The current divisions in the Synod over authority, hierarchy, Hyper-Euro-Lutherans, 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. Who is to say who will preach in LCMS pulpits and
who is to say what they will preach?
Our keynote speaker will be Dr. George Wollenburg, Montana District
President. Wollenburg was the Chairman of Floor Committee Seven at the 2001
LCMS Convention. It was Wollenburg who brought Resolution
7-17A to the Convention floor; the resolution 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." No member 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 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, he concludes that the current
structure is thoroughly to the advantage of the clergy. Congressman Dannemeyer
will speak on, "The Need For Equal Representation for Lay People At LCMS
District and National Conventions." 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 lack of definition for the family highlights how
important this subject is for our home, state, and church today.
Reverend Rolf Preus of the ELS
will speak on 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. Currently, a number
of LCMS clergy reject Walther's position that a congregation may organize
itself into existence as a church and issue a divine call for a man to serve
as its pastor. Instead, they have adopted Loehe's teaching that the
congregation is an extension of the pastoral office. For a third position, the
WELS believes that many different church professionals share a form of the
pastoral office and that the pastoral office is not a one-of-a-kind, unique
office created by God.
Doctor Louis Brighton, a distinguished professor of exegesis at
Concordia Seminary St. Louis and noted author, will speak on the subject of
the alarming overall decline in Biblical knowledge among LCMS clergy. He is
deeply concerned that too many pastors are dedicating too much time to
administrative and other duties when they should be spending half their time
studying the Bible and theology. They can spend the rest of their time
preaching, teaching, and visiting. Pastors need to spend more time being
prophets and not CEO's. Walther's understanding of the church was that
knowledgeable pastors should teach the lay people correct doctrine and
practice. The loss of this emphasis must inevitably lead to the loss of the
LCMS as originally envisioned by Walther because the lay people would not be
properly trained. Brighton's title, "The Decline in Pastoral Biblical
Studies Threatens The Future of Walther's Structure For The LCMS."
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
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 wider 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 church.
Reverend Herman Otten, editor
of Christian News, will be the banquet speaker. 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 1960s. He will then identify the kind
of candidates the 2004 LCMS Convention will need to elect if we are going to
keep Walther's understanding of Synod as adopted in Resolution 7-17A.