LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 2004, Page 257

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STRUCTURE, PLANNING, AND ADMINISTRATION 257

ministers walk together to express collectively their unity in doc-
trine, order, and life. The Synod walks together in accepting with-
out reservation “The Scriptures of the Old and the New Testament
as the written Word of God, and the only rule and norm of faith
and of practice” and “All the Symbolical Books of the Evangelical
Lutheran Church as a true and unadulterated statement and exposi-
tion of the Word of God.”

In President Walther’s 1848 Synod convention address he em-
phasized that Christ alone has the power in His kingdom and that
Christ exercises His power through His Word, and “He emphasized
that the power which the church organization exercised was simply
the power which emanated from the Scriptures, the Word of God.”
Walther also stated: “According to the Constitution under which
our synodical union exists, we have merely the power to advise one
another, that we have only the power of the Word of God, and of
convincing.” Under the Word of God Synod’s members agreed that
“no resolution of the Synod imposing anything upon the individ-
ual congregation is of binding force if it is not in accordance with
the Word of God”; ‘

Under the Word of God, the Synod’s members join with one
another to support one another, live and work together, extend the
mission of Christ together, together uphold the confessional posi-
tion of the Synod, carry out the objectives of the Synod, and submit

’ joyfully to the Constitution, Bylaws, and resolutions of the Synod,
including the adopted doctrinal resolutions and statements, which
are in harmony with Scripture and the Lutheran Confessions and
which are the collective understanding, expression, and witness of
the Synod.

With the Word of God as the supreme authority, some of the
basic theological principles that formed the basis of the Synod’s
organization or polity included the following:

¢ The priesthood of believers

¢ The proper understanding and distinction between the church and
a congregation (and a Synod)

¢ The unity and fellowship with Christ and with one another

¢ Congregational supremacy

¢ The proper understanding of and distinction between church and
ministry

e The theology of the divine call and the dignity of the holy min-
istry

¢ The joint extension of the kingdom of God (extending the Gospel
witness in the world)

¢ Unity and purity of doctrine
¢ Doctrinal and ecclesiastical supervision

Some of the following are examples of “structures” that were
formed based on the above theological principles:

1. “Synod is not a church in the theological sense. ... Every in-
dividual Christian has been given the divine commission to pro-
claim the Gospel. By divine authority, believers unite in a congre-
gation established by God. To carry out their work more
effectively, like-minded congregations band together to form a
church body—a Synod if you will—as a channel to carry out the
fundamental Christian purpose of proclaiming the Gospel and all
that the term implies. ... Synod, then, is a channel used by people
who are the church to carry out the divine imperatives of the Head
of the church.”

2. With a balanced vote between the clergy and the laity, the
congregations in the Synod through convention alone have the au-
thority to determine our church polity, to adopt or amend the Con-
stitution and Bylaws of the Synod and who alone have the right to
adopt doctrinal resolutions and statements as the collective will of
the Synod. In carrying out this responsibility, there is neither a hi-
erarchy of the clergy nor a hierarchy of the laity. The laity partici-
pates equally with the clergy in our church polity. This principle
also shaped the polity of advisory membership in the Synod.

The polity of voting representation at the Synod convention was
(is) equal pastoral and lay representation rather than one of equal
congregational representation or one based on the number of com-
municant or voting members of a congregation. The definition of a

parish was based upon this principle. All congregations served by
one pastor were (are) regarded as one parish and was entitled to
one lay representative only. It must be noted that at the founding of
our Synod, each individual congregation was represented at the
Synod convention. Now groups of individual congregations send
one pastoral and one lay delegate. This basic polity, which is based
upon theological principles, still remains. (Understanding that this
principle polity is equal pastoral and lay representation, there is no
reason not to reconsider requirements for “electoral Circuits.”)

3. With a pastoral vote and a lay vote, it is the congregations of
the Synod, who out of a common concern for the purity and unity
of doctrine and for providing evangelical supervision, counsel and
care for ordained and commissioned ministers as well as for the
protection of ordained and commissioned ministers and congrega-
tions, entrusts doctrinal and ecclesiastical supervision to the Synod
President and District Presidents. “Any congregation that is will-
ing to submit to the supervision and control provided for in ... the
Constitution is yielding its independence in exchange for the spiri-
tual blessings which, presumably, would accrue to it from such
synodical supervision.” The constitutional provision of supervision,
which is carried out through visitations, advice, counsel, care, dis-
cipline, and other Bylaw provisions, guards against separatistic ten-
dencies, conventicles, individualism, and congregationalism, which
violates our “walking together” or our union and unity in the
Synod.

Concerning the supervisory aspect that the congregations of the
Synod established in 1847, C. F. W. Walther in an 1879 essay to
the first lowa District convention-emphasized the necessity, im-
portance, and benefit of the inclusion of this in our church polity.
This particular statement by Walther is very pointed: “However,
for the welfare of the church we set up a system of supervision, so
that the dear church does not become a Babel (Genesis 11). It
would be a disgrace to the name of Christ if His people were to live
in such total confusion. No, the church must be beautifully united
by the bond of love; it must work together under the best possible
system of supervision.”

4. While our church polity from the very beginning of our
Synod included supervision for the purposes stated above, the
Synod also recognizes the “congregation’s right of self-govern-
ment.” What then is meant by a “congregation’s right of self-gov-
ernment”? With the Synod as an advisory body and not an ecclesi-
astical government exercising legislative or coercive powers,
historically, these areas of self-government have been recognized:
(a) The calling of pastors, teachers, etc., from a list of those ac-
credited by the Synod itself; (b) The owning and maintaining of
congregational property without granting any rights of it to the
Synod; (c) Church discipline; (d) The administration of a congre-
gation’s programming and financial affairs; (e) Arranging, con-
ducting, and supervising its own programs; and (f) Applying Cir-
cuit, District, and Synod programs and policies.

The congregation’s right of self-government includes the vol-
untary choice to join or to withdraw from the Synod. But as mem-
bers of the Synod, congregations (and ordained or commissioned
ministers) together submit to the Constitution and Bylaws they
adopted, together agree to honor and uphold doctrinal resolutions,
and together agree that a member of the Synod also may express
dissent according to the agreed upon procedures while respecting
the collective will of the Synod. Any such resolutions and/or dis-
sent are in Christian love and a means of convincing or persuading
by the power of the Word of God rather than using such as a legal-
istic tool.

Currently, the individual congregations must give approval to
constitutional amendments and doctrinal statements adopted by the
convention. They also have a responsibility to act on matters aris-
ing between meetings of the Synod in convention (Art. XI B 8).

5. The polity of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod not
only reflects the “priesthood of believers” and “‘church and min-
istry,” but also the “theology of the call.” And this goes back to
Luther’s concept of church government. For Luther, “All believers
are priests, and yet all do not function publicly as priests. Why not?
Because of the disorder that would ensue. Therefore every congre-
gation must select one from its midst and ask him to perform the