; Mark 14:22–25; Luke 22:15–20; 1 Cor.
11:23–26). “Because the Words (verba) of Institution are the very
heart of the sacramental action, they should always be employed. It
is through Christ’s word and its power, not through the action of the
celebrant, that Christ’s body and blood are present in the bread and
wine” (CTCR, Theology and Practice of the Lord’s Supper [1983],
14). As the Formula of Concord says:
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