Battle for LCMS Church Property Intensifies
By Rev. Jack Cascione

 

There was no balm in Gilead and no joy in the paper given by Dr. David Scaer at the 2002 Fort Wayne Symposium.

The halls of hyper-euro-Lutheranism are still shaking after the 2001 LCMS Convention adopted Resolution 7-17a. Scaer warned that the adoption of 7-17a was an act against Christ.

This resolution reaffirmed Walther's "Church and Ministry" and thus voter supremacy, as the only official congregational polity of the LCMS.

It was Montana District President, Dr. George Wollenburg, Chairman of Floor Committee Seven, and the champion of Walther's "Church and Ministry" who brilliantly guided Resolution 7-17a, after a long hard floor fight, to a rousing 73% to 27% victory. In a dramatic moment, Wollenburg held Walther's book over his head and declared, "This is Synod's Magna Carta!"

It was also Wollengburg who led the Convention to support Resolution 7-11 by more than 90%. This resolution declared that Synod couldn't hold equity in any congregation.

Now brooding over the defeat, Dr. David Scaer, the dark lord of medieval clergy domination, explained to a record 775 pastors, students, faculty, and officials why the Synod must gain control of congregational properties in order to be a true church. Scaer's paper was received with thunderous applause.

In the past four years this writer published two books through CN, "Reclaiming the Gospel in the LCMS" and, most recently, "How To Start or Keep Your Own LCMS Congregation."

One of the major premises of these books is that the loss of congregational polity and voter supremacy would result in the loss of congregational property. Copies were sent to every convention delegate explaining why they should reaffirm Walther's "Church and Ministry" if they wanted to keep control of their churches and church property.

It is only by the grace of God, that little Redeemer Lutheran Church in St. Clair Shores, Michigan, was instrumental in leading the adoption of 7-17a. Its repercussions are now being felt throughout the LCMS.

There were many outstanding papers, but none of them supported Walther's position.

Doctor David Scaer's paper was titled, "Missouri's Identity Crisis: Rootless in America." In the following section from his paper, Scaer laments that the passage of 7-17a keeps Synod from controlling local congregations.

After you read it, I'm convinced that some will believe congregations, for their own good, would be better served if they were owned by the Synod.

Now that Scaer's hyper-euro-Lutheran faction was thoroughly defeated with the adoption of 7-17a, he and others must blatantly lead the charge to overturn 7-17a at the next LCMS Convention.

Scaer writes as follows:

"Church as Corporation Another group understands the Synod as an association of congregations held together historically by a commitment to the Lutheran Confessions and in practice as members of an ecclesiastical corporation sealed by an oath to uphold the Synodical handbook. 'Walking together' is the code term for this group. Synod is thought of as also a corporation of congregations and employees bonded together by retirement and health plans. This corporation invests funds and owns properties. Doctrinal differences and disagreements among members are handled as disputes within the corporate structure. District presidents who authorized the ordination of uncertified Seminex graduates were removed for a Handbook violation. Though organizational matters are seen as adiaphora, the corporate view affects how ministry is defined. Anyone employed by a member congregation or a Synod entity is put into a common pot called 'professional church workers,' a phrase or idea unknown by the Bible or the Confessions. This kind of language allows congregations to see pastors as just one kind of minister, pushes the pastors into the category of employee, and makes the congregation the final judge in all matters of doctrine, polity and practice. This can be personally disastrous for the pastors and worse, it denies Christ's establishment of the ministry, which is at the heart of the Walther resolution (7-17a). A corporate view of the Synod also sees it as an educational system of colleges and seminaries that are virtually autonomous in their funding and governance. Pre-ministerial programs are often subsumed into other departments and their students listed in the general category of 'church workers.' Lutheran enrollment may have increased in the last years, but rare is the school where Missouri Synod students account for more than half of the student body.

