LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 2013, Page 80

Transcription machine transcription, uncorrected

⤓ Download .txt · copy text

80

SYNOD REPORTS

historical and theological resources available in several languages,
including English, Spanish, Chinese, and German.
14. Women Teachers of Theology

In correspondence dated March 15, 2012, President Matthew
Harrison requested a CTCR opinion on the matter of “women serving as members of theological faculties.” This assignment is being
addressed by a CTCR committee.
C. Theological Conferences
1. International Model Theological Conference on Confessional
Leadership in the 21st Century (2010 Res. 3-02A)

2010 Res. 3-02A, “To Support Confessional Lutheranism at Home
and Abroad,” emphasized the continuing need for biblical and confessional Lutherans to support and encourage one another both in
the U.S. and worldwide. Among its specific requests were “That the
CTCR … continue to develop plans for confessional leadership (cf.
2007 Res. 3-03) by sponsoring an international model theological
conference on confessional leadership in the 21st century” and “[t]
hat the LCMS through the Office of the President and the CTCR
continue to explore ways together with the ILC to bring together
Lutherans for the purpose of promoting confessional Lutheranism
throughout the world.”
Thanks to the generous support of Thrivent Financial for Lutherans
Foundation, an international gathering of some 120 Lutheran
church leaders from around the world, representing over 20 million
Lutherans, gathered October 31–November 2, 2012, near Atlanta,
Georgia. This International Conference on Confessional Leadership
focused on the theme: “The Lutheran Church in the 21st Century:
How does it look? Why does it matter?”
Major speakers included Dr. Alister McGrath of King’s College,
London; the Rev. Dr. Jobst Schoene, retired bishop of Germany’s
Independent Evangelical Lutheran Church (SELK); LCMS President
Matthew Harrison; and the Rev. Dr. Gemechis Buba of the North
American Lutheran Church (NALC). Some twenty other church leaders from North America, Europe, Latin America, Africa, and Asia also
gave theological presentations regarding the cause of confessional
Lutheranism in their regions.
2. Other Conferences

The Director of Church Relations, The Rev. Dr. Albert Collver,
has been instrumental in facilitating international theological conferences in the past triennium, including one in Prague, Czech Republic
and another in Ghana, and has kept the CTCR informed regarding
these conferences.
D. Other Matters
1. Spanish Translation of CTCR Reports

Due to continuing requests for Lutheran theological literature
in Spanish, both in the U.S. and in Central and South America, the
commission continues to facilitate the translation of its reports into
Spanish. Six reports are currently available in Spanish in electronic
formats and preliminary translations of a number of other CTCR
reports are being examined for theological accuracy and future publication. The CTCR’s report, Immigrants Among Us, is available in a
Spanish print edition. Copies of CTCR translations are shared with
Synod’s Spanish-speaking partner churches throughout the world.
2. Christian Stewardship of the Environment (2007 Res. 3-06)

2007 Res. 3-06 asked the CTCR to prepare a report on Christian
stewardship of the environment “for use by Synod entities including
our schools and churches as they develop resources for the churchat-large.” The CTCR report Together with All Creatures: Caring for
2013 Convention Workbook

God’s Living Earth was adopted by the commission at its February
2010 meeting in both a full and a condensed version. (Both versions
are available at www.lcms.org/ctcr.) Subsequent to the publication
of Together with All Creatures, the CTCR has engaged in plans for
a series of workshops on the care of creation for the benefit of congregations, CUS campuses, and others. One workshop was held in
2012. Additional presentations on this topic are being considered by
a committee of the CTCR.
3. Chinese Translation of CTCR Report

Tentative arrangements have been made with LCMS missionary
personnel in Hong Kong for the translation of the condensed version
of Together with All Creatures into Chinese.
E. Requests for Theological Opinions
1. Response to Request for Opinion on “Unilateral Excommunication”

In September 2007, a request for a theological opinion was
directed to the CTCR in behalf of the President and Praesidium of
the Northwest District of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod.
The specific question posed to the commission was whether “a pastor, on his own and unilaterally, can excommunicate a person.”
This question embraces questions of ecclesiology, the office of the
ministry, and church polity—questions that have been formational in
the Lutheran experience in America generally and in the experience
of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod specifically. The church
is the entire “congregation of the saints” whom the Holy Spirit has
called through the Gospel and to whom God gives the Keys principally and immediately. The ministry is the divinely established office
of service to which is committed the public exercise of the Keys on
the congregation’s behalf.1 The manner and mode in which church
discipline is exercised on the congregation’s behalf falls into the adiaphoral realm of polity, which is not disassociated from the doctrines
of church and ministry, but neither is it absolutely established by
Scripture. The baptized priesthood and the office of the public ministry both exist according to God’s will. As such, they should be seen
as complementary and not competitive realities. Nonetheless, historical circumstances have at times suggested different modes of the
carrying out of church discipline.
In Lutheran Germany “the church” often referred to the territorial
church and/or a portion thereof (the consistory), which represented the
congregations of that church. As such, church discipline/excommunication was carried out by “the church” as represented by the bishop/
pastor, but often with little direct input from the congregation. This is
what is described in the Apology of the Augsburg Confession: “bishops have the power of the order, namely, the ministry of the Word and
Sacraments. They also have the power of jurisdiction, namely, the
authority to excommunicate those who are guilty of public offenses
or to absolve them if they are converted and ask for absolution.”2
Commenting and expanding on this point, the CTCR of The Lutheran
Church—Missouri Synod has stated:
In specifying that bishops have the right of jurisdiction, the confessors hasten to add that this is not a power given to bishops alone. “It is
certain that the common jurisdiction of excommunicating those who are
guilty of manifest crimes belongs to all pastors. This the bishops have
tyrannically reserved for themselves alone and have employed for gain”
(Treatise, 74). Furthermore, when speaking of the power of bishops, the
Confessions warn against “violent use of the ban” (AC XXVIII 2) and
complain about the “unjust excommunication” of kings and “especially
of the emperors of Germany.” (Treatise, 35)3

Because of the relationship between church and state in
Reformation-era Germany, statements describing the excommunication by bishops/pastors must be understood in their historical
context as descriptive rather than prescriptive. They do not establish