The Receptionist View of the "Call"
How Some LCMS Clergy Reject the Divine Institution of Voters’ Assemblies
By Rev. Jack Cascione

This article is another in a series of responses to the growing number of LCMS clergy who reject Walther's teaching on the importance of Voters' Assemblies. It is our goal to inform laity that they must defend and protect their use of the Office of the Keys in their Voters' Assemblies or they will loose the authority that was once theirs in the LCMS. Readers are encouraged to forward or copy this article. Your comments are requested on www.LutherQuest.org. Our goal is to lobby the 2001 LCMS Convention to pass a resolution reaffirming Walther's "Church and Ministry" as the official teaching of the LCMS.

 

A "Receptionist" is a person who believes that the Lord’s Supper is only the Body and Blood of Christ in, with, and under the bread and wine when the elements touch the lips of the recipient. Hence, the "sanctity" of human flesh completes the consecration of the Lord’s Supper in addition to Christ’s words of institution from the Bible.

The Receptionist’s view is also taken in regard to Scripture when one believes the Word of God only becomes the Word of God "for me" when "I believe it." Here human faith and wisdom in addition to the Holy Spirit make the Word of God valid.

The Receptionist’s view of Baptism means that "my Baptism" is only valid because I agreed to it and accepted Jesus into my heart. Every form of Receptionism assumes that the recipient of God’s grace cooperates with or helps God give him the gift, a very un-Lutheran idea.

There is a growing caste of LCMS clergy who believe that the divinity of a "call" into the pastoral office can only be assured when the pastor accepts the "call." These Hyper-Euro-Lutheran clergy, who want to return to 18th-century European hierarchy, are opposed to Voters’ Assemblies. By making his acceptance of the "call" proof of its divinity a pastor can maintain that God does not issue "divine calls" through Voters’ Assemblies. In other words, "What is divine is not that the congregation sent it but that I took it."

One of the pastors who holds the above position and will not give me permission to identify him will, therefore, be identified in the balance of this article as Pastor X the Confessor. On Thursday, 15 July 1999, he wrote as follows:

Quotation removed per author's request.

The war against the divine institution and supremacy of LCMS Voters’ Assemblies rages on in the Systematics departments of both LCMS Seminaries and in articles published by contributors to "Logia" and on TableTalk@Cat41.org and etc.

Christ says in Matthew 5:37 "But let your communication be Yea, yea; Nay, nay." But Pastor X the Confessor also prefers to communicate anonymously. I published two articles. The first was "The Voters’ Assembly Invested With Authority From God." After it was attacked as heresy by LCMS Pastor Eric Stefanski, I wrote "Defense of Voters’ Assembly Called Heresy" which was attacked above by Pastor X the Confessor.

The poor lay person who reads Pastor X the Confessor’s Hyper-Euro-Lutheran mythology are misled to believe that, FIRST, "Voters’ Assemblies" have no divine authority from God; SECOND, "divine calls" can’t be refused; THIRD, Walther taught that certainty about the divinity of the "Call" was only possible after the pastor accepted it.

FIRST, Pastors who believe they receive a special gift from God at their ordination are opposed to the teaching that Voters’ Assemblies are divinely instituted by God and are thus able to issue a "divine call". Their solution: A call becomes valid when the pastor accepts it.

There is no question about the possibility of tyranny of the clergy or the tyranny from the laity, both are capable of sin. However, that does not negate the divine institution of Voters’ Assemblies or the Pastoral Office.

These pastors make a disconnect between Christ saying, "tell it to the church" (Matt. 18:17) and the possibility of there being anyone in the church to "tell it" to except the pastor. Walther taught that the Voters’ Assembly was divinely instituted because it was comprised of all the people in the congregation who were eligible to vote excluding women and children (1Cor. 14:34-35). Walther also stated in his "Pastoral Theology" that according to THE WORD OF GOD that the congregation is the highest court within its Circle (Matt.18:17 Col. 4:17).¹   Hence the divine authority, institution, and vote of the Congregation are identical to the Voters’ Assembly.^{1 2}  Walther quotes Luther in agreement.^{3 4}

Congregations can and do delegate their God-given authority to govern themselves to others such as , a governing board, a Consistory, an episcopal hierarchy, or an individual such as a CEO, Senior Administrating Pastor, or the Pope. However, the possibility of congregations regaining their God-given right to self governance and ownership of their own properties is rare. The Pope has never returned this authority back to the congregations. The Bible does not speak against slavery but Paul tells us to keep our freedom, if possible(1Cor. 7:2, Gal. 5:1).

SECOND, Can a "divine call" be declined? Absolutely. Walther gives pages of instructions on how to deliberate whether or not to take a call.⁵   Returning a "divine call" to a congregation makes it no less divine. It is not the pastor’s acceptance that makes the "call divine" nor does the congregation cease to exist if the pastoral office is vacant. For Walther⁶ and Luther⁷ the question of "divinity" in the call was really a question of whether the call was valid, legitimate, and regular.

