LCMS Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 1973, Page 33

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MINUTES OF THE CONVENTION 38

“or her” after “his” in lines 54 and 55 (TB 46) and
changing the last words of the resolved to read “equal
work, responsibilities, qualifications and experience” the
delegates urged congregations to make no pay differen-
tiation on the basis of sex. They expressed support for
inter-parish educational experiments and efforts and
thanked the Aid Association for Lutherans for support
of inter-parish projects in Phoenix, Ariz., and South
Bend, Ind. (Res. 7-16, TB 47)

Greetings

Rev. Roger Nostbakken, Vice-President of the Evan-
gelical Church of Canada, and Rev. Norman Threinen,
representing the Lutheran Council — Canada, were in-
troduced to the convention. They addressed the dele-
gates briefly bringing the greetings of their respective
organization,

Synodical Administration

The convention adopted Res. 4-20, 4-21, 4-22 and
4-28 (TB 127—-128) as a group. By doing so, Highland
Park Church was transferred from the Southern Cali-
fornia to the English District, Oklahoma Avenue Evan-
gelical Lutheran Church, Milwaukee, was transferred
from the English to the South Wisconsin District, Pil-
grim Lutheran Church, Chula Vista, Calif., was trans-
ferred from the English to the Southern California Dis-
trict, the Divine Redeemer Lutheran Church, Hartford,
Wis., was received into membership, and Hazel Park
Evangelical Lutheran Church, Hazel Park, Mich., was
transferred from the English to the Michigan District.

The convention declined overtures calling for di-
vision of the Synod and encouraged all congregations
to continue to walk and work together in the Lord
(Res. 4-34, TB 168). It asked the Commission on Church
Literature to supply guidelines to assist congregations
in the mechanics of congregational administration and
to provide these materials at cost (Res. 4-32, TB 168).
On the basis of Bylaw provisions and the action of pre-
vious conventions, the delegates declined an overture
asking that the property of Concordia Seminary, Saint
Louis, Mo., be restored to the Synod (Res. 4-10, TB
56—57). After adopting an amendment to add the words
“and as the church can affect such issues” at the end
of the final resolved, they agreed to merge the Com-

A backstage view of the convention

mission on Social Concerns with the Commission on
Theology and Church Relations, with the former func-
tioning on the level of a full committee of the CTCR.
(Res. 4-13, TB 127)

Closing
Closing devotion for the session was led by Mr. Ed-
die Thames Jr.

Session 8

July 10, Evening
Opening
The eighth session of the convention, a special eve-
ning session called because of the large amount of busi-
ness remaining to be transacted, opened with a devo-
tion led by Rev. Theodore DeLaney, executive secre-
tary of the Commission on Worship.

Protest

Calling for a point of privilege a delegate informed
the convention that he would lodge a legal complaint
with the Secretary of Synod regarding the process in-
volved in the election.

Seminary Issues and Theology and Church Relations

A joint resolution of the floor committees for Sem-
inary Issues and Theology and Church Relations ask-
ing the delegates to declare the document “A State-
ment of Scriptural and Confessional Principles” to be
in all its parts Scriptural and in accord with the Lu-
theran Confessions and a “more formal and compre-
hensive statement of belief” in the sense of Resolution
5-24 of the 1971 Milwaukee convention, was introduced.
(Res. 3-01, TB 93)

A motion to divide the convention with three people
speaking 5 minutes each on each side of the issue was
ruled out of order and a motion to limit debate to 2
minutes per speaker failed to receive the required two-
thirds support. In keeping with the standing rules of
of the convention, the question was called at the end
of 30 minutes of discussion. Discussion continued when
the motion to close debate failed to receive the required
two-thirds majority necessary for such action. A mo-
tion to extend the time to allow the delegates to hear
Dr. Oliver R. Harms, former President of the Synod,
also failed to receive the required two-thirds majority.

Closing

Following adoption of a motion to adjourn the dele-
gates were led in a closing devotion by Rev. Theodore
DeLaney.

Session 9
July 11, Morning

Opening

The opening devotion led by Rev. Marvin Lehnhardt
included a portion of the devotional essay of Dr. August
Suelflow, convention essayist. In his essay he described
the confessional struggle which existed among the early
Lutherans, a confessional struggle which also involved
linguistic difficulties. In this struggle laymen were often
involved, but the involvement did not come easily or