As of July 18, 2001, the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod has the oldest and
most consistent doctrine of Church and Ministry in the history of American
Lutheranism.
In an historic vote of 73.1% to 26.9%, the LCMS voted "To Affirm
Synod's Official Position on Church and Ministry." In other words, they
voted by more than 3 to 1 to keep the entire edition of C. F. W. Walther's
foundational work, "The Voice of Our Church on the Question of Church and
Ministry," commissioned by the LCMS Convention in 1851, as the official
position of the Synod.
Without changing one word, they voted that the entire book, not just the
theses, was their official position.
"Church and Ministry" is the doctrine that blew the doors off
LCMS congregations and opened them up to the world. When lay people joined
they automatically became equal owners of the congregation.
The LCMS's teaching that the lay people establish, run, operate, own, and
judge the doctrine of their own congregations helped lead the LCMS to become
the single fastest growing Lutheran Church body in American history. In recent
decades the loss, neglect, confusion, and misunderstanding of this doctrine
among LCMS lay people has led to a malaise and decline of this congregational
church body. No other church body in the world has developed such a
layman-friendly doctrine of the church.
This vote comes one year after the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
gave up its virtually non-existent doctrine of church and ministry to adopt
the Episcopal Church's doctrine of Apostolic Succession. This means that the
location of the church is identified through the clergy instead of the local
congregation. On the other hand, Missouri is saying that the congregation is
the church and not the pastor.
The Floor Committee 7 Chairman, Montana District President Doctor George
Wollenburg directed the entire adoption process through two stormy 45-minute
sessions, one in the morning and the other in the afternoon. No one in the
Synod is more knowledgeable on the subject and more capable of defending
Walther's teaching. During the heated debate Wollenburg repeatedly held up a
copy of "Church and Ministry" and recommended to the delegates who
had never read it that they could buy a copy from CPH down the hall.
This was Wollenburg's magnum opus and may be his last opportunity to chair
another LCMS floor committee.
Concordia Publishing House emptied out their warehouse and delivered
hundreds of copies of Walther's "Church and Ministry" for sale to
the Convention. They have also ordered a new printing that will not be ready
for four to six weeks.
Outgoing President, Robert Kuhn, did a masterful job as chairman during the
deliberations. Long lines of delegates, opposed to Walther's book, offered
numerous amendments, challenges, and substitute motions from the floor, which
were all defeated in vote after vote.
Those who spoke in opposition ran the spectrum from highly educated
orthodox pastors, who believe that the congregation is not above to pastor; to
contemporary Church Growth advocates, who view Walther's teaching as
irrelevant; to lay people, who had no idea what this doctrine was all about.
In a dramatic moment, Wollenburg was asked to read all of Walther's theses
from the microphone, perhaps the first time this has occurred in 150 years.
Copies were distributed to the delegates. Wollenburg announced this was the
LCMS Magna Charta.
An earnest effort to have the LCMS Convention reconsider and define itself
on this subject began in the Spring of 1997 when this writer read a quotation
from Walther's "Church and Ministry' to a conference of 250 clergy and
laity in Chicago and was roundly booed off the microphone. Many clergy in
Missouri were teaching that the congregation was no longer above the pastor.
All too often pastors and boards are making changes in worship, practice, and
administration without a vote of the congregation.
In 1999, at the Fort Wayne Symposium, this writer, after significant
resistance from other pastors, asked the sainted LCMS President, A. L. Barry,
with some 700 in attendance, what is the Synod's official position on Church
and Ministry? When Barry answered that it was Walther's "Church and
Ministry" no one applauded as they had for his answers to other
questions. It was there that many pastors and students wore their
"hyper-euro-Lutheran" stickers in opposition to congregational voter
supremacy.
A few months later, a survey was sent to both seminary faculties, asking if
they supported Walther's position that the congregational assembly was the
final tribunal in the congregation. Only six from Fort Wayne and three from
St. Louis agreed.
In three successive Symposium banquets, this writer was the primary subject
of derision and humorous ridicule for publicly defending Walther's
"Church and Ministry."
The final effort was to send each convention delegate a copy of "How
to Start or Keep Your Own LCMS Church." (It is available for $5.00 plus
$2.00 for handling and shipping from 573-237-3110.)
We thank God that Committee 7 chose to send our congregation's overture to
the Convention floor asking to reaffirm the doctrine of Church and Ministry.
To our astonishment, Committee 7 chose to ask the Convention to reaffirm
Walther's entire book.
Regrettably, controversy over this subject inadvertently led to the defeat
of Dr. Dean Wenthe, President of Concordia Theological Seminary in Fort Wayne,
as President of the LCMS. Wenthe became the conservative faction's choice for
Synod's President in April of 2001 after the untimely death of A. L. Barry.
Defense of Walther's teaching has cost this writer most of his friends in
the Synod. The correct doctrine of Church and Ministry is more important.
We thank God that the Missouri Synod has continued to confess the Biblical
teaching of the priesthood of all believers and that it justly deserves the
reputation of being "The Layman's Church."