Barry: A+ On Church and Ministry, However…
By Rev. Jack Cascione

On January 14, a number of us met with President Barry, and First Vice President Kuhn.

After expressing our concerns for more than two hours President Barry assured us that he would look into our concerns and take action. Obviously, no details as to the type of action he would were given.

On Thursday February 3, we were told that President Barry had placed a 17-page paper he wrote in 1997 on his webpage titled "Church and Ministry".

The paper is without question outstanding. Barry writes with total ease on the subject. He addresses difficult situations, summarizes concepts, and presents often-problematic issues in simple terms. One is reminded of Robert Prues' skill in presenting the Doctrine of Justification.

Congregations are struggling with the question of authority in the congregation. Who owns the Office of the Keys, that is who has the right to forgive sins in the congregation? Barry writes: "But as to the keys which pastors administer as bearers of the office, these keys are none other than the same keys which Christ first gave to His Church and to all members of the Church. Pastors employ these keys, by God's command, as a matter of public responsibility."

There, he said it. Every member holds the Office of the Keys but every member does not hold the pastoral office.

Who says this is so? Barry writes: "This remains the official position of The Lutheran Church -Missouri Synod, and I submit that all of us within our Synod would do well to take this position to heart even after almost 150 years of history."

Therefore, ordination cannot give the pastor any more spiritual blessings than each member already possesses.

Barry quotes Luther in the Large Catechism about the importance of the lay people absolving each other. "It continues, 'Thus by divine ordinance Christ himself has entrusted absolution to his Christian church and has commanded us to absolve one another from sins.'" In other words, laypeople are just as effective in forgiving each other in Christ's name as when the pastor forgives them in Christ's name.

This is such an excellent point. Many don't realize how radical Luther was in defending the priesthood of all believers.

Where are some of the areas where the priesthood of all believers is under attack in the LCMS?

Barry brings up three current aberrations:

1. Communion, which is only to be administered by the pastor, is still Communion, if consecrated by a layman. Barry's point is that Word of God, not the pastor validates the sacraments.
2. The forgiveness of sins is conveyed by whoever speaks God's Word correctly not just pastors.
3. The pastor is an ambassador of Jesus, not Jesus.

Barry calls these problems rumors. They are more than rumors. At the last installation I attended, a pastor blessed the candidate with the words, "The Word became flesh and dwelt among us."

I also have in my possession written statements from dozens of LCMS pastors calling themselves "Father" instead of pastor. A number claim the confessional right to do it.

Barry illustrates both the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers as well as the creation of the pastoral office from the words of Christ . He consistently speaks about the priesthood of all believers in terms of a spiritual gift and the Pastoral ministry as an "office" and not a second set of spiritual gifts.

As I read his paper, I asked myself why is he so clear, why is this subject so easy for him to master, where many others in the Synod are confused?

Barry says "Another high privilege and responsibility of laypeople is to judge the doctrine taught in their churches, taught by their pastors." If more pastors would develop their members' skills in judging doctrine, it would result in greater unity in the LCMS.

Barry brings up Luther's view that Stephan's and Philip's proclamation of God's Word did not make them pastors. The Apostles were concerned about finding people to clean tables, but God wanted more Christians to spread the Gospel.

In support of Barry's position, he might also have brought up the woman at the well. She was neither an evangelist, pastor, apostle, elder, head of her household, nor a Jew, yet this woman, armed with Scripture, brought much of the town out to Christ. Did she need and office? No. Like every Christian she is a member of the priesthood of all believers. The power is and always remains in the Word. While she went into town, Christ lectured the Apostles on the importance of evangelism. When she returned, His illustration was complete.

Barry writes: "When we are thinking of the privileges and responsibilities of the universal priesthood, we also should not omit that laypeople both can and should speak about Jesus Christ with their families, friends, and neighbors."

Barry is not one sided on this issue. He also wants to defend the office of the pastoral ministry as God created it.

He states: "Earlier I alluded to the 'hire and fire' mind-set which in our culture is fueled by radical equality and individualism. I am genuinely troubled by this growing attitude that I find among many congregations."

Again he writes: "For instance, Christians who are unprepared, uncertified, and uncalled can all too easily begin to assume the public role and responsibilities of the pastor. If they are not satisfied with his 'performance,' or if he has frustrated them by telling them something they do not wish to hear, they may start thinking about 'firing' him and 'hiring' another. Or, interestingly, they may begin to conceive of the Church on the model of a business in which they own stock but in which they have little or no active involvement unless they want to."

We don't need extra powers to make the pastoral office, that God has created, effective. God always uses what He creates for His purpose. If people don't want to follow the office of the ministry, any claims to the existence of extra spiritual gifts for the pastor through ordination will accomplish nothing.

Barry stresses the importance of respecting the office that presents God's word. "So long as a pastor does this in accord with Scripture and the Confessions, members of the congregation he serves should support him, not try to 'pull the rug out from under' him. When a pastor faithfully preaches and teaches God's Word to instruct and comfort as well as to warn and condemn, there should not only be respect in the congregation for him but also faithful reception of and obedience to what he says, not because he is saying it, but because the Lord said it. Christ is the supreme authority in the Church. He redeemed her to be His own."

Rather than a separation of duties, Barry sees a unity of service. The pastor serves in behalf of the entire congregation. "Laypeople do not have to baptize, preach, or administer the Lord's Supper to develop an appropriate sense of participation in these public acts. For the pastor represents the congregation as well as Christ. What he 'does in the stead of the congregation, so does the Church. What the Church does, God does.'"

When Barry is finished we see that lay people and pastors can harmoniously coexist in the same congregation under Christ's Word.

In his application of Scripture and the Confessions Barry is a Missouri Synod Lutheran.

In all of this marvelous writing however, there is one thing missing. There was not one word about the Voters' Assembly. The doctrine of Church and Ministry must be illustrated by a unified practice. Without a reaffirmation of Voters' Assemblies, or Congregational Assemblies as some prefer to call them, the Synod must soon crumble without an agreed upon structure.

Barry has defended what we teach. Now, what do we do? Chairman of the Board of Regents at Fort Wayne Indiana, David Anderson writes: "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."

Here is the heart of Missouri. We are waiting for Barry to endorse it. "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 Page 205)