The first speech that C.F.W. Walther gave as Synodical President in 1848, a year after the Synod was formed, is a magnificent appeal to build the LCMS on pure doctrine for the priesthood of all believers. Today 99% of the lay people have little or no idea of Walther’s original goals for the LCMS, and little more than 10% of the LCMS clergy still hold these goals as their own.
Walther delivered this speech nearly ten years after the Dresden immigrants attempted to establish the ideal Lutheran Church and commune in Prairie County, Missouri. Their effort met with tragic failure and disappointment under the despotic lecherous leadership of Martin Stephan, whom they deposed. Then in 1848, as Synodical President, an experienced and wiser Walther by the grace of God was given that rare opportunity in life, a second chance to get it right.
His speech burns with the same fire and idealism that brought him to America. However, now he denounces all reliance on human leadership and organizations and redirects the Synod to rely only on the Word of God. The new Synod must necessarily be the true visible church on earth because it would only confess and practice according to pure Christian doctrine. Walther discarded his original participation in a pietistic Lutheran utopia in America so that the LCMS would only be preserved with the Gospel and the Sacraments.
It was all there in the Bible and the Lutheran Confessions. By God’s grace Luther’s first, and at the time politically impossible, dream for the church of Jesus Christ in Europe (published in 1523, Luther’s Work Vol. 39 pp. 303-314) could now be achieved in the new World.
Today Walther could not be elected President of the LCMS. Today the changes necessary to recast Missouri into the true visible church on earth would only be called legalism. Looking back at Walther’s vision for the Synod in 1848 through 1999 eyes, the LCMS would never tolerate full-time church bureaucrats, District Office staff, and District Presidents. There would never be Leadership Training, a Pastoral Leadership Institute, Seeker Services, Church Growth methodology, or toleration of human philosophy of any kind in the LCMS. The original LCMS was intended to live and grow alone on God’s Word and pure doctrine for the benefit of the priesthood of all believers.
Walther explains that by God’s grace the Synod would be united in one faith to work and do battle together, to manifest its unity in the spirit publicly, to strengthen its unity, to confess its most holy faith jointly, to carry each others burdens, and to pray together.
Walther’s infant church body had a global goal beyond the Synod. The LCMS was, “...to be beneficial for us personally, but that it also brings a blessing upon our congregations and the whole church.” Again Walther states that the Synod should work to meet congregational goals and the goals of the “church in general.” For Walther the church is identified by the marks of Word and Sacrament. The new Synod would serve its congregations and reach out to Lutherans around the world.
The newly formed Synod had no right to regulate or rule congregations. “We have merely the power to advise one another, that we have only the power of the Word, and of convincing....” The Synod was not a “consistory,” or “supreme court” over congregations. But it wasn’t a “shadow” Synod. It was to be ruled only by the Word of God, faith, and charity.
Christ is the only power in the new Church. The Synod and the clergy should have no more authority than the apostles had. The Synod would only require submission to Jesus Christ. Today congregations and clergy unaware of Walther’s position suffer under the usurpation of authority by District Presidents who demand that congregations only use call lists approved by them. No LCMS congregation was to be subject to the authority of any pastor that some LCMS pastors claim for themselves today.
The new Synod wasn’t intended for everyone but only for those wanting the “ comforting refuge” of God’s Word and the utopia of “pure doctrine.” Walther wanted “pure doctrine” to be “in vogue” in all LCMS congregations. In Missouri, Walther says, “Let us not surrender one iota of the demands of the Word....even though for this reason things may happen to us, as God wills”.
On the basis of Acts 15 Walther makes a landmark statement that defines the polity and doctrine of Church and Ministry for the LCMS. He shows that there were joint meetings with apostles, elders, and congregational representatives where votes were taken and where the lay people made decisions alongside the apostles. Walther writes “Thus we see that the apostles did not at all claim any dominion over the congregation. Even in the most important church councils they granted the so-called laymen just as much right, just as much seat and deciding vote as themselves.”
One gets tired of the mantra from pastors who question if the early church really voted or not. A simple examination of history tells that the Roman Empire was very much accustomed to elections and voting.
In this speech Walther defends his radical concept of congregational and synodical polity, the priesthood of all believers, and lay people “voting.” He explains that the Synod and the clergy are not giving up any rights or powers because God never gave them the authority that clergy in many other church bodies claim for themselves. The only power in the church is the power of the Word. “...we are not renouncing any right belonging to us...and...claim no other power than the power of the Word for in the church...there...can be no other power to which all must submit.” God does not place any human power over congregations. The congregation includes “pastors and hearers.” Those who claim power outside the Word are robbers who turn the church into a human organization and police state.
