LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 2007, Page 152

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152 THEOLOGY AND CHURCH RELATIONS

3-16

To Rescind 2004 Res. 3-06 and Produce New Guidelines

WHEREAS, The Synod’s CTCR was asked to prepare guidelines
in order to clarify “what constitutes a ‘civic event’ ” and to address
explicitly questions about the “participation of LCMS pastors,
teachers, and church workers in ‘civic events’... which also involve
participation from non-Christian religions”; and

WHEREAS, The resulting report, Guidelines for Participation in
Civic Events (GPCE) (April, 2004) clearly states: “We understand
and accept that Lutheran pastors may not under any circumstances
participate in joint prayer or worship together with clergy of non-
Christian religions, even in events that may be portrayed as pri-
marily or partially ‘civic’ in nature and purpose” (GPCE, p. 14);
and

WuereEAS, In the same report the CTCR seems to contradict the
above by stating: “The members of the Commission disagree about
the issue of so-called ‘serial’ or ‘seriatim’ prayers involving repre-
sentatives of different religious (Christian and/or non-Christian)
groups or churches. Some members of the Commission believe that
under no circumstances is it permissible for LCMS pastors to par-
ticipate in any type of an event in which various Christian and/or
non-Christian leaders ‘take turns’ offering prayers, holding that
such an activity by its very nature constitutes ‘joint prayer and wor-
ship.’ The majority of the Commission believes that in some in-
stances it may be possible and permissible for LCMS pastors to
participate in such an event as long as certain conditions are met”
(GPCE, p. 19); and

WHEREAS, In this report the CTCR states that although “all
members of the Commission agree that, understood from a Chris-
tian perspective, prayer is always in some sense ‘an expression of
worship,’ ” still the members could not agree whether or not it was
possible “for an LCMS pastor to offer a prayer in a public setting
involving a variety of religious leaders without engaging in ‘joint
prayer and worship’” (GPCE, p. 20); and

WHEREAS, These disagreements among commission members
are mentioned only briefly and the issues underlying the disagree-
ment are not explained; and

WHEREAS, Such disagreement does not help to give clear guid-
ance and help to “pastors, teachers, and church workers [to] make
decisions about participation in civic events”; and

WHEREAS, GPCE in its present form can be understood by some
to discourage and by others to encourage participation in the same
civic event, thereby fostering disunity in practice in the Synod and
hampering Christ’s mission; therefore be it

Resolved, That the Minnesota North District in convention sub-
mit as an overture to the 2007 Synod convention to rescind 2004
Res. 3-06A; and be it further

Resolved, That Minnesota North District in convention submit
as an Overture to the 2007 Synod convention to assign the CTCR to
rewrite the GPCE report on the basis of input from our two semi-
nary faculties and the membership of Synod, to be completed no
later than July 31, 2009; and be it finally

Resolved, That in the meantime we

* encourage all the members of the Synod to continue to be guided in
these questions by the Holy Scriptures, the Lutheran Confessions, the
willing commitments we have made to one another by virtue of our
membership in the Synod (i.e, LCMS Constitution, Art. VI 2), ap-
plicable principles from The Lutheran Understanding of Church Fel-
lowship (Office of the President and the CTCR, 2000), the “Prelimi-
nary Considerations” of the first 15 pages of the GPCE, and the
statements of our seminary faculties; and

* continue to recognize that “clarity of doctrine and practice and charity
in our dealings with one another are both essential to the church’s life
and witness” (GPEC, p. 23) to the unchanging truth of the Gospel of
Jesus Christ in an increasingly polytheistic and pluralistic society.

Minnesota North District

3-17

To Rescind 2001 Res. 3-07A and 2004 Res. 3-06A
and Renounce Syncretism and Unionism

WHEREAS, In the First Commandment the triune God out of love
for us strictly forbids us from joining in worship with non-Chris-
tians; and

WHEREAS, Participating with others while they are praying to
false gods and reading their sacred writings gives a false testimony
to the truth that only one God exists is a violation of the First Com-
mandment, and fails to lead sinners to the Savior, Jesus; and

WHEREAS, Art. VI of the Constitution of The Lutheran Church—
Missouri Synod lists as a condition for membership “Renunciation
of unionism and syncretism of every description”; and

Wuereas, God through His holy apostle said, “Therefore, my
dear friends, flee from idolatry... The sacrifices of pagans are of-
fered to demons, not to God, and I do not want you to be partici-
pants with demons” (1 Cor. 10:14, 20); and

WHEREAS, Pastors of our Synod willingly and without coercion
pledged themselves to abide by our Synod’s Constitution, including
Art. VI 2 b-c which states that pastors are to avoid “taking part in
the services...of heterodox congregations...and [heterodox] mis-
sionary activities”; and

WHEREAS, Res. 3-07A of the 2001 LCMS convention was
used—contrary to its original intent—to give approval to LCMS
pastors participating in syncretistic and unionistic services because
they were “offering prayers, speaking and reading Scripture at
events sponsored by governments,” and this new interpretation has
been referred to as “the official position of the Synod” in official
2004 Synod reports of the President; and

WHEREAS, The 2004 Synod convention passed Res. 3-06A,
which commended the CTCR document entitled Guidelines for
Participation in Civic Events. This document does not unambigu-
ously forbid the participation of LCMS pastors in syncretistic and
unionistic services in the future. Instead, the majority opinion al-
lows for participation in joint prayer services by claiming that
Christian and non-Christian clergy could “take turns” offering
prayers (“serial prayers) without it being joint worship; and

WHEREAS, The notion of “civic events” sponsored by govern-
ments has been used to justify participation of LCMS pastors in
syncretistic and unionistic services; and

WHEREAS, 2004 Res. 3-06A was commended “for study to help
pastors, teachers, and church workers make decisions about partic-
ipation in civic events”; therefore be it

Resolved, That the 2007 LCMS convention rescind 2004 Res.
3-06A (commending the CTCR document Guidelines for Partici-
pation in Civic Events) and 2001 Res. 3-07A (commending the
CTCR document The Lutheran Understanding of Church Fellow-
ship); and be it further

Resolved, That the 2007 LCMS convention have guidelines pro-
duced that would be so clear and unambiguous as to rule out any
repetition of LCMS participation in syncretism or unionism in the
future and would be in keeping with the LCMS Constitution Art.
VI condition for membership, “Renunciation of unionism and syn-
cretism of every description.”

Greater Egypt Circuit Forum 11
Southern Illinois District

3-18

To Restudy Concerns re Unionism
and Syncretism in Constitution Art. VI

Rationale

It is apparent that there are varying interpretations about sec-
tion 2 of Art. VI (Conditions of Membership) of the LCMS Con-
stitution, which reads as follows:

Conditions for acquiring and holding membership in the Synod are
the following: