wfn.org | LCMS Convention Addresses ELCA Full Communion Relationships

[Worldwide Faith News <wfn@wfn.org>]

The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod
Board for Communication Services
1333 S. Kirkwood Road St. Louis, MO 63122-7295

61st Regular Convention St. Louis, MO. July 14-20, 2001

July 20, 2001 #52

Missouri Synod convention addresses ELCA full communion relationships

ST. LOUIS -- Because the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is in full 
communion with non-Lutheran churches, the 61 Regular Convention of The 
Lutheran Church Missouri Synod on Friday, July 20, affirmed late Synod 
President A.L. Barry s judgment that "we cannot consider them [the ELCA] to 
be an orthodox Lutheran church body."

At the same time, the convention added, "We of the LCMS recognize that many 
of our brothers and sisters in the ELCA remain faithful to the Gospel of 
our Lord Jesus Christ, and we resolve to reach out to them in love and 
support."

The adopted resolution is brief, but debate was lengthy. Those speaking in 
favor of it said that it is meant to be a "loving admonition" to the ELCA, 
made out of concern for speaking the truth and for the spiritual well-being 
of members of ELCA congregations many of them family and friends of the 
LCMS delegates. Those opposed expressed concern that it is judgmental, that 
it would be misunderstood and that it would make conversation with the ELCA 
more difficult.

The resolution passed by a vote of 706-343.

Barry s comment about the ELCA was made in a written report mailed to 
convention delegates before his death in March. He wrote that last fall, 
during theological talks with the ELCA, the "LCMS indicated to the ELCA 
that in light of its theological direction we cannot consider them to be an 
orthodox Lutheran church body, and they expressed their feeling that 
precisely because we do not agree with their ecumenical agreements they 
regard us in a similar manner."

In recent years, the ELCA has entered into full communion with three 
Reformed church bodies, the Episcopal Church and the Moravian Church in 
America. The relationship allows exchange of clergy and permits members of 
the churches to take communion at each other s altars.

In its action Friday, the Missouri Synod convention asked that "current 
cooperative pastoral working arrangements with the ELCA be evaluated by the 
praesidium [the Synod s president and five vice presidents] with results 
and recommendations reported to the next synodical convention." The 
Missouri Synod and ELCA have cooperative agreements related to the military 
chaplaincy and carry out joint disaster-relief, development and 
social-services work.

Just as delegates were about to vote, LCMS President-elect Gerald B. 
Kieschnick read a resolution he said he would have preferred. It would have 
used the quote from Barry s report as an indication of the difficulty for 
dialog created by the ELCA s ecumenical decisions.

Kieschnick s resolution also would have directed him to communicate with 
the new presiding bishop to be elected next month by the ELCA "the serious 
concerns of our Synod resulting from the declarations of fellowship without 
the presence of agreement in doctrine and practice."

Finally, it would have encouraged Kieschnick and the vice presidents "to 
continue to speak the truth in love in all conversations with the ELCA."

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