I love the following question Walther asks for all the clergy who think they lost something when they came to America. Walther asks, “Can we, therefore, my brethren, be depressed because we in our American pastorates are endowed with no other power than the power of the Word and especially because no other power has been granted to this assembly?” Indeed, there is a lot of depression for the pastors who believe they have authority in the congregation over things not mentioned in Scripture (adiaphora); and the pastors who think their ordination is a sacrament; and the pastors who think they have the right to excommunicate members without the voters; and the pastors who believe that God gives them the right to invent worship in the congregation like the Michigan 102; and the pastors who think they are C.E.Os of their church; and the pastors who think of themselves as leaders of the Church Growth/leadership training movement instead of servants of pure doctrine.
The authority of the Word means one must act on the Word alone and has no choice but to act on the Word alone. Any refusal or neglect to act on the authority of the Word is a heinous usurpation of Christ’s authority. By what authority does the current LCMS Praesidium refuse to take speedy action to remove the certification of Pastor Nordlie of Wayzata, MN, who teaches incorrectly about the Doctrine of Justification? The Praesidium has obfuscated the distinction between the administration of God’s Word and ruling over God’s Word. Christ is supposed to wait patiently while they take matters into their own hands. In matters of false doctrine Christ requires nothing less in His church than immediate and full repentance for the sake of the sheep.
Walther observes that before the abuses the German Consistories did great service to the Lutheran churches in Europe. Also, under the conditions of that time, the episcopal form of church government served the Church of Sweden. However, in America the Church finds itself unencumbered by governmental authority. In such circumstance Walther states, “...we can hardly consider any other constitution as the most salutary except one under which the congregations are free to govern themselves but enter into a Synodical organization....”
What should we do for the pastors who object today? Should we organize ourselves with a European clerical hierarchy and pretend there is no separation of church and state in America? Should we structure our congregations like a corporate board of directors under CEO pastors, regard members as non-voting stockholders? Walther was more concerned about the lay people than depressing the clergy.
Walther explains that it only appears as if the Synod “tied” its own hands. But he observes there would be far more trouble if the Synod was structured as a hierarchy. It is to the Synod’s advantage not to impose “any restriction beyond the limits drawn by God Himself....” Otherwise, “Our chief battle would soon center about the execution of manufactured, external human ordinances and institutions....”
The above quote characterizes the LCMS in 1999. The bureaucracies created by LCMS District Offices and Synodical institutions are siphoning off tens of millions of dollars. They create doctrinally void mega-churches for their own job security. It took the members of the congregation in Wayzata, MN, more than three years to learn that the Praesidium will not decertify their pastor for teaching false doctrine about Justification. The lay people were drawn through a labyrinth of purposely confusing and ineffective Dispute Resolution regulations designed to protect the clergy from the authority of God’s Word.
Walther predicted that the introduction of human ordinances in the church, “would swallow up the true blessed battle for the real treasure of the church, for the purity and unity of doctrine.” How right he was. “In a word, we would lose sight of our beautiful aim of building the true church,...” He charges that church bodies in America are able to employ hierarchy when their members’ “consciences are bound in favor of their form of government by false doctrine.”
The Bible gives the congregation the right to choose its own church government within the parameters of Scripture. On this point Walther borrows some wording from the US Constitution and says in the LCMS “...we must preach to our congregations that the choice of the form of government for a church is an inalienable part of their Christian liberty.” The following LCMS Conventions freely adopted the structure proposed by Walther, as did the individual congregations. The first edition of Walther’s “Church and Ministry” was published in 1852 and became the official doctrinal position of the LCMS.
Walther said Missouri had only revived the original structure of congregational polity and voting. In his 1852 introduction to “Church and Ministry” Walther states that Lutherans who don’t agree that the voters’ are supreme have abandoned the teaching of Luther and the Confessions.
Walther squarely addresses the complaint from LCMS clergy who still object to being ruled by a Voters’ Assembly. “How can this be a papacy of the people, if the priestly nation of Christians does not permit any man to enact laws for them in matters which God has not prescribed and is willing to obey the preacher of the Word unconditionally only when Christ Himself speaks through him, that is, when he preaches His Word?” If the people agree to obey God’s Word, what further obedience can any pastor expect? If the clergy obey God’s Word, what further service can the Voters expect? Walther says preachers serve men if they obey the congregation instead of God’s Word.