In his "Pastoral Theology", Walther spends 34 pages dealing with the doctrinal stance of the congregation and necessary procedures used in issuing a divine call in order to determine if the call is regular, valid, and legitimate. Only a divinely instituted congregation can issue a divine call. Walther considers all properly issued "calls" as "divine calls." Prayer, calls, and congregations, though divinely instituted, are not sacraments.

Issuing a "call" by the Voters’ Assembly is in the order of a prayer and a direct invitation to the candidate to fill their vacant pastoral office. Christ tells us we should pray that the Lord of the harvest send forth workers into the harvest (Mat. 9:38, Luke 10:2). The Voters pray and then issue a written call because God doesn’t talk directly to the pastor. The divinity of a prayer and a call are based on whether they are valid, legitimate, regular, and exercised in faith. Prayers and calls are good works, not sacraments. God may answer a prayer with "no" because "no" is an answer. A pastor may say "no" to a call. This does not make the prayer or the call less than "divinely instituted." The call is issued by God’s authority to the pastor through the congregation.

Nagel’s understanding that the divinity of the call also includes the pastors’ acceptance of the call must lead Nagel to the conclusion that if a Voters’ Assembly were actually able to issue a "divine call" by itself such a call could not be refused. "Such a ‘divine call’ is not something which can be declined without rebelling against God." (CTQ, July 1995, page 181). Voters’ Assemblies with such power could be a real danger to the clergy. However, Walther had no such opinion about declining a call. "The pastor is not always bound to his first regular call, but he should also not accept any and every call away from his present congregation." ("Pastoral Theology", page 274)

THIRD, Pastor X the Confessor claims that the divinity of the call, is certain after it is received. He thus negates the divine institution of the Voters’ Assembly. Pastor X the Confessor takes us into the convoluted world of both Seminary Systematics Departments where one professor searches for divinity in acceptance of the call and the other Systematics department is eager to publish Nagel’s views. Pastor X the Confessor uses the following quotations from Dr. Nagel’s article in the CTQ to prove his point. Dr. Nagel is an excellent scholar but this particular article will be remembered as his finest work.

"What they did was not by itself clearly divine. They did not ordain. That was done only by the clergy acting in the name of God and according to His mandate. " (Concordia Theological Journal, July, 1995, page 173)

"A call is without doubt divine, but it is not divine all by itself. Nor is ordination divine all by itself. There can be no ordination without the preceding call; no call is operative until put into effect by ordination." (Page 178)

"When it is completed according to the Lord’s words and mandate, it is beyond doubt divine....When all the things were done which make a pastor, no uncertainty remained.... Hence the divine call is the call that emerges as the final result of the election and is recognized at the ordination." (Page 180)

"From the point of all of them having been done, the application of ‘divine’ washes back over the things which were the basis of what followed, until they begin to blur together. The process does not work the other way around. The call recognized at a man’s ordination-and because of which the ordination proceeds-may without doubt then be called divine." (Page 181)

What happened to the Voters’ Assembly issuing a "divine call"? Why do they need the divine back wash? As far as Nagel is concerned, some calls "become" divine and others are "blanks." This is his way to put those Voters in their place, which is anywhere but divinely instituted.

What does Walther say on this issue?  Evidently not what Nagel and Pastor X the Confessor say. For Walther, the divinity of a call depended on whether the call was valid, legitimate, and regular.

"No one should teach or preach publicly in the church or administrate the Sacraments without a regular call." (Pastoral Theology, C.F.W. Walther, CN, fifth edition, 1906, page 16)

"The validity of a call depends on those who extend it having the right and the authority from God to do so." (Page 21)

"Reason and cause from Scripture that the Christian Assembly or Congregation Has the Right and the Authority to Judge All Doctrine and to Call, Install, and Depose Teachers"  (Luther’s Works, Volume 39, American Edition, pages 305-314)

"Neither the examination which one who has been called to the preaching office passes before an appointed commission outside of the calling congregation, nor the ordination which he receives from appointed persons outside the congregation, are what make the call valid." (Pastoral Theology, Walther, Page 44)  However, Walther also goes on to say that examination and ordination are important for the whole church so they can publicly recognize that the call is "legitimate and divine."

"Ordination with the laying on of hands is not a divine institution but only an apostolic, ecclesiastical institution. That needs no proof since Scripture mentions the custom but is silent about any divine institution of it." (Pastoral Theology, Walther Page 47)

"Ordination is an adiaphoron and does not make the call of an office but only confirms them. That has always been the doctrine of all orthodox teachers of our church." (Pastoral Theology, Walther Page 47)

Here are two opposing views. Nagel says above, "...the application of ‘divine’ washed back over the things which were the basis of what followed...."

On the other hand Walther says, "The validity of a call depends on those who extend it having the right and the authority from God to do so."