"Several resolutions of the 2001 convention reinforced the corporate view of Synod. Resolution 7-08, 'To Add New Bylaw to Govern Dissolution of Synod Wide Corporate Entities,' allows the Board of Directors to dissolve institutions like colleges to limit the Synod's liability. Things financial and not theological determine the fate of institutions. Resolution 7-ll, 'To Move Property Ownership Bylaw to Constitution,' reaffirms that the Synod is more a corporation than a church by asserting that it has no equity in a congregation's property. This prevents the Synod from expanding its financial resources at the expense of congregations, but it can also be used to show that the Synod has no responsibilities for its congregations. It allows for a bizarre congregationalism in which any number of people can constitute a legal meeting and can deprive others not in attendance of church property. This follows from seeing the Synod as a free association of congregations and not a church. Fellowship between congregations of the same faith is merely voluntary and lacks a confessional center to hold it together. This has its consequences and may be a cause that more and more congregations give less and less or even nothing to support the Synod, which then is increasingly dependent on direct bequests and grants from foundations. Synod is now really a not for profit organization which resembles other charitable and educational institutions. Not only do its educational institutions have a freer hand in the conduct of their affairs, but congregations are freed up to adopt their own requirements for Baptism, Confirmation, and admission to the Lord's Supper. Whether or not the terms like 'sovereign' and 'autonomous' are theologically appropriate for congregations, they do describe the state of affairs. Sadly the downside is that Synod loses its churchly character and we see ourselves as members of a mere confederation at best and a free association at worst. How we organize ourselves as synod does affect how we understand ourselves."

Rarely have I ever read a more manipulative string of false dichotomies and assumptions in such a compact space. On this issue, Scaer is brilliant and totally wrong.

As we read above, the "other group in the Synod" is those who want to keep voter supremacy, congregational self-governance and own their own property with in the Synod. "Synod" is that awful buzzword Scaer refers to for, "Walking Together." That is why they called it, "Synod."

Those pejorative "others" want to follow the Synodical Handbook. What a sin! How right Scaer is. Yet, for Scaer, this means at the expense of following the Bible and Lutheran Confessions. Hence, the old LCMS was bad.

He blames the lack of doctrinal unity and practice in the Synod on an impersonal corporation, but fails to state how often that the Council of District Presidents has neglected to follow the doctrinal regulations of the Synod in their districts. Hence, Scaer makes the LCMS Corporation itself, and not pastoral and congregational neglect of doctrine and practice, the cause of evil.

He encourages pastors to join the battle to take over church property because they are being treated like employees. Of course, Scaer's definition of the ministry is that the pastor receives extra grace through the "sacrament of ordination." To him, all LCMS pastors have been employees since the beginning of the Synod. If he has his way, the pastors will have full authority over the congregations. How fortunate for the congregations.

Scaer claims that 7-17a "makes the congregation the final judge in all matters of doctrine, polity and practice." What Scaer denounces here is what Walther calls the heart of the LCMS and we applaud.

He calls 7-17a "personally disastrous for pastors and worse, it denies Christ's establishment of the ministry."

There you have it. Traditional LCMS voters' assemblies and voter supremacy are bad for pastors and against Christ, says David Scaer. Maybe we should all surrender the deed to our churches to the LCMS right now so that we can go to heaven. Let's throw in the deeds to our homes for good measure.

The following sentence explaining why the Synod can't be a "church" unless it owns church property is a beauty. "This prevents the Synod from expanding its financial resources at the expense of congregations, but it can also be used to show that the Synod has no responsibilities for its congregations."

Here is a switch. The congregation's were originally supposed to be responsible for the Synod and now the Synod can't be responsible for the congregations unless it owns them.

Scaer calls voter supremacy and ownership of church property "a bizarre congregationalism." One wonders why he originally joined a bizarre Synod like the LCMS.

What happens when the Synod doesn't own the congregations? For Scaer it means the Synod "loses its churchly character." In other words, the Synod, which was created by the congregations, should now be the church over the congregations.

The Church Growth Movement and PLI promote pastors as CEO's and the hyper-euro-Lutherans promote pastors as the Bishops in their congregations. In either case, the congregations will eventually lose control of their property.

Loss of church property begins with the voters' assemblies meeting less frequently. Then boards of directors or elders make decisions for their congregations. Then the CEO's or Bishops help steer control of the deed into the hands of the District.

Resolution 7-17a, a great victory led by Montana District President George Wollenburg at the 2001 LCMS Convention, must not be overturned in 2004!

This is just one of the reasons why this writer did not support Dr. Dean Wenthe as President of the LCMS and will never support Dr. Dean Wenthe as President of the LCMS.


Rev. Jack Cascione is pastor of Redeemer Lutheran Church (LCMS - MI) in St. Clair Shores, Michigan. He has written numerous articles for Christian News and is the author of Reclaiming the Gospel in the LCMS: How to Keep Your Congregation Lutheran. He has also written a study on the Book of Revelation called In Search of the Biblical Order.
He can be reached by email at pastorcascione@juno.com.

January 29, 2002