Synodical Conference Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 1950, Page 132

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132 Proceedings of the Forty-First Convention,

Ill. Procedure Within the Synodical Conference, When Offense
Has Been Given

A. Privately: “If thy brother shall trespass against thee (I know
of the offense), go and tell him his fault between thee and him
alone.” Matthew 18.

B. Public Offense: a. Also in the case of public offense, private

admonition may be the most effective method of dealing with such
an offender. If this, however, should prove futile or be found in-
‘advisable, the offended brother (brethren) shall inform his (their)
District President of the offense, who shall thereupon lodge the
complaint with the District President of the brother who has given
the offense. A copy of the complaint shall be sent to the offending
brother. The District President in question shall then take the
necessary steps to remove the offense.
; Nore.— A revision of paragraph 9, page 141, Synodical Handbook,
1937, is suggested. The paragraph now reads, “In case of intersynodical
disputes affecting congregations or individuals belonging to congregations
of the Synodical Conference, the District President in question is em-
powered to act as first court of appeal, and not only the President of
the Synod.” Suggested change: “In cases of intersynodical disputes . .

the District President in question ‘is empowered to act as first court of -

appeal, and not the President of the Synod, except in such cases where
a Synod is not divided into districts.” ‘

b. If this step does not bring results, the District President
presenting the charges shall refer the case to his own synodical
President, who shall present the matter to the synodical President
of the offending brother,

c. Inasmuch as the purpose of the Synodical Conference is
(Constitution, Article 4) “to give outward expression to the unity
of spirit existing among constituent synods; to encourage and
strengthen one another in faith and confession; to further unity
in doctrine and practice and to remove whatever might threaten to
disturb this unity; to co-operate in matters of mutual interest;
to strive for true unity in doctrine and practice among Lutheran
church bodies,” a public offense which has not been removed by
the procedure outlined above shall be referred to the Synodical
Conference. The Synodical Conference shall then determine the
procedure. It may refer the matter to a committee of the Synodical
Conference. We must bear in mind, however, that as a rule inter-
synodical committees will have dealt in such cases and the Synod-
ical Conference as such at a regular convention or at a special
convention (By-Laws, Article 1, Section 3) may find itself obliged
to deal in the matter immediately “to further unity in doctrine
and practice and to remove whatever might threaten to disturb
the unity.”

IV. An Offense Must Be Removed

An offense must be removed, a public offense by a public
disavowal, as the case may demand. :

See Gal. 2:11: “But when Peter was come to Antioch, I with-

stood him to the face, because he was to be blamed.” V.14: “But |

when I saw that they walked not uprightly according to the truth
of the Gospel, I said unto Peter before them all, if thou... .” The
offense was removed by Paul’s testimony and Peter’s submission.
What Paul did in the case of Peter’s dissembling, “I said unto