Criticism of Voter
Supremacy Continues at ACL 2001 Banquet.
The April 2001 Association of Confessional Lutheran's banquet speaker, Rev.
Eric Stefanski, stated that those who insist on voters' assemblies in LCMS
congregations are causing schism in the church.
This writer was given the honor of public roasting at both the 2000 and
2001 Fort Wayne Symposium Banquets for promoting voters' assemblies. From the
tone of these banquets, voters' assemblies are the greatest threat to LCMS
parish pastors.
There were at least three songs sung about me at the seminary alumni and
perspective student reception. One song was titled "Jack the Lutheran
Pastor" sung to the tune of "Puff the Magic Dragon." The chorus
kept repeating, "Jack, the Lutheran pastor who hates the papacy, And
frolicked in the Walther myth of voters' supremacy." For the other songs
and lyrics against voters' assemblies see our January 24, 2001 release,
"Increased Polarization To Mark 2001 LC-MS Convention."
Voters' assemblies and this writer were also the subject of ridicule and
humor by at least half the speakers at the 2000 meeting of the Association of
Confessional Lutherans in Chicago. The banquet speaker, Rev. Clement Preus,
also dedicated his entire paper to a humorous roast of this writer's support
for voters' assemblies.
At the 2001 meeting of the Association of Confessional Lutherans, once
again the main agenda of the banquet speaker, Rev. Eric Stefanski, was focused
against this writer for supporting supreme congregational voters' assemblies.
Stefanski is the Webmaster of CAT 41. Stefanski's intent was to remake Walther
into the champion of multiple-choice congregational government instead of
voter supremacy.
Stefanski Rewrites
LCMS History to Oppose Voters' Assemblies.
First, Stefanski set up a straw man, as if I have said that God not was
supreme or that the pastor is not called by God through the congregation.
Second, Stefanski also cited Robert Preus, John Drickamer, John Wohlrabe,
and Kurt Marquart as Walther scholars who agreed with his position. The truth
is, neither Preus nor Marquart have ever presented themselves as Walther
scholars. It is not right to misrepresent the dead. Doctor John Drickamer
attended the first "National Free Conference On C. F. W. Walther" in
St. Louis, in November of 1999. He died about a month later. Drickamer heard
my paper proving that voter supremacy was Walther's polity for all LCMS
congregations and he agreed with my position. My endorsement is also on the
back of his translation of Walther's "Pastoral Theology" under Dr.
Robert Preus's endorsement.
There is no question that God is supreme and God calls the pastor through
the congregation. But unless God is conducting the meeting, the voters make
the final determination on calls, doctrine, and practice in the congregation.
If they reject God's Word, they are no longer a true visible church. The
pastor doesn't stand in for God in the absence of God's visible presence.
During his address, Stefanski stated verbatim as recorded on tape:
"After Dr. Feuerhahn's presentation the leader of 'Reclaiming Walther'
came up to me to warmly welcome me and remind me that the voters are supreme.
Rather than responding simply no, no, no, Christ and His Word are supreme, as
I have tried to respond in the past; I would like to contextualize the answer
in terms of what doctor Feuerhahn was presenting about."
"And simply say that these terms have to be spoken fully. That God is
supreme. That it is by God that the pastor is called through the congregation
by means of its voters' assembly. Because, if we mess with that terminology,
it is very much the same that change of terminology 'by grace through faith'
into something else. It has to be said fully or it is not correct."
It is true, I did whisper behind Stefanski's ear before the banquet,
"The voter's are supreme." His body trembled. However, Stefanski
left out the part where he turned around and said, "I'm going to get you
tonight" as if I didn't know what was coming or what the ACL had planned.
Fort Wayne and the ACL are always careful to criticize only when there is no
opportunity for rebuttal.
Stefanski Claims
Schismatics Mandate Voter Supremacy in LCMS.
Again we continue to quote Stefanski from the tape: "What Walther
actually said once again is an 1848 Synodical report, 'In our Evangelical
Lutheran Church we must preach to our congregations that the choice of polity
is an inalienable part of our Christian freedom and that Christians are
subjected to no authority in the world concerning the structure of the church.
The polity of the congregation having been not determined by divine mandate is
not able to be forced into any particular form by adoption of a rule by any
human organization such as Synod Convention.'"
"It is as Walther says, an inalienable part of their Christian
liberty. If one says otherwise a true Waltherian has to declare such a person
to be SCHISMACTIC. Because this is an attempt to supplant God's Word, for that
of men to the great detriment of our Synod at this point in time."
In a reversal of the truth, Stefanski tried claim that Walther said LCMS
congregations aren't required to have voters' assemblies.
After hearing Stefanski, one would conclude that Walther had never written
his "Pastoral Theology" and the "The Right Form an Evangelical
Lutheran Congregation Independent of the State" which both explain that
voters' assemblies are the final and supreme tribunal in the congregation as
the only form of governance for all LCMS congregations.
