LCMS Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 2004, Page 56

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56

REPORT OF THE PRESIDENT

It is important to recall the words of Francis Pieper,
fourth President of the LCMS:
Christian congregations, and their public servants,
are only the administrants and not lords of the Sacrament....On the one hand, they are not permitted to introduce ‘Open Communion’; on the other hand, they
must guard against denying the Sacrament to those
Christians for whom Christ has appointed it. (Christian Dogmatics, III, p. 381)

Church and Ministry
The authority of the pastoral office and the priesthood
of all believers have been key elements of doctrine and
practice of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod since its
formation in 1847. Theses presented by C. F. W. Walther
at the famous debates held in Altenburg, Missouri, in 1841,
were adopted, somewhat modified, at the Synod’s 1851 convention, affirming the distinction between the office of the
pastor and the priesthood of all believers, including the following:
• The holy ministry, or the pastoral office, is an office distinct from the priestly office, which belongs to all believers.
• The ministry, or the pastoral office, is not a human ordinance, but an office established by God Himself.
• The ministry of preaching is not an arbitrary office, but
its character is such that the church has been commanded to establish it and is ordinarily bound to it till
the end of days.
• The ministry of preaching is not a peculiar order, set up
over and against the common estate of Christians, and
holier than the latter, like the priesthood of the Levites,
but it is an office of service.
• Reverence and unconditional obedience are due to the
ministry of preaching when the preacher is ministering
the Word of God. However, the preacher may not dominate over the church; he has, accordingly, no right to
make new laws, to arrange indifferent matters and ceremonies arbitrarily, and to impose and execute excommunication alone, without a previous verdict of the entire
congregation.
• According to divine right the function of passing judgment on doctrine belongs to the ministry of preaching.
However, also the laymen have this right, and for this
reason they also have a seat and vote with the preacher
in church courts and councils.
• The ministry of preaching is conferred by God through
the congregation as holder of all church power, or of the
keys, and by its call, as prescribed by God. The ordination of those called, with the laying on of hands, is not by
divine institution but is an apostolic church ordinance
and merely a public, solemn confirmation of the call.
Clear as these affirmations might appear, disagreement
nevertheless exists within our Synod regarding their application. In more than a few instances, there simply is lack of
clarity and concurrence regarding the role, responsibility,
authority, and accountability of both the office of pastor and
the role of laity in the church.
The position of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod
on the doctrine of church and ministry is succinctly sum2004 Convention Proceedings

marized in a presentation entitled “The LCMS on the Lay
Performance of Pastoral Functions” by Dr. Samuel Nafzger,
Executive Director of the CTCR, in the following three
points:
1. God gives the Office of the Keys or all church power
immediately and originally to all Christians (i.e., the church).
2. The pastoral office has been instituted by God for the sake of
good order in the church for the public (i.e., in behalf of and
with accountability to the church) preaching of the Gospel and
for the public administration of the Sacraments.
3. Since the Office of the Keys has been given by Christ
“immediately” and “originally” to all Christians, lay people
may be asked in cases of necessity and emergency situations to
perform pastoral functions. But this should be done only in the
prolonged absence of a rightly called pastor, lest there be a
“weakening of the pastoral ministry with all its benefits.”
May our gracious God bless both the pastoral office and
the priesthood of all believers!
Traditional and Contemporary Worship
In the past few decades, numerous congregations of the
LCMS have introduced “contemporary” worship forms and
music in addition to and, in some instances, even in place of
traditional liturgies and hymnody. The conditions of membership in the Synod require “Exclusive use of doctrinally
pure agenda, hymnbooks, and catechisms in church and
school” (LCMS Constitution, Art. VI). This presents a
dilemma, since our Synod has not specifically stipulated
what these “doctrinally pure” contemporary worship resources for use by our congregations and professional
church workers must be. The specific wording of our Constitution in this regard is:
The Synod, under Scripture and the Lutheran Confessions, shall—
Encourage congregations to strive for uniformity in
church practice, but also to develop an appreciation of
a variety of responsible practices and customs which are
in harmony with our common profession of faith.
(LCMS Constitution, Art. III 7)

The result is that congregations search for and, in some
cases, implement, worship resources that do not always
measure up to our common understanding of being “doctrinally pure.” At the same time, some traditional worship resources, while considered “doctrinally pure,” are perceived
by some as being “rote” or “routine,” depriving some worshipers of a variety in worship they sincerely desire and appreciate.
Many who read these words can perhaps identify with
my own experience, which includes attendance at “contemporary” worship services that contain all the necessary ingredients of a truly Lutheran service, and some other services that miss the mark in that regard. At the same time,
some “traditional” worship services miss a different mark
in that while “doctrinally pure,” they fail to communicate
Law and Gospel in understandable, meaningful ways to
worshipers whose concerns and burdens in life are quite
different from those of our forefathers.
Whether traditional or contemporary, worship services
in congregations of the LCMS must employ doctrinally pure
resources for the basic elements of distinctively Lutheran
Christian worship. Although neither the Order of Matins
nor the Order of Vespers (two of my favorites) in The
Lutheran Hymnal includes a standard invocation, confession, absolution, or creed, those elements of worship, along