LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 2001, Page 400

Transcription machine transcription, uncorrected

⤓ Download .txt · copy text

400 ADDITIONAL THEOLOGICAL DOCUMENTS AND REPORTS—OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT

we also take seriously our catechetical task for the nurture of bap-
tized children to mature commitment to Christ. In all our traditions
baptism is followed by a rite of confirmation. We recognise two
practices in our churches, both of which have precedents in earlier
centuries: in Anglican churches, confirmation administered by the
bishop; in the Nordic and Baltic churches, confirmation usually
administered by a local priest. In all our churches this includes in-
vocation of the Triune God, renewal of the baptismal profession of
faith and a prayer that through the renewal of the grace of baptism
the candidate may be strengthened now and for ever.

h. We believe that the body and blood of Christ are truly pre-
sent, distributed and received under the forms of bread and wine in
the Lord’s Supper (Eucharist). In this way we receive the body and
blood of Christ, crucified and risen, and in him the forgiveness of
sins and all other benefits of his passion. The eucharistic memorial
is no mere calling to mind of a past event or of its significance, but
the Church’s effectual proclamation of God’s mighty acts. Al-
though we are unable to offer to God a worthy sacrifice, Christ
unites us with himself in his self-offering to the Father, the one,
full, perfect and sufficient sacrifice which he has offered for us all.
In the eucharist God himself acts, giving life to the body of Christ
and renewing each member. Celebrating the eucharist, the church is
reconstituted and nourished, strengthened in faith and hope, in wit-
ness and service in daily life. Here we already have a foretaste of
the eternal joy of God’s Kingdom.

i. We believe that all members of the church are called to par-
ticipate in its apostolic mission. AJl the baptized are therefore given
various gifts and ministries by the Holy Spirit. They are called to
offer their being as ‘a living sacrifice’ and to intercede for the
Church and the salvation of the world. This is the corporate priest-
hood of the whole people of God and the calling to ministry and
service (I Peter 2: 5).

J. We believe that within the community of the Church the or-
dained ministry exists to serve the ministry of the whole people of
God. We hold the ordained ministry of word and sacrament to be
an office of divine institution and as such a gift of God to his
Church. Ordained ministers are related, as are all Christians, both to
the priesthood of Christ and to the priesthood of the Church. This
basic oneness of the ordained ministry is expressed in the service of
word and sacrament. [In the life of the Church, this unity has taken
a differentiated form. The threefold ministry of bishop, priest and
deacon became the general pattern in the Church of the early cen-
turies and is still retained by many churches, though often in partial
form. ‘The threefold ministry of bishop, presbyter and deacon may
serve today as an expression of the unity we seek and also as a
means for achieving it’.

k. We believe that a ministry of pastoral oversight (episcope),
exercised in personal, collegial and communal ways, is necessary
as witness to and safeguard of the unity and apostolicity of the
Church. Further, we retain and employ the episcopal office as a
sign of our intention, under God, to ensure the continuity of the
Church in apostolic life and witness. For these reasons, all our
churches have a personally exercised episcopal office.

I]. We share a common hope in the final consummation of the
Kingdom of God, and believe that in this eschatological perspective
we are called to work now for the furtherance of justice, to seek
peace and to care for the created world. The obligations of the
Kingdom are to govern our life in the Church and our concern for
the world. ‘The Christian faith is that God has made peace through
Jesus “by the blood of his cross” (Col. 1: 20), so establishing the
one valid centre for the unity of the whole human family.’

33. This summary witnesses to a high degree of unity in faith
and doctrine. Whilst this does not require each tradition to accept
every doctrinal formulation characteristic of our distinctive tradi-
tions, it does require us to face and overcome the remaining obsta-
cles to still closer communion.

2001 Convention Workbook

IV. Episcopacy in the Service of the Apostolicity of the Church

34. There is a long-standing problem about episcopal ministry
and its relation to succession. At the time of the Reformation all
our churches ordained bishops (sometimes the term superintendent
was used as a synonym for bishop) to the existing sees of the
Catholic Church, indicating their intention to continue the life and
ministry of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. In some
of the territories the historic succession of bishops was maintained
by episcopal ordination, whereas elsewhere on a few occasions
bishops or superintendents were consecrated by priests following
what was believed to be the precedent of the early Church. One con-
sequence of this was a lack of unity between the ministries of our
churches and thus a hindrance to our common witness, service and
mission. The interruption of the episcopal succession has, neverthe-
less, in these particular churches always been accompanied by the
intention and by measures to secure the apostolic continuity of the
Church as a Church of the gospel served by an episcopal ministry.
The subsequent tradition of these churches demonstrates their faith-
fulness to the apostolicity of the Church. In the last one hundred
years all our churches have felt a growing need to overcome this dif-
ficulty and to give common expression to their continuous participa-
tion in the life of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church.

35. Because of this difficulty we now set out at greater length an
understanding of the apostolicity of the whole Church and within
that the apostolic ministry, succession in the episcopal office and
the historic succession as a sign. All of these are interrelated.

A. The Apostolicity of the Whole Church

36. “In the Creed, the Church confesses itself to be apostolic.
The Church lives in continuity with the apostles and their procla-
mation. The same Lord who sent the apostles continues to be pre-
sent in the Church. The Spirit keeps the Church in the apostolic tra-
dition until the fulfilment of history in the Kingdom of God.
Apostolic tradition in the Church means continuity in the perma-
nent characteristics of the Church of the apostles: witness to the
apostolic faith, proclamation and fresh interpretation of the Gospel,
celebration of baptism and the eucharist, the transmission of min-
isterial responsibilities, communion in prayer, love, joy and suffer-
ing, service to the sick and needy, unity among the local churches
and sharing the gifts which the Lord has given to each’.

37. The Church today is charged, as were the apostles, to pro-
claim the gospel to all nations, because the good news about Jesus
Christ is the disclosure of God’s eternal plan for the reconciliation
of all things in his Son. The Church is called to faithfulness to the
normative apostolic witness to the life, death, resurrection and exal-
tation of its Lord. The Church receives its mission and the power to
fulfil this mission as a gift of the risen Christ. The Church is thus
apostolic as a whole. * Apostolicity means that the Church is sent by
Jesus to be for the world, to participate in his mission and therefore in
the mission of the One who sent Jesus, to participate in the mission
of the Father and the Son through the dynamic of the Holy Spirit’.

38. God the Holy Spirit pours out his gifts upon the whole
Church (Eph. 4: 11-13, I Cor. 12: 4-11), and raises up men and
women, both lay and ordained, to contribute to the nurture of the
community. Thus the whole Church, and every member, partici-
pates in and contributes to the communication of the gospel, by
their faithful expression and embodiment of the permanent charac-
teristics of the Church of the apostles in a given time and place. Es-
sential to its testimony are not merely its words, but the love of its
members for one another, the quality of its service of those in need,
its use of financial and other resources, the justice and effective-
ness of its life and its means of discipline, its distribution and exer-
cise of power, and its assemblies for worship. All these are means
of communication which must be focused upon Christ, the true
Word of God, and spring from life in the Holy Spirit.