Kieschnick Apologizes

In a statement dated June 6, 2008 President Kieschnick has offered an apology for calling those who signed “That They May Be One” (TTMBO) “divisive and schismatic” in a May 30, 2003 memo. TTMBO was signed by over 600 members of synod and over 1100 lay people from member congregations. TTMBO was written by members of the Northern Illinois Confessional Lutherans (NICL) in response to the participation of a district president in a joint worship service that included many non-Christians.

The members of NICL had been repeatedly requesting a meeting with President Kieschnick for almost five years before one was finally arranged by the new district president Rev. Dan Gilbert. In the meeting President Kieschnick offered his apology for his offensive statement and also apologized for taking almost five years to agree to a meeting. Part of the joint statement offered from the meeting says:

"Upon this realization, along with hearing the assurances of the NICL pastors that their document was meant only for discussion and not for an expression of and requirement for fellowship, President Kieschnick expressed his regret that he did not meet or talk personally with the authors of the document prior to his May 30, 2003 memo. He also noted that doing so could possibly have spared everyone a lot of grief. Then he said simply, "I apologize for that." Immediately one of the NICL pastors replied, "We appreciate that, and we forgive you," and the other NICL pastors expressed their agreement with this statement of forgiveness."

The joint statement goes on to assert two points of agreement:

1. Specifically, in light of the explanation articulated in this joint statement, President Kieschnick communicates to the Synod his understanding that the act of signing TTMBO did not in and of itself render a signer "divisive and schismatic," and regrets the misunderstanding that resulted from his memo of May 30, 2003.

2. Also in light of the explanation articulated in this joint report, NICL reiterates to the Synod its understanding that members of the Synod need not sign TTMBO in order to continue to be in fellowship with those who did, and regrets the confusion resulting from the wording in the document that some interpreted to mean otherwise.

We rejoice in the fact that President Kieschnick has retracted and apologized for his earlier condemnations of the signers of TTMBO and that he has been offered and received forgiveness for his statement. We also agree with him that had he spoke to authors in the first place that it “could possibly have spared everyone a lot of grief.”

This past summer Rev. James Rogers, a leader in “Jesus First” sent out a letter to all the convention delegates listing the names of 19 individuals who were running for office that had signed TTMBO and repeating the false ‘divisive and schismatic” charge against them. He used this as the basis of encouraging delegates not to vote for the signers. We hope Rev. Rogers will follow the lead of President Kieschnick and publicly repent of his actions against these fine people that were libeled by his actions.

Finally, all we can do is say “Amen” to the joint statement’s closing paragraph:

"We the undersigned give thanks to God for the true unity of the Church, which comes from Him alone through the Word and not from our own efforts. We also encourage all within this Synod we love to continue to discuss with each other, fraternally and collegially, on the basis of Holy Scripture and the Lutheran Confessions, matters of doctrine and practice and not to do so only in printed documents but also in face to face discussions.

Psalm 133:1 says, "Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity!" To God alone be the glory!"

Equal Representation?

Governance in the way of the Law or the Gospel?

(or, Does Size Matter?)

As a Synod, we have the freedom to organize our polity and govern ourselves in the manner we see best. There is no biblically-mandated structure or organizational design for the church (BTP* #5). This is nothing new, and our Synod has changed various points of governance in the past. For example, not too many years ago our dispute resolution process was changed from an “adjudication model” to a “reconciliation model.” This change, it seems to me, was a change from basing our governance and polity from being based in the way of the Law (adjudication) to being based in the way of the Gospel (reconciliation). Whether you think this was a wise change or not is fair game for debate. Yet our Synod was making a bold statement with this change, stating that it was our desire to put ourselves under the Gospel – not just as individual Christians, or congregations, but as a church body.

