LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 2016, Page 67

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OFFICER, BOARD, AND COMMISSION REPORTS
The CTCR consists of 16 voting and four advisory members. The
voting membership consists of two parish pastors, one parish teacher,
and two laypersons elected by the synodical convention; two pastors
(one of whom is a district president) and two laypersons elected by the
Council of Presidents (COP); four seminary professors, two appointed
or elected by each seminary faculty; and three additional members
appointed by the President of the Synod, in consultation with the vicepresidents (one of these appointees is a Concordia University System
[CUS] professor). The advisory members are the President and First
Vice-President of the Synod and the presidents of the two seminaries.
Advisory members have no term limits on their service. CTCR members elected in convention serve a six-year term and may be reelected
once. Members appointed by the President or elected by a seminary
or the COP serve three-year terms and may be reappointed twice. For
the sake of efficiency, the commission operates with an Executive
Committee and three working committees. The Executive Committee
includes CTCR’s officers, the chairmen of the three committees, and
the executive staff. While not rigidly defined, one committee focuses
on matters of church relations, the second on doctrinal matters, and
the third on church and society issues. All official reports, opinions,
or documents of the CTCR are finally approved before their release
or publication by the entire commission meeting in plenary.
Current commission members and the dates their current terms
expire are as follows: Rev. Dr. Andrew Bartelt (2016), Rev. Terry
Cripe (2016), Rev. Robert Dargatz (2019), Rev. Thomas Egger (2016),
Rev. Dr. Carl Fickenscher II (2016), Rev. Dr. Charles Gieschen
(2016), Mr. Chad Hamilton (2016), Mr. Timothy Hardy (2016), Rev.
Dr. Matthew Harrison (adv.), Rev. Dr. Dale Meyer (adv.), Rev. Dr.
Herbert Mueller Jr. (adv.), Rev. Dr. Jeffrey Oschwald (2016), Rev.
Dr. Philip Penhallegon (2016), Dr. Andrea Pitkus (2019), Rev. Arlo
Pullmann (2016), Rev. Dr. Lawrence Rast (adv.), Rev. Dr. Robert
Rosin (2016), Mr. Jeffrey Schwarz (2016), Dr. Jesse Yow Jr. (2016),
and Rev. Dr. Roland Ziegler (2016). The Rev. Dr. Albert B. Collver
III, the Assistant to the President for Church Relations (Director of
Church Relations), regularly attends CTCR meetings and reports to
the commission regarding matters of church relations which are under
the purview of the President’s Office. CTCR officers during the past
triennium were as follows: Dr. Rast, Chairman; Dr. Bartelt, ViceChairman; and Dr. Rosin, Secretary. In the past triennium, there was
one change in CTCR membership. At the beginning of the triennium,
Mr. Kirk Farney served as a lay member of the commission appointed
by the COP. He resigned in 2014 due to the press of other responsibilities. Mr. Chad Hamilton was appointed by the COP to fulfill his term.
The CTCR is currently served by two full-time executive staff
members. The Rev. Dr. Joel D. Lehenbauer, who served the commission as Assistant and/or Associate Executive Director since 1991,
has been Executive Director since 2008. The Rev. Larry M. Vogel has
served as Associate Executive Director since 2009.
In addition to facilitating the work of the commission detailed
below in this report, the executive staff also responds to emails, letters,
and telephone calls requesting further information about or clarification of the LCMS view of various topics and teachings. In the past
triennium, around 400 such requests were addressed by email alone.
From 1991–2007, the CTCR was served by three full-time executive staff members. Since 2008, however, one of those executive
staff positions has been continuously vacant, primarily due to the
Synod’s budgetary limitations. The commission expresses its urgent
hope that this ongoing executive staff vacancy can be filled in the
coming triennium.

67

I. Theology
A. Assignments Completed (listed chronologically)
1. Implications of the Natural Knowledge of God (2007 Res.
3-04A)
At the April 2013 meeting of the CTCR (its final meeting of the
previous triennium), the CTCR completed work on the report The
Natural Knowledge of God in Christian Confession and Christian
Witness, which it had adopted “in principle” at its January 2013 meeting. While this action was reported to the 2013 convention, the late
completion of this report did not enable its inclusion in the 2013
Workbook; therefore, it is provided herein (see Appendix). The report
addresses historic and contemporary questions about what human reason can know of God and what God has revealed about Himself in the
Holy Scriptures. The report was mailed to rostered workers and congregations of the LCMS and is available from Concordia Publishing
House and online at www.lcms.org/ctcr.
2. Theology and Practice of Prayer: A Lutheran View—Study and
Discussion Guide

At its April 2013 meeting, the commission adopted a study and
discussion guide based on its 2011 report, Theology and Practice of
Prayer. The CTCR’s intention to produce such a guide was mentioned
in the CTCR’s report to the 2013 convention (see 2013 Convention
Workbook, p. 78), but it was not completed at the time that report was
approved. It is therefore included herein (see Appendix) and is available online at www.lcms.org/ctcr.
3. Questions about “Ordained Deacons”

On May 29, 2012, President Harrison asked the CTCR several
questions about the possibility of establishing a jure humano office of
“ordained deacons” as a way of addressing confusion about laymen
carrying out pastoral responsibilities and debate and division over the
licensing of deacons for Word and Sacrament ministry. Following exegetical and historical study of the question, the commission adopted
a resolution at its April 2013 meeting indicating that in its judgment,
an ordained diaconate “would not be helpful, and may actually add
to the confusion.” The CTCR also expressed its intention to study
the issues behind the President’s request. After the adoption of Res.
4-06A at the 2013 Synod convention, however, a task force was established to consider these issues and the commission removed the study
from its list of assignments. (See also I A 12 below.)
4. Responses to 2013 Omnibus Resolution A

Omnibus Resolution A of the 2013 convention included 20 overtures for referral to the CTCR (and in some cases also to other entities;
see 2013 Convention Proceedings, p. 199). At its September 2013
meeting, the commission approved responses to those who had submitted these overtures, indicating various ways that their concerns
were being or would be addressed.
5. Policy for The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod Declaring Altar
and Pulpit Fellowship with Another Church Body

The LCMS is receiving an increasing number of requests for
church fellowship and/or closer working relationships from church
bodies around the world. This is largely due to the reputation of the
LCMS as a firmly biblical and strongly confessional church body
and to changing (and often more complex) ecclesial realities and
circumstances. In order to address these realities and to provide an
orderly and up-to-date process for declaring fellowship, a reworked
and revised policy statement was adopted by the commission at its
May 2014 meeting. The document is included in the Appendix of the
Convention Workbook and is online at www.lcms.org/ctcr.
2016 Convention Workbook