In the following statement Walther sets the standard for his presidency and the LCMS: “...where the congregation, as often as it hears Christ's Word from the mouth of the preacher, receives it as the Word of God, there the proper relationship between pastor and congregation exists; he stands in their midst not as a hired mercenary but as an ambassador of the Most High God; not as a servant of men but as a servant of Christ, who in Christ's stead teaches, admonishes, and reproves.”
This is the Missouri Synod into which I was called and ordained. When I preach, I don’t have to limit the whole counsel of God. The congregation knows that agreeing with God’s Word has nothing to do with agreeing with me. Apart from the Word of God, everything is negotiable and under the church constitution. They obey Christ, not His called messenger.
Walther says let the battles which must come “...not be the mean, depressing battles for obedience to human laws, but the holy battles for God's Word, for God's honor and kingdom.”
Walther said the Missouri Synod was to stand “by the word alone.” This was Missouri’s finest hour. I can read this speech translated into English 151 years after it was written and not have to apologize for it or make excuses for any part of it. For those who say the times and the culture will not permit such a Synod in 1999 Walther says “...by the Word alone the church will most assuredly stand also in these last days of sore distress.”
Why should the LCMS be attractive to Christians? The only good thing about the Missouri Synod is the Word of God. Who wants to be in a Synod with pastors who believe they are living sacraments or are blessed with a direct “Church Growth” vision from God on how to invent worship like the Michigan 102?
The COP and Norbert Oesch are retraining LCMS pastors with PLI to turn congregations into a Zwingli brothers’, Munzer and Karlstadt three ring circus. The 1998 book titled “Church and Ministry” sent to every pastor in the Synod by the President’s office shows how confused the writers are about C.F.W. Walther. The Seminaries are turning out students who are confused about Church and Ministry, don’t understand Walther, or haven’t the slightest idea how or why they should defend Walther. I lay this at the feet of Balance, Inc., the publishers of “Affirm.”
Like an egg without a shell, Balance imagines that the purity of the Word can continue with no particular doctrine of Church and Ministry as long as they are in charge. Their secret society is at best neutral on Walther. They confess the importance of justification but regard church and ministry as adiaphora. They should remember that the Mafia began as a patriotic secret society.
The disconnect between theology and practice becomes glaringly apparent when today’s pastors and seminary students study theology but don’t know what is the correct form of an LCMS congregational constitution.
The Synod is now learning the second of two great lessons from Walther. The first was that the biblical doctrine of congregational polity is God pleasing and Christ blesses it. The second is that the absence of a doctrine of Church and Ministry means that the Doctrine of Justification can no longer be defended in Minnesota South and the rest of the Synod. When the Word is removed human authority must fill the vacuum.
Yes, the Synodical President, to the surprise of many, told us at Fort Wayne in January, 1999, that the official position of the Synod is Walther’s “Church and Ministry”. Many pastors say perhaps this is true in theory but not in practice. Then our Synodical President also warned that we should be tactful in how we break this news about the Synod’s position on Walther. Why doesn’t he break the news about Walther and pure doctrine to the COP, the Michigan District Office, the Michigan 102, the Texas District Office, and the Minnesota District Office? Perhaps he will convince their congregations to give up their memberships in the Willow Creek Association.
At this time does the Synod exist for the congregation or do the congregations exist for the Synod?
The Synod has long since given up Walther’s plan to preserve pure doctrine and correct practice based on pure doctrine at all costs as an unattainable utopian dream. Others say it was a flawed plan from the beginning.
Walther and his LCMS served a great purpose. By the grace of God, his books and the Synod’s legacy of theology and practice have been a great light in the annals of church history. The accomplishments of the LCMS may not be replicated in terms of purity, intensity, and quantity, till the second coming. However, I still hold on to Walther’s dream. He says “...by the Word alone the church will most assuredly stand also in these last days of sore distress.”
In the future there may not be as many to carry the light but, nevertheless, the church on earth will always possess the pure light. Walther has convinced me that his dream must be my reality. “The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away; but the Word of the Lord endureth forever.” God’s Word will not return void. Therefore, the true visible church must continue on earth till the end of time. God has always and will always provide an uncompromising visible witness to His Word on earth, if not Missouri, then another.