Many lay people have written to Reclaim News about the abuse of authority by pastors and/or boards in the congregation who assume control over the Voters' Assembly or simply remove the authority of the Voters' Assembly.

This is happening because uninformed Voters' Assemblies are no longer aware of the battles that were fought and won to preserve Voter Supremacy in all LCMS congregations from 1841-1866 between the Missouri and Buffalo Synods

Today this abuse of authority usually occurs in LCMS congregations for one of two reasons. First, the congregation has surrendered its authority to the pastor/CEO and/or a corporate style board of directors according to the tenets of the Church Growth Movement and Leadership Training.

Second, as in the case of Missouri vs. Buffalo, the pastor teaches that his ordination gives him control of the Office of the Keys, that is forgiveness of sins, excommunication, and doctrine in the congregation.

The Keys, are the authority Christ gave to the church to forgive sins or refuse to forgive sins in His name, hence, they are also the authority to accept new members or excommunicate members who do not follow correct doctrine or life. The Word of God is always supreme. But will it be the congregation or the pastor that makes the final judgment based on the Word of God?

From 1841 till 1866, the Missouri Synod, led by Walther, and the Buffalo Synod, led by Grabau, debated who had the authority to forgive sins, judge doctrine, and excommunicate in the congregation.

Walther said the congregation gave the pastor the authority to administer the Keys but the congregation continues to control the Keys. Grabau said the pastor, not the congregation, was the final authority in matters of forgiveness, doctrine, and excommunication. Walther said the Voters' Assembly or Congregational Assembly was the final authority in the congregation. Grabau described the Voters' Assembly as a self-serving anarchistic mob.

For the 75th Anniversary of the Missouri Synod, Concordia Publishing House published "1847-Ebenezer-1922." This 536-page volume contains a remarkable article on pages 124 through 139 by Rev. Arthur Both of Chicago, IL, titled, "The Missouri Synod and the Buffalo Synod."

The following quotations from Both's article in "Ebenezer" detail the debate between Missouri and Buffalo in a section titled "Regarding the Office of the Keys":

"Buffalo said: Christ did not give the keys of the kingdom of heaven to the Church and to each true believer, but solely and exclusively to the pastors. [Grabau wrote] 'If, now, the members of the Lutheran congregation should fancy that they possess the Office of the Keys by virtue of their own personal anointment and spiritual state of grace, i.e., their spiritual priesthood, that would be the same enthusiasm (Schwarmgeist) which possesses the Roman Pope, who asserts that in the shrine of his heart, because of the most holy unction of his person, the office and the power of the keys are deposited by Christ.'" (Infromatorium, I, 37.) [Here Grabau compares Voters' Assemblies with the Pope who gives himself authority over congregations while Grabau claims the pastor is the real authority in the congregation.] (Ebenezer p.129)

[Again Grabau writes] "The multitude of the local congregation [that is Voters' Assembly] shall not have the highest and final jurisdiction, but the multitude of the apostles and at present the persons engaged in the holy ministry." (Inf., II, 5.6.)-"It is therefore not for the congregation to judge and to command and to declare that the sinner is to be held as an heathen man and a publican." (Second Pastoral Letter by Grabau, p.28.) (Ebenezer p.130) [In the absence of the Apostles Grabau believed that only the pastors possessed the right to forgive sins in the church.]

[Again Grabau writes] "It is just as erroneous to teach that in case of doubt regarding the use of the key of excommunication [the key down to hell] or of absolution [the key up to heaven] the decision which key must be used rests with the congregation..Enough of these anabaptistico - democratic follies!" (Second Pastoral Letter by Grabau p.16) (Ebenezer p.130) [Grabau taught that the apostles and the pastors decided excommunication and that the Voters' Assembly was a mob.]

Both explains, "Buffalo called the doctrine [taught by Missouri] 'that the pastor, by reason of his office, does not possess the power of the keys exclusively, but each congregational member possesses it also,' a 'false pietistical doctrine.' 'We know,' Buffalo said, 'that the members of a congregation do not have in their midst and for their benefit the power of the Keys, except in the holy ministry and in the present rightful pastors.'" (Third Pastoral Letter, by Grabau p. 14) (Ebenezer p.130) [Grabau states Missouri's position and then argues that Missouri is wrong because the Keys are only present in the congregation in the person of the pastor.]

Both further explains that, "Also in its most recent publication, 'Beleuchtung und Widerlegung,' the Buffalo Synod rejects the true doctrine of the divine Word regarding the Office of the Keys as false. On pages 22 and 23 Buffalo says: 'Missouri argues thus: Christ gives the highest and final jurisdiction to the Church; consequently each local congregation, be it large or small, has the highest and the final jurisdiction within its parish, therefore also the jurisdiction over the publicly impenitent sinners. The holy ministry has nothing to do with all this, and is in reality no further concerned with it beyond publicly, in the name of the community, i.e., in the stead, name, and by the command of the congregation, excommunicating the sinner after the spiritual priests have decided that this must be done. Not the pastor has the right to excommunicate, but the congregation, and it really is the congregation which excommunicates the sinner, the pastor acting only as its mouth. This false Missourian doctrine of excommunication, or Office of the Keys, flows from its [Missouri's] false doctrine regarding the Ministry.'" (Ebenezer p.130) [Grabau misrepresents Missouri's position and then calls Missouri's position false doctrine. Missouri always taught that the pastor has a voice in the Voters' Assembly but the congregation possesses the final authority.]

Missouri Responds: "The Word of God, on the contrary, teaches, Matt. 18: 17-20: 'And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church; but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and as a publican. Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of My Father which is in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them.'" (Ebenezer p.131)

"According to this clear statement of the Word of God a true Lutheran synod teaches: 'That these Keys have been given to the whole Church originally and immediately [directly by God], i.e., not mediately, through the ordained pastor, and indeed in such a way that they belong in like measure to every congregation, the smallest as well as the largest, this, in the first place, the public Confessions of our Church attest in clear words.'" (Ebenezer p.131) [In other words, Missouri says God gives His power directly to the congregation and not to the congregation through the pastor.]

"Thus we read in the First Appendix to the Smalcald Articles [of the Lutheran Confessions]: 'Moreover, it must ever be confessed that the Keys were not given, nor do they belong, to one man alone, but to the whole Church, since this can be definitely established with clear and sure reasons. For just as the promise of the Gospel surely and immediately belongs to the whole Church (the Latin text reads: principaliter et immediate, i.e., originally and without means [directly from God]), even so the Keys belong to the whole Church immediately, [directly from God] because the Keys are nothing else than the office through which this promise is appropriated to every one who desires it, just as the common practice shows that the Church has the power to ordain pastors. And Christ says in connection with these words; 'Whatsoever ye shall bind,' etc., indicating thereby to whom He has given the Keys, namely the Church: 'Where two or three are gathered together in My name, etc.'" (Die rechte Gestalt, etc., The Form of the Christian Congregation p.15.) (Ebenezer p.131) [The Lutheran Confessions above teach that God gives His power directly to the congregation, which is proven by the fact that the congregation ordains the pastor, and the pastor does not create the congregation.]

We thank God for Grabau because he helped unify Missouri into the largest congregational church body in the world. By the grace of God, may the Voters be supreme in every LCMS congregation and may the Voters be careful to govern their congregations according to God's word.

Without constant Voters' Assemblies will loose everything and an army of Grabaus will run the Synod. With the governance of Voter Supremacy, the LCMS grew to 4000 congregations in its first hundred years and 6000 congregations by its 125th anniversary.