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Speakers Will Address the
Future of the LCMS at the Fourth National Free
Conference on C. F. W. Walther
by Rev.
Jack Cascione
The ultimate two questions of church government are,
"What is going to be preached from the pulpit on Sunday
Morning?" and "Who is to decide who is going to preach in the
pulpit on Sunday morning?"
The current divisions in the Synod over authority, clergy hierarchy, Board's of
Directors, CEO-pastors, voters' assemblies, and the right of the laity to govern
their church and judge doctrine are at the heart of the controversies in
the LCMS today.
Will it be trickle-down-leadership or do the lay people have a God-given right
to govern their congregations and the Synod? Ultimately the Doctrine of
Justification is at stake.
Montana District President, Dr. George
Wollenburg, will be the keynote speaker. Wollenburg was the
Chairman of Floor Committee Seven at the 2001LCMS Convention.
It was Wollenburg who brought Resolution 7-17A to the Convention floor: there solution
to reaffirm Walther's "Church and Ministry" as the official position of the LCMS.
Wollenburg will speak on: "The General Subject of Church and
Ministry." November of the LCMS clergy has so clearly
articulated and identified himself with this subject since Walther wrote
the book.
We recommend that LCMS lay people hear what Wollenburg has to say on this subject.
Congressman Dannemeyer of Fullerton California, will speak on, "The
Need For Equal Representation for Lay People At LCMS District and National Conventions."
Congressman William Dannemeyer, of Orange County, California, has studied the
current structure of Floor Committees at LCMS Conventions. As an attorney,
a six-term United States Congressman, congregational president, LCMS
Convention delegate, and Convention observer, Dannemeyer concludes that the
outcome of current LCMS Convention process is unfairly predetermined by the
clergy.
Under the current structure, laypeople have virtually no voice in which resolutions
are brought to the Convention floor.
Reverend Robert Hill of Texas
will speak on "Walther's Understanding of the Christian family."
Walther wrote extensively on the subject of home and family. Not
only is Rev. Hill well versed in Walther's writings on the family, Hill
has also written and published extensively on the subject.
The current confusion over the definition of the family in America highlights
how important this subject is for our home, state, and church today.
Reverend Rolf Preus of the ELS will speak on the Office of the Ministry in the
Synodical Conference with the title, "Did Jesus Institute the
Pastoral Office?"
The ELS recently declined adoption of the WELS position on "Church and Ministry"
in its June 2002 Convention.
We will be interested to hear Preus's views on the pastoral office.
Walther originally taught that by God's authority, Christian lay people may organize
themselves in a congregation and issue a legitimate and valid, divine call
for a man to serve as their pastor.
Currently, a number of LCMS clergy reject Walther's teaching and have adopted
Loehe's teaching that the congregation is an extension of the
pastoral office. Without a pastor, it is impossible to form a
congregation.
For a third position on the pastoral ministry, the WELS teaches that many different
church professionals share a "form of the pastoral ministry" and
that the pastoral office is not a unique one-of-a-kind office instituted by Christ.
Doctor Louis Brighton, a
distinguished Professor of Exegesis at Concordia Seminary St. Louis and
noted author, will speak on the subject of the alarming decline in
Biblical knowledge among LCMS clergy.
Brighton's title, "The Decline in Pastoral Biblical Studies Threatens
The Future of Walther's Structure For The LCMS."
Brighton is deeply concerned that too many pastors are dedicating too much time
to administrative and other duties when they should be spending half of their
time studying the Bible and theology. Brighton believes pastors should
spend the other half of their time preaching, teaching, and visiting.
In other words, Pastors need to spend more time being prophets, not CEO's.
Walther's understanding of the congregation was that knowledgeable pastors should
teach the lay people correct doctrine and practice.
The loss of this emphasis on doctrine and practice must inevitably lead to the
loss of the LCMS as originally envisioned by Walther because the lay people will not be properly trained.
Reverend Jack Cascione will
speak on the subject of "Luther On Church and Ministry in His Genesis
Commentary: Did Luther Change?" Many LCMS clergy are convinced
that the "late Luther" changed his mind on the doctrine of Church
and Ministry.
Cascione will show that Luther did not change his earlier position on
which Walther based his writings, but that Luther developed his position
into a much more comprehensive view of home, state, and church.
Lay people and clergy must recognize that Walther's position on
"Church and Ministry" is identical with that of Luther's.
Resolution 7-17A describes Luther's understanding of the congregation.
Reverend Herman Otten will be the
banquet speaker. His paper is titled:" The LCMS And Walther
Today."
Otten is the most extensively published living Lutheran in the world
today.
Otten will trace the Synod's current problem with "Church and
Ministry" as a direct result of Seminex Theology that infected the
LCMS in the 1960's. He will then identify the kind of candidates the
2004 LCMS Convention will need to elect if we are going to reclaim
Walther's understanding of Synod as adopted in Resolution 7-17A.
The Fourth National Free Conference on C.F.W. Walther will be held on Friday,
November 1, 1:00 p.m. through Saturday, November 2, 12:30p.m., at:
Hope Lutheran Church,
10701 St. Cosmas Lane
St. Ann, MO 63074
(314-429-3808)
Hope is about 2 and 1/2 miles from St. Louis's Lambert International Airport.
Send a registration fee of $30.00 to
Hope Lutheran Church and an additional $10.00 for the banquet.
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01/25/04
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