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LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 2016, Page 415

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

FLOOR COMMITTEE REPORTS AND OVERTURES ASSIGNMENTS

12. Ecclesiastical Supervision
and Dispute Resolution
REPORTS
R1, R1.1, R1.2, R10, R56, R57, R58, R60, R65
OVERTURES
12-01

To Amend Bylaws to Provide Opportunity
for Presidential Doctrinal Supervision
Whereas, On January 26, 2015, Synod President Matthew
Harrison issued the following statement:
Regarding a recent decision of a panel not to proceed with charges
regarding a public false teacher in the LCMS.
When a public teacher on the roster of the Synod can without consequence publicly advocate the ordination of women (even participate
vested in the installation of an ELCA clergy person), homosexuality, the
errancy of the Bible, the historical-critical method, open communion
with the Reformed, evolution, and more, then the public confession of
the Synod is meaningless. I am saying that if my Synod does not change
its inability to call such a person to repentance and remove such a teacher or where there is no repentance, then we are liars and our confession
is meaningless. I do not want to belong to such a Synod, much less lead
it. I have no intention of walking away from my vocation. I shall rather
use it and, by the grace of God, use all the energy I have to call this
Synod to fidelity to correct this situation.

and
Whereas, Faith Evangelical Lutheran Church as a member of
The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod cannot sit idly by when the
public confession of the church body it is a member of is openly challenged by a member of the Synod; therefore be it
Resolved, That Faith Evangelical Lutheran Church of Chesapeake,
Virginia, commend Synod President Matthew Harrison for the position he has taken, commend the conventions of the Southern Illinois
District and Northern Illinois District for their recent actions relative
to Rev. Dr. Matthew Becker, and urge, if there is no repentance, that
the expulsion process be commenced; and be it further
Resolved, That any needed changes to the Synod’s Bylaws be
made by the 2016 LCMS Convention so that the President of the
Synod truly can exercise the doctrinal oversight he is charged with
under the Synod’s Constitution and Bylaws.
Faith
Chesapeake, VA
12-02

To Return to Pastoral-Based Model of Governance
Whereas, Regarding church governance we confess, “Therefore
the Church can never be better governed and preserved than if we
all live under one head, Christ, and all the bishops equal in office
(although they be unequal in gifts), be diligently joined in unity of
doctrine, faith, Sacraments, prayer, and works of love, etc., as St.
Jerome writes that the priests at Alexandria together and in common
governed the churches, as did also the apostles, and afterwards all
bishops throughout all Christendom, until the Pope raised his head
above all” (SA II IV 9); and
415

Whereas, The LCMS has accepted C. F. W. Walther’s Church
and Ministry as a correct explanation of our Lutheran Confessions,
in which we state, “The holy ministry, or the pastoral office, is an
office distinct from the priestly office, which belongs to all believers.
… The ministry is the highest office in the Church, from which, as
its stem, all other offices of the Church issue” (Church and Ministry,
Theses 1, 9); and
Whereas, The Lutheran Church in her official confession makes
the following complaint against the Roman Church: “[T]hey neither
are, nor wish to be, true bishops, but worldly lords and princes, who
will neither preach, nor teach, nor baptize, nor administer the Lord’s
Supper, nor perform any work or office of the Church… ” (SA III
X 1); and
Whereas, Over the years, the LCMS has allowed district presidents to leave the pastoral office in the congregation in order to serve
as “ecclesiastical supervisors,” which means that we remove men
from “the highest office in the church” and give them so many worldly
duties that they are no longer officially connected to the pulpit, font,
and altar of a congregation, which means that they do not have regular opportunity to “preach, nor teach, nor baptize, nor administer
the Lord’s Supper,” but rather must serve in an office that is first and
foremost beholden to the Bylaws of the Synod rather than the Word
of God; and
Whereas, The apostles themselves rejected this practice, choosing instead to labor in the Word and prayer: “It is not right that we
should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables” (Acts
6:2); and
Whereas, Our Synod President has set an admirable precedent
by accepting a call to a local parish to serve as a pastor, thereby continuing to preach, teach, baptize, and administer the Lord’s Supper,
as our Confessions admonish us to do; and
Whereas, A majority of districts have at least one and often
several pastors who have been asked to leave service at the altar
and pulpit of a congregation in order to serve as Synod officers or
executives, and the national Synod allows for the same exclusively
extra-congregational service; and
Whereas, The Word of God, in Holy Scripture and the Lutheran
Confessions, extols the reverse of this practice and admonishes
against our current practice; therefore be it
Resolved, That the LCMS begin the process of returning to a parish-based model of governance; and be it further
Resolved, That a temporary Blue Ribbon Commission on Synod
Administration (BRCSA) be formed, which will be considered an
ad hoc committee for purposes of Synod service, and that this commission be empowered to evaluate the duties of the officers of the
Synod and to recommend such changes as are necessary so that they
can continue to fulfill their constitutional and bylaw required duties
while also serving faithfully in a congregation, the commission to
be composed of seven persons chosen by the President of the Synod
according to the following manner: one district president serving
full time; one district president who at the time that this resolution is
approved is serving both as a district president and as a parish pastor;
a vice president of the Synod; a parish pastor; a faculty member from
the Concordia University System who teaches business or administration; a member of the CCM or Commission on Handbook; and a
layperson; and be it further
Resolved, That the BRCSA report recommend the necessary
operational changes, amending Bylaw 2.11.1 at the 2019 convention by deleting subparagraphs (d), (e), (f), and (j), and replacing
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