Lay people in the LCMS should be advised that neither of the Synodical Seminaries now agree with the original and official polity of the LCMS. At stake is control of LCMS doctrine and the deeds to the congregations. The LCMS is the largest denomination in the world whose laity actually own and operate their church property.

Many graduates from both seminaries no longer view Voters' Assemblies as supreme. They encourage their congregations to adopt Church Growth/Board of Directors style constitutions promoting cooperate hierarchy or constitutions promoting pre-Waltherian 19th century European Lutheran hierarchy.

The St. Louis Seminary faculty was polled on Voter Supremacy, as was the faculty at Fort Wayne. At Fort Wayne, six of the thirty-three faculty agreed with Voter Supremacy in LCMS congregations. At St. Louis, three of the fifty faculty agreed with Voter Supremacy.

Reverend David Anderson, Chairman of the Board of Regents at Fort Wayne responded that the faculty at Fort Wayne was not going to speak to the issue and that the opinion of the six who agreed should be disregarded.

Anderson had previously stated that all the faculty agreed with Voter Supremacy.

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May 10, 2000

Dear Professor Emeritus, Professor, Associate Professor, and/or Assistant Professor:

In a letter dated April 3, 2000, the entire faculty of Concordia Theological Seminary Fort Wayne was polled on Voter Supremacy at the invitation of the Fort Wayne Chairman of the Board of Regents, Rev. David Anderson.

When I questioned whether the Fort Wayne faculty taught its students that LCMS Congregations practice Voter Supremacy, Rev. David Anderson was kind enough to respond with a letter on January 24th that included the following words:

"I talked with a number of our professors at CTS this past week and found no one who teaches or who knows anyone who teaches that the congregational Voters' Assembly is not supreme. If you know someone who does, it would seem to be the Christian thing to approach that brother privately and talk to him about it. If he listens to you, you have won your brother (Matt. 18:15). Having thus done all I can to run down the basis for your rumors, I asked Dr. Weinrich to reply to your questions.

What bothers me the most is that a few people, at least will believe your charges without checking whether they are true. It seems that you are Ralph Bohlmann's successor, seeking to destroy the greatest seminary in the world."

At this time, six members of the faculty at Fort Wayne including the Fifth Vice President of the LCMS have agreed with our congregation's inquiry. A number of the faculty have disagreed and I have yet to receive any response from Dr. Weinrich as Rev. Anderson indicated that I would.

A number of questions have been raised about the fairness of polling one faculty but not the other. Therefore the same question that was posed to the Fort Wayne faculty is respectfully being posed to the St. Louis faculty.

The motivation for this poll is that a number of graduates appear to be confused on whether the LCMS has any official polity for LCMS congregations, namely Voter Supremacy. Is it because the Synodical Seminary faculties no longer agree with Walther's Voter Supremacy or have influences outside the Seminary caused this confusion?

The following are the three quotations on Voters' Assemblies sent to the Fort Wayne faculty on which they were polled for agreement or disagreement. Before you read them it is understood that your agreement or disagreement with these quotations does not imply agreement or disagreement with any other writings of these authors nor with the author of this letter. Obviously, "the all adult male members" to whom Perlich refers was changed by the 1969 LCMS Convention. But, with the 1969 Convention adoption of woman suffrage did we also remove Voter Supremacy as the only polity of the LCMS? Did we actually change from male suffrage to limited or no suffrage?

"Finally the congregation is represented as the supreme tribunal, Matt.18:15-18...." Note 7 on p 29 refers to this using the term 'highest jurisdiction' and referring in turn to the 'Power and Primacy Of the Pope,' 'highest and final jurisdiction to the church..' (Form of the Christian Congregation, C.F.W Walther, CPH, St. Louis, 1989, p.24)

"In public church affairs nothing should be concluded without the vote and consent of the congregation." (Form of the Christian Congregation, C.F.W Walther, CPH, St. Louis, 1989, p.48)

"A. The Voters' Meeting: If the congregation is to function and fully exercise its divinely imposed rights and duties in a conscientious, profitable, and God-pleasing manner, it must, in the first place, hold public church assemblies in which it considers and determines all things that are necessary for its special church management. Such public executive church assemblies Christ presupposes when He commands Matt. 18:17-18 'Tell it unto the church.' Such executive assemblies were generally maintained in the first Christian congregations, as the Book of Acts records, 1:15. 23-25, Acts 15:5: 23. We call these assemblies, voters' meetings, for we admit to them as authorized to vote only the adult male members of the church. Since the final authority in all matters is vested in the congregation and not in a few members of the congregation, it would seem evident that all of the members of the congregation are responsible for what the congregation does. But God Himself has made certain restrictions." ('The Abiding Word' CPH, 1947,Vol. II, page 460 "The Lutheran Congregation" by G. Perlich)

All that is requested is that you return the self-addressed, stamped postcard and check off "yes" or "no" to the statement, "I am in full agreement with the quotations from Walther and Perlich in this letter" and then sign your name. The "yes" or "no" only refers to the question of congregational Voter Supremacy.

In addition to the three quotations sent to the faculty at Fort Wayne a few more quotations are included for your information. However, to keep the polling identical you are only being asked about your agreement or disagreement with the above three quotations.

"The removal of Martin Stephan on May 30, 1839, and all the misery that followed that event gave the laymen the necessary jolt to press for lay participation in the government of the Church. This misery drove them into the writings of Luther, and here the laymen found the weapons which they needed to win the battle for congregational supremacy from the power-jealous pastors." ("Government in the Missouri Synod," by Dr. Carl S. Mundinger, CPH, St. Louis, 1947 p 205)

"When Christ our Lord says: 'Tell it to the church,' He confers upon the local congregation the final and supreme authority to excommunicate a former brother when that becomes necessary." ("Abiding Word, E.J. Otto," Vol. II. p 555.)

"The Congregation, Not the Pastor, Has Supreme and Final Jurisdiction.--In accordance with the Scriptures (see texts quoted in previous paragraph) Our Confessions say:--'Christ gives supreme and final jurisdiction to the church when he says: "Tell it unto the church.'" (Smalcald Articles, Of the Power and Primacy of the Pope. Trigl.,p.511.) ("Pastoral Theology," John Fritz, CPH 1932, page 314)

Walther regularly quotes the Lutheran Confessions on this point as follows: "In 1 Cor. 3, 6, Paul makes ministers equal, and teaches that the church is above the ministers." (Treatise, Concordia Triglotta, page 507, par. 11)

"Likewise Christ gives supreme and final jurisdiction to the Church, when He says: 'Tell I to the Church.'" (Treatise, Concordia Triglotta 511 par. 24) (The word "supreme " is missing from the Concordance to the Lutheran Confessions at this citation.)

As we pursue this survey on LCMS polity, regardless of pastor or Voter Supremacy, the Word of God is and must always reign supreme in His church. The existence of Voter Supremacy does not imply Voter Infallibility any more than the existence of the pastoral office implies Pastoral Infallibility. Polity is simply how we plan to structure ourselves in the church as we all live under the supremacy of God's Word.

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Yours in Christ,

Pastor Jack M. Cascione