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Atlantic District President, David Benke, continues to be a much sought
after speaker for LCMS gatherings and others across the United States.
In his interview with the Omaha World-Herald, Benke continues to defend his
prayer with non-Christians as evangelism.
The article states, "He agreed that prayer is an act of worship - a key
point made by critics. " Reclaim News has been one of those
critics.
On 9/16/02 Reclaim News wrote: "If Benke's prayer was not an act of
worship, then he was not praying. It was all a media fraud. If
prayer is an act of worship, then Benke did indeed violate Article VI 2
because he participated in a 'prayer service'
(as they called it) with pagan clergy."
Under the Kieschnick administration the LCMS has redefined itself as a
church body that participates with pagan clergy in public worship services.
Published Friday March 7, 2003
Pastor not backing down over 9/11 prayer
BY TODD VON KAMPEN
Omaha
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER
SEWARD, Neb. - The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod must not hold itself at
arm's length from the world if it expects to fulfill Christ's mission, said
a church leader at the heart of a major controversy in the conservative
religious body.
The Rev. David Benke, suspended president of the synod's Atlantic District,
didn't dodge questions Thursday about his prayer at a post-Sept. 11
interfaith event. Benke lectured at Concordia University, describing his
congregations' responses to the World Trade Center attacks.
He said the disaster and his 30 years of ministry in New York City's melting
pot help explain why he joined non-Lutheran clergy at "A Prayer for
America" at Yankee Stadium - an act that led to his suspension and
could result in his defrocking.
Missouri Synod Lutherans can take advantage of unusual opportunities to
spread the Gospel without violating the beliefs that the 156-year-old church
body holds dear, Benke told about 500 people during the annual Martin and
Regina Maehr Lecture.
That included not only the Yankee Stadium event of Sept. 23, 2001, but the
continuing work of Lutheran Disaster Response of New York to help repair the
physical and emotional wounds from the attacks, he said.
"We are placed as baptismal children of God in the world to engage the
world," Benke said. "We're not running from the world; we're
running to the world. We love the world because God does."
The outcome of the Missouri Synod's sometimes bitter debate over the Yankee
Stadium prayer may be crucial to the effectiveness of the 2.5-million-member
church body, Benke said.
"I've found among younger and some veteran clergy, there is a move away
from the world, away from ecumenical partnerships," he said after the
lecture. "I don't think it is what Christians should do."
The synod's most conservative wing has attacked Benke for giving the Yankee
Stadium prayer and synod President Gerald Kieschnick for approving it.
Kieschnick took office three days before the Sept. 11 attacks.
Both men, who toured the trade center ruins and then prayed with Evangelical
Lutheran Church in America leaders, were formally charged with mingling
Christian and non-Christian beliefs and worshipping with Christians who
don't share the synod's interpretation of the Bible.
A synod panel dismissed charges against Kieschnick, but Benke was suspended
as district president last June by Second Vice President Wallace Schulz.
If Schulz's decision stands, Benke - who remains pastor of St. Peter
Lutheran Church in Brooklyn - would be dismissed as a Missouri Synod pastor.
A ruling is pending in Benke's appeal to a dispute resolution board, synod
spokesman David Strand said Thursday.
Some of Benke's critics have sought to link his views with those who left
the synod after the 1974 walkout of most faculty members and students at
Concordia Seminary in St. Louis. Biblical authority and inter-Christian
relations were key points in that dispute.
Benke, who graduated from the St. Louis seminary in 1972, stoutly aligned
himself with the synod's stands against abortion and ordination of
homosexuals as pastors. He has not favored women's ordination, he
said, "but the grounds of the discussion have to change" about
which ministerial roles women can properly fill in the synod.
He agreed that prayer is an act of worship - a key point made by critics -
but contended that doesn't bar Lutherans from praying with non-Lutherans
outside regular worship as long as they don't have to muzzle their message.
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