LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 1998, Page 183

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THEOLOGY AND CHURCH RELATIONS 183

To Call for Repentance and Return
of All Involved in RIM Movement

WHEREAS, The Renewal in Missouri (RIM) movement makes
the claim that God speaks immediately to their pastors and congre-
gations outside of the Word and sacraments; and

WHEREAS, The RIM movement seeks to make the charismatic
movement acceptable to the LCMS; and

WHEREAS, True renewal in the church must be sought not in
man-made schemes but in faithful evangelical preaching and in the
holy sacraments (AC V, VI, XIII, XX); and

WHEREAS, The proper criteria by which all claims of unity and
reunification are judged are the marks of the Church, the purely
preached Gospel and the rightly administered sacraments of Christ
(AC VII, SD X 31); therefore be it

Resolved, That the Synod hold neither the pentecostal/charis-
matic movement (in general) nor the attempt to make it part of le-
gitimate Lutheran doctrine by Renewal in Missouri (in particular)
to be compatible with biblical, evangelical teaching, and sobriety of
the Book of Concord; and be it further

Resolved, That the leaders, pastors, and congregations that in-
clude themselves in the RIM movement be called to repentance and
to cease their reliance on any so-called immediate movement of the
Holy Spirit; and be it further

Resolved, That District and synodical officials responsible for
doctrinal discipline draw the appropriate conclusions, proceeding
always with the utmost consideration for the individuals concerned,
but also with true evangelical and confessional decisiveness; and
be it further

Resolved, That the Synod discontinue all official talks with this
enthusiastic movement except to call for their repentance and re-
tur; and be it finally

Resolved, That if the pastors and congregations aligned with the
RIM movement refuse to repent that they be removed from the
Synod’s roster by authority of this resolution.

Our Saviour
Evansville, IN

3-100

To Warn Congregations of False Teachings
of Promise Keepers Movement

WHEREAS, The Promise Keepers movement claims to be a “‘sov-
ereign movement of the Spirit,” which led its founders to say, “his
son must respond and make the commitments that we believe will
seize the moment—the seven promises of Promise Keepers”; and

WHEREAS, The apostle John writes: “Beloved, do not believe
every spirit, but test the spirits whether they are of God, because
many false prophets have gone out into the world” (1 John 4:1); and

WHEREAS, The stated position of the national organization of
Promise Keepers claims that we can “receive Jesus into our hearts
through prayer,” thus making prayer a means of grace; and

Wuereas, The Lutheran Confessions state, “According to its
perverse disposition and nature, the natural free will is mighty and
active only in the direction that is displeasing and contrary to God”
(FC SD II 7); and

Wuereas, The stated position of the national organizstion of
Promise Keepers confuses Law and Gospel by persuading men to
tum to commitments of their own (promises) rather than to the
means of grace for the ability to live the Christian life; and

WHEREAS, The stated position of the national organization of
Promise Keepers does not hold the sacraments as the divinely es-
tablished means of grace given to His church by God through
which He creates and nurtures faith which carries the assurance of
eternal salvation and the source of strength for Christian living;
therefore be it

Resolved, That the Synod develop an approach to help congre-
gations which have Promise Keepers within their midst to become
aware of the unscriptural premise of this organization; and be it fur-
ther

Resolved, That congregations be encouraged to place stronger
emphasis on the study of God’s Word and the Lutheran Confes-
sions to help men and women receive a greater awareness that the
primary task of the church is to be promise bearers (Matt. 28:19).

Circuit 3 Forum, South Wisconsin District; Circuit 17
Forum, South Wisconsin District; Pilgrim, West Bend, WI

3-101

To Request Fort Wayne Seminary Faculty
to Do In-depth Study of Promise Keepers

WHEREAS, The Promise Keepers movement has influenced
many pastor and laymen in the LCMS; and

WHEREAS, Some of the practices of Promise Keepers have been
and are unscriptural and not in agreement with either the Bible or
the Lutheran Confessions; therefore be it

Resolved, That Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne,
prepare an in-depth study of Promise Keepers showing how they
differ doctrinally from the Bible and the Lutheran Confessions, this
to be done primarily for distribution among the laymen of the
LCMS.

St. John
Waterbury, CT

3-102

To Reject Participation in Promise Keepers

WrereAS, The Lutheran Witness, Dec. 1997, reports many
LCMS pastors are “warmly enthusiastic” toward the Promise
Keepers (PK) movement, and that others, including District Presi-
dents, have seen the PK movement as having a positive impact on
the LCMS; and

WuHerEAS, While some teachings of the Promise Keepers may
be in accord with the Word of God and Lutheran theology, many of
their central teachings are contrary to the Word of God, e.g.,
perfectionism and unionism; and

WHEREAS, Many have suggested a selective participation in
Promise Keepers; and

WHEREAS, Scripture, however, does not teach that we “eat the
fish and spit out the bones,” but that we “mark them which cause
divisions and offenses contrary to the doctrine which ye have
leamed; and avoid them” (Rom 16:17); “A little yeast leavens the
whole lump” (Gal. 5:9); and Jesus Himself tells us to beware of
false prophets because ‘‘a good tree cannot bring forth bad fruit,
neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit” (Matt. 7:18); and

WHEREAS, The Missouri Synod, therefore, officially rejects all
forms of unionism and syncretism; therefore be it

Resolved, That The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod reject
all participation in the promotion of Promise Keeper materials and
attendance of PK events; and be it further

Resolved, That all pastors and District Presidents boldly re-
nounce participation in Promise Keepers and all other forms of
unionism.

Mt. Calvary
Miltona, MN

3-103

To Reaffirm CTCR Position on Gambling

_ WHEREAS, God has entrusted us with possessions in order to
bring honor to Him, to help others and to be good stewards of these
possessions (Eph. 4:28 and | John 3:16, 17); and