Church and Chicanery Board Member;
Administrator (top dog) of Parish Services, WELS.
Freddy Finkelstein has left a new comment on your post "Want To See More FIC Articles about St. Andrews La...":
Concerning lay effort addressing the Confessional Crisis that WELS appears to be facing, I wrote the following awhile back as a followup to discussion in a different blog entry. The discussion moved on by the time I completed it, so I didn't post it. I post it here for the benefit of laymen wondering what they can do. Maybe others have additional advice:
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So, how should the laity get involved? By shooting off angry letters to Synod Headquarters, or to DPs outside their Districts? Maybe... By feverishly blogging? Maybe... Frankly, I think the most effective way for us to fight these battles is from the ground up, beginning in our own congregations.
First, calmly and dispassionately inform your congregations' Boards of Elders of the issues. Chances are, they don't have a clue. Inform them directly, not through your Pastor. Personally give them the materials and point them to the sources so that they can form their own unfiltered opinions. They are the one's responsible for considering these issues within the congregation, and they are the one's that need to work with the Pastor to address them as they occur among our Brothers outside the congregation.
Second, understand that in the next three years there will be two Synodical Conventions and a District Convention, and these issues may well be on the agenda or otherwise come up in discussion. Encourage your congregations to thoughtfully choose Convention delegates – instead of automatically choose an arbitrary retiree just because he's got the time. Many of us will need to use Vacation time to cover these Conventions. Don't wait to be asked, let it be known ahead of time that you would like to be considered as a delegate and that you are willing to set aside time to do so.
Third, keep the torch lit – that is, continue to engage in discussion with your Pastors and with competent laymen in your congregations regarding these issues. Assume that you won't be the one going to Convention, and that someone else from your congregation will need to understand the gravity of these issues in order to participate effectively at Convention.
Fourth, inform your lay contacts in neighboring congregations and in our Sister synods (like, the ELS, ELFK, LBK, and others – like our very conservative African brothers) that it appears that WELS
...is tolerating “ministerial associations” with the heterodox (Willow Creek Association, and others),
...is celebrating the formation of “emergent-church congregations” in its publications and appears to be eagerly underwriting “rock'n roll churches,” which elevate anthropocentric elements like ambiance and human emotion over the Marks of the Church, mistakenly treat worship as Means of Grace, supplant the Means of Grace with the means of man and of Natural Law, and turn the Divine Service into an outreach event rather than maintain it as the wholesome christocentric setting for Christian worship that it has been for the past two millenia,
...is struggling with outside Church Growth organizations like “Church and Change” that are essentially operating as a parallel church within WELS, mouthing Confessional unity while essentially preaching Pietism and conspicuously divesting themselves of Lutheran identity --- from dropping the term “Lutheran” in their church names to engaging in virtually unrecognizable church practices,
...that our practice of the doctrine concerning the roles of men and women is diverging from our confession as, frequently, our women are taking speaking positions in the Chancel during the Divine Service (as Lectors and "Worship Ministers"), are engaging in ministerial roles authoritatively teaching in mixed-gender settings, and increasingly seem to be taking on roles of positional authority in congregations,
...etcetera...
WELS must address these issues, and at this point, it must do so directly and publicly. Pressure from our congregations and from our Brothers in other synods – i.e., their support – may well produce the action from leadership that is needed.
Finally, don't get “too big for your britches.” That is to say, remember that we are laymen, not pastors, and not theologians. Be respectful and maintain a teachable spirit. That isn't to say, however, that we don't have every right to expect and to insist on satisfactory answers from our Pastors and Theologians, nor to have a firm hand in directing Congregational and Synodical action.
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Understand, that the CG Church Changers are probably already preparing to defend themselves and take the offensive. They definitely have the advantage in terms of their internal communication network and seem to be entrenched in key political positions. Do nothing, and Dr. Jackson is right – conservative and confessional Lutherans in WELS will be steamrolled.
Freddy Finkelstein
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Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Sound Advice from Freddy Finkelstein":
The sky is falling...the sky is falling....
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GJ - Typical Church and Change mockery from Anonymous.
Does anyone remember how WELS pastors clucked their tongues at how Missouri changed while denying it? How Missouri let their prep schools go? How Missouri watered down their pastoral training? Worked with the LCA, ALC and Roman Catholics? And Missouri went from denial to defending to cries of "Legalist"?
I remember.