However, there is an idea that is now being put forward by some that would go against this new direction and desire of our Synod. Some think that larger congregations and districts should be entitled to greater representation than smaller congregations and districts. This would mean that larger congregations should have more votes and more influence in our Synod than smaller congregations. How far reaching this greater influence would be is not yet known. Would it be only at Synodical conventions? District conventions? Boards and Committees? Regardless, the question we need to ask is this: is this change in the way of the Law or in the way of the Gospel? Is this a churchly way of governance, or a worldly way of governance? The answer is clear: it is in the way of the world and the Law, for it is a model based upon rights and influence, and those are not of the church and the Gospel.

Historically, our Synod has believed, taught, and confessed that each congregation is the church, and fully the church (BTP #12). Smaller congregations are not less church than larger congregations, for in both Christ is present with His gifts of forgiveness, life, and salvation, and “Where Christ is, there is His church” (BTP #6). This model sees each congregation not on the basis of size or numbers or income or any other such measures (which are of the Law), but sees each congregation as the place where the gifts of Christ are given (which is of the Gospel). Therefore, each congregation has been given equal representation, because each is equally church, none “worth” more or less than another.

Should this change? Should we move to a model of representation based upon the Law rather than the Gospel? Historically, the answer is no. Based upon other recent changes to our governance, the answer is no. And to move in this direction would not be a helpful change to the evangelical unity and focus of our Synod. One also must wonder how great the temptation would be to inflate and manipulate the numbers to help ones cause? The political machinations of our Synod could lead in this direction too, further damaging and dividing us. No, let us value one another not on the basis of our size but on the basis of Christ, who is present creating faith and giving life in all our congregations. Where He chooses to grant more growth and where He chooses to grant less should not be the criteria of “who gets more votes.” Rather, let us walk forward together, for after all, isn’t that what a “synod” is for?

Rev. James Douthwaite

Vienna, VA

* The abbreviation “BTP” refers to one of the “Basic Theological Principles” outlined in the Congregation-Synod-Church document and on the basis of which feedback was requested. You need not read these to understand the article.

Freeing the Synod for Mission

It is clear to everyone that the Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod is not structured in the most efficient way to carry out its mission of faithfully proclaiming the forgiveness of sins in Christ Jesus to the world. We applaud those who call for a restructuring in order to improve our ability to proclaim the Gospel. We were clearly told at the 2007 convention that the structure of our synod is hindering the financial ability of our synod to meet its goals. The administration of synod after taking parts of three days of the convention to push for it has decided that having a special convention in 2009 would be hasty. We agree. We do wish it had been thought through before wasting so much convention time on the issue. We stand ready to support any significant restructuring that places our synod in a better financial position to faithfully proclaim the Gospel. We trust that the call for restructure to improve the finances is the only agenda and will not be used as cover to change our doctrine and practice.

We do not know what will be recommended. A number of ideas have been floated. We believe that there is one idea that has been floated that should be rejected out of hand. That is the non productive idea of “Taxing.” The proponents have not called it taxing but that is what it is. The basic idea is that any Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod (LCMS) associated entity would have to pay a portion of its budget to LCMS Inc. for the privilege of the association. The LWML, LLL, the seminaries and colleges, local human care agencies, CPH, etc., yes, and perhaps even the local congregation would all have to pay. The idea is to take resources away from organizations that already proclaim the Gospel and give it to LCMS Inc. so they can proclaim the Gospel. That is what we believe to be a non productive recommendation. We believe that dollar for dollar these organizations are more effective in proclaiming the Gospel then LCMS Inc.

We hope careful attention will be given to our district structure. The vast majority of money sent by congregations for “missions” never gets past the district coffers. Is our district structure with all of the professional and auxiliary staff the best stewardship of the offerings that Grandma Schmidt faithfully places in her envelope every week? Is keeping some our most talented people in bureaucratic positions best for the proclamation of the Gospel? Perhaps the answer is yes. If the next synodical convention wants to do something serious about the financial structure of synod it should look first at its burdensome bureaucracy before considering taxing the people and organizations that are being faithful in carrying out the work of the Gospel.

Rev. Roger Gallup

River Grove, IL