As Wohlrabe points out, "The power and authority [of the pastoral office] is transferred to the office by way of the call." ("Ministry in Missouri Until 1962" by Dr. John C. Wohlrabe, Jr., 1992, page 15). "In other words, it is alone the divine call extended to them mediately through the local congregation that makes them [pastors] ‘fellow-elders’ of the apostles." (Christian Dogmatics, J.T. Mueller, CPH 1934, page 574)

Walther, who views the Voters’ Assembly as divinely instituted, comes to the startling though correct conclusion that the pastor should ask his Voters’ Assembly if he should take a new call that has been issued to him or remain in the congregation. "...he should not leave his congregation without its explicit agreement unless it would be obvious to everyone that it was absolutely denying its consent out of pure stubbornness, without considering the well being of the church."  (Pastoral Theology" page 274)

Here Walther commits Hyper-Euro-Lutheran heresy. He tells pastors to consult their Voters’ Assemblies about their calls. Loehe would be appalled and Grabau in shock. After all, the Assembly is divinely instituted, and since God gave them the authority to issue him his current call, God can use them again to give the pastor good advice on what to do with the next call. And brothers, let’s give the congregations a break. You all know they can’t fire us without good cause. If they are honorable in regard to our calls they should also be able to advise us to take a call when it comes our way. They may need a change more than we do.

I’m well aware that the above information will not convince Pastor X the Confessor nor Rev. Stefanski, and many others on CAT41’s TableTalk. Just because Walther views the Voters’ Assembly as God’s chosen tribunal and spokesman on earth (Matt.18:17, ...hear the church...) they will continue to believe their calls are divine because they accepted them and they have the "sacrament of ordination."

But let the laity discover here and beware of the growing mythology coming out of both Seminaries in the LCMS that places the pastoral office above the congregation. No church body has ever thrown off the yoke of a caste clergy who received a special indelible character at their sacrament of ordination.

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A note about Endnotes

The endnotes used in this work are linked from the note number in the text to the endnote at the bottom of the page, and vice versa.  In addition, where a note uses "ibid." or "op. cit.", it is linked to the appropriate parent endnote information.
If you use this "ibid." or "op. cit." link, you will need to use the BACK button on your browser to return to the endnote you started with.  From there, you can click on the endnote number to go back to where you were in the text.

1.   "Since, according to God’s Word, the congregation is the highest court within its circle (Matt.18:17 Col. 4:17), and the preacher has church authority only in common with the congregation (Matt. 20-25-26; 23:8; 1Peter.5:1-3; 2Cor.8:8), the preacher must be concerned that the congregational assembly, both regular and special ones as needed at times, be held in Christian order to consider and carry out what is necessary for its governing (Matt. 18:17; 1Cor. 5:4;2 2Cor.2;6 Acts 6:20 15:1-4, 30; 21:17-22; 1Tim.5:20).
"All adult, male members of the congregation have the right to participate actively in the discussion, votes, and decisions of the congregation since that is a right of the whole congregation. See Matt. 18:17-18; Acts 1:15, 23-26; 15:5; 12-13, 22-23; 1Cor:5:2;6:2; 10:15; 12:7;2 2Cor.2:6-8; 2Thess. 3;15. Excluded from the exercise of this right are the youth (1Pet.5:5) and the female members of the congregation (Cor.14:34-35) [see also 1Tim.2:8-15]." (Pastoral Theology by C.F.W. Walther, CN New Haven Mo., 5th Edition 1906 page 257)

2.   "It also belongs in the constitution that the congregation in its own circle is the final and highest court according to Matt. 18:17." ("Pastoral Theology" Walther, Page 264)

3.   [Luther writes] "Here belong the statements of Christ that the keys are given to the whole church and to some special persons, as the text says: ‘Where two or three are gathered together in My name , there am I in the midst of them’ [Matt. 18:20]. Finally, this is also confirmed by the statement of Peter: ‘Ye are ...a royal priesthood’ [1Pet.2:9]. These words apply to the church, which because it alone has the priesthood, must also have the authority to elect and ordain ministers of the church." (Luther quoted in "Pastor Theology" by C.F.W. Walther Page 22)

4.   "If the votes are equal, it may not be advisable for the pastor or the president to decide the matter by his vote. "...("Pastor Theology", Walther Page 259)

5.   "The Decision About a Call:" "4.[The pastor] should not easily decide for himself but should consult for the decision both his present congregation and the one that is calling him away as well as learned theologians (Prov. 12:15);" (Pastoral Theology, Walther, page 274)

6.   "A Lutheran candidate can, in good conscience, accept as valid and legitimate the call to be the pastor of a congregation only if the congregation states:...." (Walther lists seven items.) (Pastoral Theology page 31)

7.   [Luther] "To a good work there belongs a certain, divine call, and not one’s own devotion, which is called one’s own notions." (Pastoral Theology, Walther, Glosses on the Intended Imperial Edict; Walch, XVI, 2061. page 16)

August 9, 1999
Revised September 28, 1999