LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 2013, Page 9

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SYNOD REPORTS
Res. 8-07. Congregations Walking Together in Mission in Larger Clusters
(Districts): To Study Future District Function and Configuration

A 15-member task force was established, in consultation with
the Board of Directors of the Synod and the Council of Presidents,
to take action on the tasks outlined in Res. 8-07. John Edson, task
force chairman, led the group through several meetings of discussion
and research. Please see the report of the task force elsewhere in this
Convention Workbook.
Res. 8-30B. Congregations Walking Together in Mission with Covenants of
Love: To Study Art. VI of Synod’s Constitution

The study of Art. VI of the Synod’s Constitution is an important task. The President’s Office created a page at http://lcms.org/
churchfellowship to gather study materials to elucidate Art. VI. The
resources currently on the new site:
•	Art. VI of the LCMS Constitution.
•	2001 Res. 7-17A “To Affirm Synod’s Official Position on Church
and Ministry.” A summary on the Web site about this resource notes:
“In Kirche und Amt (Church and Office) by C. F. W. Walther, the first
president of the Missouri Synod, is a series of theses with explanations about the Church and pastoral ministry. In Thesis VIII on the
Church, Dr. Walther clearly explains what is meant by ‘unionism’ and
‘syncretism.’ Art. VI of the Synod’s Constitution can be illuminated
by Dr. Walther’s Thesis VIII on the Church. At convention in 2001,
the Synod declared that the entire book, Kirche und Amt (Church and
Office) is the official position of the Missouri Synod. This is a reaffirmation of the Synod’s declaration in 1851 and 1852 of this stance.”
•	C. F. W. Walther’s Thesis VIII from Church and Office (CPH, 2012).
•	“A Reader of LCMS Church Fathers (especially C. F. W. Walther): On
Avoidance of Unionism and Syncretism” (trans. by Joel R. Baseley).
•	Excerpts from The Church, by Kurt E. Marquart. “The Lutheran
Confessions have a great deal to say about church fellowship,” notes
a summary of this resource. “Dr. Kurt Marquart, in his book The
Church, has a section on church fellowship with passages from
Dr. Martin Luther, the Lutheran Confessions and the fathers of the
Missouri Synod.”
•	Union and Confession, a book by Hermann Sasse that addresses
unionism and syncretism.
•	Admission to the Lord’s Supper (CTCR, 1999).

The plan for the Web site is to add other items, including Bible
studies, videos, and a complete bibliography of resources through
which a more comprehensive study might be conducted.
Res. 8-32B. Congregations Walking Together in Mission with Covenants of
Love: To Study Art. VII of Synod’s Constitution

The study of the document Congregations of the Synod:
Background Materials on the Advisory Nature of the LCMS together
with the relevant CCM opinion, enjoined upon the Synod by Res.
8-32B (to be implemented by the President of the Synod), has been
discussed in the President’s Office. We note that the study must also
involve the Council of Presidents, districts, circuits, colleges, universities and seminaries, as well as pastors and, presumably, congregations.
Following the study, the Commission on Handbook, in consultation
with the President and others, was to submit a proposal to clarify and
affirm or amend Art. VII of the Constitution to the 2013 convention.
We note that the process here outlined is quite an ambitious
undertaking. Given the press of concerns regarding the restructuring
mandated by 2010 Res. 8-08A and the work necessary to establish a
new administration, this task has been left incomplete. It is still on the
list and is a priority for the next triennium. In the meantime, we commend the Synod to read C. F. W. Walther’s The Church and the Office
of the Ministry (CPH, 2012), affirmed in 2001 Res. 7-17A “To Affirm
Synod’s Official Position on Church and Ministry,” as “the definitive
statement under Holy Scripture and the Lutheran Confessions of the

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Synod’s understanding on the subject of Church and Ministry,” and
“the official position of the LCMS.”
Current International Mission and Partner Churches
During this past triennium, The Lutheran Church—Missouri
Synod has been more ecumenically engaged than perhaps at any
time in her history. In addition to ongoing work with our 34 partner
churches, the LCMS maintained an active role in the International
Lutheran Council (ILC) and held conversations with several Lutheran
churches with whom we are not presently in fellowship, as well as
conservative Anglicans and Roman Catholics, particularly in matters
related to the public square and natural law. The LCMS has sponsored
conferences with worldwide Lutheran Church leaders that collectively represent more than 20 million Lutherans worldwide. These
conferences provide the forum to echo the call to Christ and His
Gospel—that is, a call to repentance—so that the truth may be proclaimed and unity found in the confession of Christ Jesus.
Details of these activities can be found in the CTCR convention
report. There are, however, some areas that merit attention here: world
Lutheranism, the LCMS fellowship process, and other discussions
domestic and international.
World Lutheranism
World Lutheranism is in the process of a seismic realignment,
which creates tremendous opportunities and challenges. In 1951, Dr.
Herman Sasse noted: “One must see the Lutheran World Federation
(LWF) as the last organization of Protestant churches in which a
memory of the Reformation is still alive.” Since the decisions to support same-sex marriage and the ordination of practicing homosexuals
by the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA) and the
Church of Sweden (CoS) in 2009, the memory of the Reformation
in the Lutheran World Federation is in serious danger of extinction.
Lutheran churches, particularly in Africa, that are members of the
LWF and in fellowship with the ELCA and the CoS are seeking not
only to preserve the memory of the Reformation but also to uphold the
Scriptures and the Lutheran Confessions. In the search for a mutual
conversation of fellow Lutherans, many of these churches concerned
about the unscriptural decisions made by the ELCA and CoS are seeking out the LCMS. This has propelled the Missouri Synod to be the
most ecumenically engaged that she has been perhaps in her entire
history. This is a tremendous opportunity not only for the Missouri
Synod but also for world Lutheranism and the church at large.
Indicative of this trend was the momentous and difficult decision
taken and the bold confession made earlier this year by the Ethiopian
Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus (EECMY), the largest Lutheran
church in Africa with over six million members. The EECMY made
the decision to sever fellowship with the Church of Sweden and
with the ELCA, which has been her historic partner for approximately a hundred years. The EECMY indicated that the CoS and the
ELCA no longer teach the same Lutheran doctrine that the missionaries who came to Ethiopia a century ago taught. Other large African
churches have noticed this action of the EECMY and are encouraged by her confession to remain steadfast to the Holy Scriptures
and to the Lutheran Confessions. These churches also are encouraged by the confessional stand proclaimed by the Missouri Synod.
Ecumenical Lutheranism offers mutual encouragement while proclaiming Christ crucified.
“Genuine Lutheranism is ecumenical Christianity,” wrote Francis
Pieper in 1930. He continues, “This ecumenical Lutheranism is the
Lutheranism of Luther and the Lutheran Church in her Symbols.
Luther powerfully inculcates the Christian duty to bear the weak
in love and patience. … But Luther will not tolerate the weak making their weakness the source and norm of Christian doctrine.” Truly
2013 Convention Workbook