LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 2016, Page 333

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LIFE TOGETHER
vention of the Synod. The doctrinal purity of non-Synod-approved
worship and catechetical materials shall be decided by the individual
congregations using such materials. Any communicant member in
good standing of a Synod congregation may challenge the doctrinal
purity of non-Synod-approved worship or catechetical materials,
whether those materials are used by his or her own congregation, by
another congregation of the Synod, or by an entity or agency of the
Synod. Such challenge shall be in the form of a written appeal to the
Commission on Doctrinal Review, which shall issue its ruling to all
relevant parties in a timely manner.

Trinity
Evansville, IN
4-14

To Preserve Use of Historic Lutheran
Liturgy and Hymns
Whereas, There is a wide diversity in the worship materials used
by the congregations of the Synod, and in many cases the historic
Lutheran liturgy and hymns have been completely neglected in regular use; therefore be it
Resolved, That present Constitution Article VI be amended to
insert the following point between present points 4 and 5 as a new
point:
PROPOSED WORDING
Article VI Conditions of Membership
…
4. Exclusive use of doctrinally pure agenda, hymnbooks, and catechisms
in church and school.
5. Congregations and pastors shall exercise their responsibility for
training children, youth, and inexperienced adults in the Lutheran
faith by making regular—but not necessarily exclusive—use of (1)
the historic Lutheran liturgy for Communion services; and (2) the
hymns which have been published in the official hymnbooks of the
Synod. Although the order of the elements in the historic Lutheran
liturgy may be varied, the following elements shall be retained in
such regular use in order to demonstrate a congregation’s unity with
the Ancient Church and the Synod: (1) the Kyrie; (2) either the Gloria in Excelsis or “This Is the Feast”; (3) the Lessons; (4) one of the
three ancient, ecumenical Creeds; (5) the Sermon; (6) the Sanctus;
(7) the Lord’s Prayer; (8) the Words of Institution; (9) the Agnus
Dei; and (10) the Distribution of the Body and Blood of our Lord.
No particular musical setting or instrument is hereby recommended.
Everything in Lutheran worship is to be done reverentially and faithfully, and in a manner which best serves good order, evangelical
decorum, Christian discipline, and the edification of the church (FC
SD X, 7 and 9).
6. A congregation shall be received . . .

Trinity
Evansville, IN
4-15

To Call for Official Evaluation of Worship Practice
and Synodwide Visitation
Whereas, God’s Holy Scripture proclaims very clearly that there
is orthodox worship and, as a matter of course, heterodox worship
at John 4:19–24: “The woman said to Him, ‘Sir, I perceive that You
are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and you Jews
say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship.’ Jesus

333

said to her, ‘Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will
neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father. You
worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true
worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father
is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship
Him must worship in spirit and truth.’ ” (NKJV, emphasis added); and
Whereas, God’s Holy Scripture also proclaims very clearly the
entire plan of salvation (Gen. 1:31; 1:27; Lev. 19:1–2; Eph. 4:24; Gen.
2:16–17; 3:1–7; James 1:13–15; 1 John 3:8; Gen. 3:8, 9–12; Rom.
3:10–18, 22–23, 19–20; John 3:14–18; Rom. 5:8–11; Eph. 2:8–10;
Rom. 4:16; Gen. 3:15; John 1:12–13; 6:44; Acts 2:38; Rom. 10:17;
11:6; 1 Cor. 2:14; Eph. 2:4–5; Titus 3:4–7; Heb. 4:12; James 1:18;
1 Pet. 1:22–23) and through His doctrinal truth He not only reveals His
theology of the cross but also clearly establishes boundaries between
orthodox worship (“in spirit and truth”) and heterodox worship (that
which is practiced either not “in spirit” nor “truth,” or both), for just as
He brings us to pray in the First Petition of the Lord’s Prayer that His
doctrinal truth should be taught in its truth and purity, He thus brings
us to desire orthodoxy for the hallowing of His name among us; and
Whereas, All worship should be evaluated so as to confirm that
it is orthodox, thus supporting God’s theology of the cross—namely,
utilizing (and fostering) God’s Law and Gospel in order to create and
sustain repentance and belief (also known as the dying and rising of
believers through Christ crucified and risen); and
Whereas, All worship should be evaluated so as to also confirm
that it isn’t heterodox, thus supporting the theology of glory—namely,
utilizing (and fostering) Arminian theology (or any other false theology) along with “revivalistic” tactics which aim excitement toward
the base, natural will of man (the old man), just as Charles Finney
(an Arminian) stated:
God has found it necessary to take advantage of the excitability there is
in mankind, to produce powerful excitements among them, before He
can lead them to obey.

and
Whereas, The practice of heterodox worship is a serious attack
on the truth and proper teaching of God’s Word and His plan of salvation (specifically His theology of the cross); and
Whereas, Heterodox worship undoubtedly conveys a theology
(namely, Arminian) which teaches believers (and potential believers)
to trust their excitement, experience, feelings, or emotions generated by “revivalistic” tactics, thus replacing true repentant faith in
the Gospel; and
Whereas, Both orthodox and heterodox worship can be evaluated
according to the components that make up their practice—namely, to
see whether those components either aim to kill through God’s Law
and make alive through God’s Gospel (orthodoxy) or aim to “excite”
and bring the “experience,” “feelings,” or “emotions” to be the most
important focus, thus replacing repentant faith in the Gospel (heterodoxy); and
Whereas, Not doing anything about worship practice that conveys Arminian theology (or any other false theology) does not hallow
God’s name but profanes His name among us and allows the surrendering of our neighbor’s souls to a misunderstanding of God’s Holy
Scriptures; and
Whereas, The Preface to the Small Catechism discloses how
Martin Luther himself carried out visitations upon the pastors and/or
congregations and discovered that corrections needed to take place
(inevitably leading to the creation of the Small and Large Catechisms),
thus marking visitations as a very important task that needs to take
2016 Convention Workbook