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LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 1975, Page 458

Scan: The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod
Transcription machine transcription, uncorrected

A LUTHERAN STANCE TOWARD ECUMENISM

A LUTHERAN STANCE
TOWARD ECUMENISM

With Application for
The Lutheran Church — Missouri Synod

A Report of the Commission
on Theology and Church Relations

The Lutheran Church — Missouri Synod
November 1974

Preface

The Lutheran Confessions speak in plain and simple terms about
the nature and mission of the church. “Thank God, a seven-year-old
child knows what the church is. namely. holy believers and sheep who
hear the voice of their Shepherd” (SA ILI. xii. 2). Through this com-
munity on earth. the Holy Spint “speaks and does all his work” (LC
II. 61). “It is the mother that begets and bears every Christian through
the Word of God" (LC II. 42). In these words the Confessions describe
the church's mission in the world. namely. to make disciples of all nations
through the teaching of the Gospel and the administration of the sacra-
ments, for “through these, as through means. he [God] gives the Holy
Spint. who works faith.” (AC V, 2)

In equally simple terms the Lutheran Confessions speak about the
work which the Holy Spirit performs through the church among those
whom He has called and gathered into the Christian community. He uses
the church to preach and teach the Word and “by it he creates and
increases sanctification. causing it daily to grow and become strong
in the faith and in the fruits of the Spirit’ (LC IH, 53). Among the fruits
of the Spirit for which Christians earnestly long and fervently pray is
God-pleasing concord and harmony and an end to strife and divisions
among Christ's “afflicted and scattered churches.” (Ap Preface. 19)

Efforts to achieve such concord in Christendom and to remove the
barriers that separate Christians into denominational groups have come
to be known as ecumenical endeavors. These endeavors are carried on
with a view to finding a basis on which alt Christians might be able to
worship and work together and on which they might possibly even be-
come one fellowship without denominational distinctions.

As is evident from the Preface of the constitutive document of
Lutheranism. the Augsburg Confession. the Lutheran Church from its
inception has never regarded divisions in Christendom a desirable state
of affairs which ought to be perpetuated. Recognizing that true believers
everywhere are our brothers and sisters in God's family, Lutherans have
always assured fellow members of Christ's body that to us nothing
could happen that is more agreeable or that is more earnestly and prayer-
fully to be sought for than that Christians should live together in godly

4

Contents
Preface 4
Abbreviations 4

[The Theological Basis for Ecumenism in the

Sacred Seriptures and Lutheran Confessions 7
A. The Sacred Scriptures 7
1. Ephesians 4 7

2. | Corinthians 7

3. Letters to Timothy 8

B. The Lutheran Confessions 9
The Sphere of Ecumenical Endeas ors 9
The Goal of Ecumenical Endeavors 9
The Necessity of Ecumenical Endeavors 9
The Scope of Ecumenical Endeavors 0
0

a re

The Program for Ecumenical Endeavors
Hf. Confessional Principles for Lutheran Ecumenism 2
UL. Priorities for Lutheran Ecumenical Endeas ors 12

IN. The Implementation of Confessional Principles und
Priorities for Foumenical Endeavors on Every Level of Our

Life Together in The Lutheran Church — Missouri Synod 13
A. On the Synodical Level 13
B. On the District and Circuit Levels I4
C. On the Congregational Levet Is
D. On the Individual Level Is
Notes 16
Appendix 18

unanimity (Preface to the Chnstian Book of Concord, Concordia
Triglotta, p.9). Lutheranism shares in the ecumenical concern that has
as its goal that “all of us embrace and adhere to a single. true religion
and live together in unity and in one fellowship and church.” (AC
Preface. 4)

Since opinions vary radically as to how such a goal can be accom-
plished and as to the conditions necessary for external unification in the
church on earth, the Commission on Theology and Church Relations in
this document offers to The Lutheran Church— Missouri Synod some
guiding principles for its participation in ecumenical endeavors.)

Abbreviations

All citations of the Lutheran Confessions are taken from The Book of
Concord, edited by T. G. Tapper (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1969),
except when noted to the contrary. The following abbreviations have
been used:

AC — Augsburg Confession

Ap— Apology of the Augsburg Confession

Ep-—Epitome of the Formula of Concord

FC — Formula of Concord

LC — Large Catechism

SA—Smalcald Anicles

SC — Small Catechism

SD-—Solid Declaration of the Formula of Concord

Scriptural quotations are taken from the Revised Standard Version.