2 x 9.5 Theses on Leaving [the ELCA] and Thereafter
2 x 9.5 Theses on Leaving [the ELCA] and Thereafter
« on: October 31, 2010, 07:19:44 PM »
These Theses were essentially affirmed this Reformation Day with my congregation's votes to affiliate with the Lutheran Congregations in Mission for Christ and to "encourage the formation of an Augustana Lutheran Diocese in the Anglican Church of North America".
THESES ON LEAVING AND THEREAFTER
2 x 9.5 *
1. Our first loyalty is to Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God; our second loyalty is to the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church which He founded; and our third loyalty is to a particular denominational structure within that Church.
2. The fundamental cause of the ELCA’s lapse into apostacy is disobedience to the Holy Scriptures.
3. That disobedience is first and foremost manifested in the reluctance to name God in the Name which He has revealed, “Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.”
4. That disobedience is further manifested by the actions of the 1995 Churchwide Assembly in rejecting the threefold office of Ministry (Bishop, Presbyter, Deacon) as recorded in 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, and the Acts of the Apostles.
5. That disobedience is yet further manifested by the actions of the 1997 Churchwide Assembly--by the narrowest of margins--in rejecting the Concordat with the Episcopal Church which, had it been approved, would have affirmed the threefold office of Ministry.
6. That disobedience is still further manifested by the action of the 2007 Churchwide Assembly in affirming Evangelical Lutheran Worship (ELW) which removes the Divine Name of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit from most liturgies and hymns.
7. That disobedience reached its ultimate manifestation by the action of the 2009 Churchwide Assembly in willfully, deliberately, and with knowledge aforehand departing from global and historic Christian teaching by affirming that the union of two homosexual persons may be equated with Marriage, again, by the slimmest of margins.
8. In seeking a final destination for this congregation, adherence to the Lutheran Confessions as a true and faithful witness to the Holy Scriptures is non-negotiable.
9. In seeking a final destination for this congregation, the threefold office of ministry is a non-negotiable.
10. In seeking a final destination for this congregation, the provision for women to serve as Deacons and Pastors is a non-negotiable.
11. The only entity maintaining these non-negotiable principles is the Diocese-in-formation to be called the Augustana Lutheran Diocese of the Anglican Church of North America.**
12. This entity has not yet been formed or constituted but serious planning and discussion is underway.***
13. Therefore it will be necessary to have an interim “lifeboat” upon departing the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.
14. That interim destination must be a Lutheran church body so that all property remains with this congregation.
15. The North American Lutheran Church (NALC) permits dual rostering and easily allows transfers in, but, even in its provisional constitution, does not easily allow transfers out.
16. The Lutheran Congregations in Mission for Christ (LCMC) permits dual rostering and easily allows both transfers in and transfers out.
17. The LCMC does not object to being used as a “lifeboat” or way-station en route to another Lutheran church body.
18. THEREFORE, it is our recommendation that the immediate but strictly interim destination of this congregation upon departing from the ELCA be the Lutheran Congregations in Mission for Christ until such time as the Augustana Lutheran Diocese be constituted, and
19. This congregation shall become a founding member of the Augustana Lutheran Diocese.
* The numerical reference in the title is to the “9.5 Theses” published
in 1995, which served as a catalyst for the founding of the Society of the Holy Trinity.
** The LCMC and the NALC do not uphold the threefold office.
The LC-MS does not uphold the threefold office and does not permit the Ordination of women.
Western Rite Orthodoxy, while upholding the threefold office, does not permit the Ordination of women, nor will it accommodate a Lutheran liturgy.
The Seven Marks Society, while upholding the threefold office and the Ordination of women has abandoned its initial vision of becoming a Lutheran body or free Synod.
*** An introductory and exploratory meeting of the Augustana Lutheran Diocese is scheduled for November 11 - 12 in Pittsburgh.
Logged
Baptized, Confirmed, and Ordained United Methodist.
Became a Lutheran Pastor by God's grace and the beneficence of Lower Susquehanna Synod, ELCA Bishop Guy S. Edmiston on Reformation Day, 1989.
Charter member of the first chapter of the Society of the Holy Trinity.
Now in transition to the LCMC.
ICHABOD, THE GLORY HAS DEPARTED - explores the Age of Apostasy, predicted in 2 Thessalonians 2:3, to attack Objective Faithless Justification, Church Growth Clowns, and their ringmasters. The antidote to these poisons is trusting the efficacious Word in the Means of Grace. John 16:8. Isaiah 55:8ff. Romans 10. Most readers are WELS, LCMS, ELS, or ELCA. This blog also covers the Roman Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodoxy, and the Left-wing, National Council of Churches denominations.
