LCMS Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 1973, Page 98

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ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE LUTHERAN COUNCIL IN THE U.S.A.

Members of that part of the body of Christ assembled as the
50th regular convention of The Lutheran Church — Missouri
Synod —

GraAcE, Peace AND Unity IN Cuarist!

In November 1966, representatives of The Lutheran
Church — Missouri Synod, 14 in number, gathered in
Cleveland, Ohio, with 15 representatives of the Lu-
theran Church in America and 13 representatives of
the American Lutheran Church, to formally constitute
the Lutheran Council in the United States of America.

Each of these three Lutheran church bodies in ac-
cepting the constitution of the council adopted a pre-
amble which reads:

Whereas, In their respective constitutions, the partici-
pating Lutheran church bodies acknowledge the Holy
Scriptures of the Old and New Testament as the only
source and the infallible norm of all church doctrine and
practice, and see in the three ecumenical Creeds and in
the Confessions of the Lutheran church, especially in

the Unaltered Augsburg Confession and Luther’s Small
Catechism, a pure exposition of the Word of God; and

WuereEas, The participating bodies are of the convic-
tion that they should and can more effectively carry on
their work and further a Lutheran witness by cooperating
in matters of common interest and responsibility, coopera-
tion in which is not at variance with their doctrine and
practice;

Therefore, The participating bodies do hereby estab-

lish and will maintain a common agency .. .

That was a significant event. It was a good ex-
perience for me, as the newly elected secretary of the
ALC, to be a member of that constituting convention.

That meeting was the first time I had participated
with people who were identified as representatives of
the LCMS in a church function.

Since then I have had many opportunities in the
Council and in inter-church committees to work with
your President, Dr. Preus, your president emeritus,
Dr. Harms, with Dr. Roland Wiederaenders and Dr.
Herbert Mueller, with Dr. Ralph Bohlmann and Dr.
Milton Carpenter, with Dr. William Griese and Mr.
John Schuelke, with Dr. Oswald Hoffman, who served
so effectively as president of the Lutheran Council for
three terms, and with many other of your representa-
tives. It has been a joy to experience with them the
unity that we have in Jesus Christ, my Lord and yours.
Deepening friendships have grown between us and I
am grateful that the Council has provided such op-
portunity.

This is the third LCMS regular convention I have
attended (Herb Mueller, you’ll have to inform me
sometime if you’ve ever had an “irregular” conven-
tion). At Denver I came as an observer for the ALC
for two days and was there when you declared fellow-
ship with us — at Milwaukee I attended the entire con-
vention as the official observer of the ALC. I heard
Dr. Knutson bring you the greetings of the ALC and
was gratified by your warm, enthusiastic, spontaneous
rising, singing response. Now I am back with you still
as the official observer of the ALC but with a new
added responsibility.

99

As I have tried to prepare for this greeting to you,
despite the many opportunities I have cited, I realize
that I don’t understand you as well as I would like.
I need to understand you more fully so that I can serve
as the president of the Lutheran Council as effectively
as the gifts God has given me and my stewardship of
them will allow. Being with you at this convention
helps me to know you better. I am grateful for this
added opportunity. I look forward to others.

Hopefully many of you want to know more about the
Lutheran Council — how it functions and seeks to
carry out the responsibilities given it by the member
church bodies.

One reason the LCMS, together with the ALC and
the LCA, each in their own convention, formed the Lu-
theran Council was because “ ... of the conviction that
they should and can further a Lutheran witness. . . .”
Our church bodies, it seems to me, said we can and
must build a common agency on our similarities — we
must not function in all things separately because of
some differences in understanding and practices.

I want you to know that I am committed to the Lu-
Council because:

I believe that we Lutheran Christians share a com-
mon faith in Jesus, the Christ, as Lord and Savior;

I believe that Lutheran churches need a common
agency to give witness to their unity of faith in Jesus
Christ;

I believe that Lutheran churches need a common
agency to give as much strength as they can possibly
generate to those activities by which they can jointly
give expression to their faith;

I believe that we Lutherans need a common agency
to provide the occasions, the meeting place and the
enablers —

to become acquainted with each other —

to learn to understand each other —

to deal with differences, real and imagined —

Dr. Arnold Mickelson, Secretary of the ALC and President of LCUSA