The full speech from Walther's 1848 address as translated by Rev. Paul F.
Koehneke in the April 1960 "Concordia Historical Institute
Quarterly" can be found here. Nowhere does
Walther use the words, "polity" "convention"
"freedom" or "mandate" just to name of few that Stefanski
claims are Walther's words. Of course, he may have made up his own creative
and edited translation above.
The following is the actual citation from Walther without Stefanski's
revisions: "In our Evangelical Lutheran Church, however, we must preach
to our congregations that the choice of the form of government for a church is
an inalienable part of their Christian liberty and that Christians as members
of the church are subject to no power in the world except the clear Word of
the living God."
When Walther says, "In our Evangelical Lutheran Church…", he
means all of Lutheranism, not just the Missouri Synod. The LCMS was not the
only Synod, but it intended to practice congregational self-government.
On the same page, just prior to the quote cited by Stefphanski, Walther
says that consistories and Episcopal hierarchies won't work in America and
that congregations must govern themselves. He certainly wasn't saying the LCMS
congregations were free to adopt their own consistories or Episcopal
hierarchies.
In his speech Walther stated: "Perhaps there are times and conditions
when it is profitable for the church to place the supreme deciding and
regulating power into the hands of representatives. Who, for instance, would
deny that at one time the consistories in our German fatherland were an
inestimable blessing, especially when the prophecy of Isaiah was being
fulfilled in the German Lutheran Church: 'And kings shall be thy nursing
fathers, and their queens thy nursing mothers' (ch. 49, v.23)? Which person
acquainted a bit with history would deny that the Swedish church grew
splendidly under its episcopal constitution, especially so long as men like
Laurentius Petri, the famous Swedish translator of the Bible and student of
Luther, bore the episcopal dignity, and so long as men like the two Gustavuses
wore the royal crown of Sweden? If, however, we glance at the conditions in
which the church finds itself here, we can hardly consider any other
constitution as the most salutary except one under which the congregations are
free to govern themselves but enter into a Synodical organization such as the
one existing among us with the help of God, for enjoying fraternal
consultation, supervision, and aid to spread the kingdom of God jointly and to
make possible and accomplish the aims of the church in general."
LCMS Constitution,
Article VII Mandates Congregational Self-government.
According to Article VII of the LCMS Handbook, congregations govern
themselves. The pastor is not the government; he is a member of Synod. The
voters are the church government. Therefore, supreme voters' assemblies must
govern congregations or they can't possibly be governing themselves!
The following are quotations from just seven LCMS congregational
constitutions from this writer's files. There were thousands more like them.
"The supreme authority in all congregational and religious affairs is
vested in the congregation." Saint Paul's Lutheran Church, Lakewood,
Ohio. (Founded 1905)
"The Congregation through its Voting Assembly as a body shall have the
supreme power in the external and internal administration and management of it
own ecclesiastical and congregational affairs." Resurrection Lutheran
Church, Detroit, Michigan. Founded (1947)
"The voting membership as a body shall have the supreme power in the
external and internal administration and management of its own ecclesiastical
and congregational affairs." St. Paul's Lutheran Church, Cullman,
Alabama.
"The congregation as a whole shall have supreme power in all matters
pertaining to their congregation." St. Peter Evangelical Lutheran Church
of Macomb Michigan. (Founded 1882)
"The congregation as a whole has the power of the Office of the Keys
and therefore it has the supreme power in all matters pertaining to the
purpose and objectives of the Congregation." St. Paul's Lutheran Church,
St. Clair Shores, MI. (Founded 1926)
"In general, the Voters' Assembly as a body shall have supreme power
to administer and manage all its external and internal affairs." Redeemer
Lutheran Church, St. Clair Shores, MI. (Founded 1921)
"The congregational assembly shall decided all matters relating to the
church or church affairs and every member may appeal to it regarding any
matter relating to the affairs and government of this church. These decisions
shall be final and binding." St. John's Lutheran Church, Orange
California (Founded 1882)
PLI and Stefanski
Equally Opposed to Voter Supremacy.
While meeting with Dr. Norbert Oesch of The Pastor Leadership Institute, in
California, in December of 2000, Oesch claimed PLI did not teach Walther; he
said identifying the voters' assemblies as the "final tribunal" was
inflammatory language, and that congregations are not identified as true
visible churches because of the voters' profession of faith. The LCMS Council
of District Presidents, under the leadership of President Arleigh Lutz has
committed itself to promoting PLI.
Surprisingly, both PLI and Stefanski are equally opposed to mandatory
congregational voters' assemblies in all LCMS congregations. They may arrive
at their conclusions from different perspectives but the results are the same.
If they sat down together they might be surprised how much they have in
common.