LCMS Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 1975, Page 4

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PRESIDENT’S REPORT 59

our commitment to the Constitution and Bylaws of the
Synod. Vice-President Bernthal and I met with the eight
Presidents who are particularly involved in this matter
as recently as June 19, 1975, in an effort to solve this
problem before the convention if possible, but I have to
admit that we did not entirely succeed. I hope that the
Council will continue to minister to its members, but
these problems also need to be dealt with here at the
convention. We want to be fair in our treatment of all of
our officials, yet at the same time we must be firm. No
church can run on organizational anarchy.

Since the Synod exists for “the protection of pastors,
teachers, and congregations in the performance of their
duties and the maintenance of their rights” (Article IID,
it is imperative that the church have officers at all levels,
beginning with the President and the corporate officers
and extending to the Presidents of our Districts, who are
carrying out their work in keeping with the Constitution
and Bylaws of the Synod. God is a god of order, and the
apostle has commanded that all things be done decently
and in order. If we are to maintain a blessed and useful
walking together, we must all carry out our duties in
keeping with the regulations which the church has estab-
lished for the performance of those duties.

While we respect the consciences of those who have
violated the Constitution, and while every chance has
been given them and should be given to them to explain
their position as to why they do not believe they have
violated the Constitution, the convention must finally
decide who understands the Constitution correctly and
then must finally insist that those who serve as officers of
the Synod, whether at the synodical or the District level,
give assurance to the Synod that they will carry out their
duties in keeping with the Synod’s understanding of its
Constitution and Bylaws. Just as one of our Vice-Presi-
dents remarked some years ago, we cannot run a church
convention with a thousand parliamentarians, so we
cannot run a church with each official insisting on his
own interpretation of the Constitution and Bylaws. The
Synod speaks, and her servants either agree to perform
their duties in keeping with the will of the Synod or

‘remove themselves from office.

We have also had the problem of the dissenting
movement known as ELIM. I believe that the resolution
proposed by Committee 3 is a fair and loving one. The
church cannot long endure an organization in her midst
which establishes alternate or competing programs for
such vital matters as the education of church workers
and the mission program of the Synod and even goes so
far as to place uncertified candidates in congregations of
the Synod and on the mission fields of the Synod. The
divisiveness and confusion caused by this organization,
as well as the draining off of funds, contribute to polari-
zation and lack of trust and love among us. ELIM has
announced a budget of $1,800,000. Think of what this
could do for mission expansion if we could get together as
a Synod and settle our difficulties. I would, on behalf of
the Synod, beseech the people involved in ELIM to use

_the channels of dissent which the Synod has created for

this purpose. The Synod welcomes dissent. We need
proper criticism. We all err and need correction. I want to

say at this point that I myself am surely not above
correction and criticism. I have done many things for
which I am sorry and ask the forgiveness both of God
and of the Synod. I have on occasion been impatient, I
have been sarcastic. I have not always shown the love
toward all in the Synod that I should have shown, and
for this I ask the forgiveness both of the church and of |
the individuals involved. If in the conduct of my office I
have said or done things deserving of the censure of the
convention, I will accept such censure, even to the point
of resigning my office, should this be your will.

By the same token I would beseech those who have
been involved in divisive movements that they come to
terms with their church and try to live at peace with
their brethren. If there are those who are doctrinally at
such odds with the church that they cannot live at peace
with their church or teach in conformity with our doc-
trinal position, then for their own good, as well as that of
the Synod, it would seem that wisdom would dictate that
they try to find a church home in which they could live
with greater happiness.

We also have had problems with our Mission Depart-
ment, an outgrowth of the Seminex and ELIM difficul-
ties, but I will allude to these at a different point.

Several months ago I issued a report which was sent
to the pastors and chairmen of the congregations of the
Synod. This report was first delivered to the Board of
Directors, who encouraged me to give it a wider dissemi-
nation. In that report I stated that my travels throughout
the Synod, the hundreds of letters received each week,
conversations with pastors, teachers, and lay people in
all parts of the Synod convinced me that The Lutheran
Church—Missouri Synod wants three things. We want
sound doctrine. We want to be a Biblical and Confes-
sional Lutheran Church. Parents want their children
nurtured in the true faith. We have demonstrated often
in great agony our firm determination to remain the kind
of church doctrinally that we have been.

I am equally convinced that the overwhelming major-
ity of the members of The Lutheran Church—Missouri
Synod want peace. There is a tremendous feeling of
exhaustion and frustration at our inability to bring
about peace and reconciliation in our midst. The need for
peace at every level in the church is imperative, not only
for the sake of the personal well-being of individuals but
even more importantly for the sake of the peace and
well-being of the entire church and for the achievement
of her mission. It is my most fervent prayer that God
will give peace to us through the resolutions and
actions of this convention. .

And finally, I am convinced that The Lutheran
Church—Missouri Synod is anxious to make progress.
We are living in a world of incalculable challenges and
opportunities. There are three billion people in the world
who do not know the Lord Jesus Christ. There are over a
hundred million in our nation and millions more in
Canada. There has never been so much money which
could be put to use for the work of the kingdom of God.
There have never been so many avenues for mass-
media presentation of the Gospel. One third of the con-
gregations at present are following up on the informa-