I remember a few WELS pastors being kicked out for unionism, perhaps 10 years ago. One was Marc Schroeder, son of Salty, MLC (nee DMLC).
I had a great defense strategy for them, because they were doing no more than the WELS leaders. I had quotations and citations to prove it.
The two most obvious examples are the Church Membership Initiative and the Snowbird Leadership meeting, where Carl Mischke (WELS) posed for a photograph with Ralph Bohlmann (LCMS) and Herb Chilstrom (ELCA). The photo in The Lutheran magazine was titled "Chiefs Confer."
I found some examples on the Net - all published by moi:
Joint Work : Wisconsin Synod, Missouri Synod, and ELCA
Unionism: WELS Definition
"Before God every activity of our faith is at the same time fellowship activity in the Communion of Saints."
Doctrinal Statements of the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod, Authorized by the Commission on Doctrinal Matters. p. 27.
"In selecting specific individuals or groups for a joint expression of faith we can do this only on the basis of their confession."
Doctrinal Statements of the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod, Authorized by the Commission on Doctrinal Matters. p. 29.
"Unionism is characterized by these marks: It fails to confess the whole truth of the divine Word; it fails to reject and denounce every opposing error; it assigns error equal right with truth and creates the impression of church fellowship and of unity of faith where they do not exist." (Wisconsin Synod, Prayer Fellowship, Tract No. 10, 1954)
Francis Pieper, The Difference Between Orthodox And Heterodox Churches, and Supplement, Coos Bay, Oregon: St. Paul's Lutheran Church, 1981, p. 64.
WELS Pan-Christian Worship Conference
“A Vision--a revelation, really—of what worship would be. What worship would be in heaven. Jesus offered it; St. John saw it..."
Rev. James P. Tiefel, WELS professor of worship, Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary, chairman of the WELS national worship conference at Carthage College (ELCA), 1996.
Conference Leaders Included
1 ELCA parish staffmember
1 Episcopalian staffmember
1 Roman Catholic buisnessman
1 Evangelical
0 Evangelical Lutheran Synod pastors
5 Missouri Synod pastors and professors check number
5 WELS women who taught men about worship and music
1 Future WELS seminary professor, David Valleskey, keynote speaker.
Recognition of Women’s Ordination by Missouri And WELS
"In 1970 there were 500,000 more baptized members of Lutheran congregations than was the case in 1990. The Church Membership Initiative project was undertaken to understand and address this decline... Contact:
Rev. Mary Ann Moller-Gunderson, Executive Director, Division for Congregational Ministries, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, 8765 W Higgins Road, Chicago, IL, 60631, 312-380-2570;
Rev. Lyle Muller, Executive Director, Board for Evangelism Services, The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, 1333 S Kirkwood Road, St. Louis, MO, 63122-7295, 314-965-9000;
Rev. Wayne Borgwardt, Administrator for Worker Training, Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod, 2929 N Mayfair Road, Milwaukee, WI, 53222, 414-256-3236; Mr. Douglas Olson, Aid Association for Lutherans, 4321 N Ballard Road, Appleton, WI, 54919, 414-734-5721."
Church Membership Initiative, Narrative Summary of Findings, 1993, Aid Association for Lutherans, 4321 N Ballard Road, Appleton, WI, 54919-0001, June 30, 1993.
Joint Religious Broadcast
"A new sacred classical music radio program soon will be available to radio stations across the country. The hour-long, weekly program, called ‘Joy,’ is an inter-Lutheran project of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Lutheran Church Missouri Synod and the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod. ‘Joy’ will be produced by KFUO-FM in St. Louis and will be funded by Aid Association for Lutherans, a fraternal benefit society. 'I'm excited about being involved in this project which is the first joint venture into ministry that has ever been done by these three Lutheran churches,' said the Rev. Richard Jensen, a member of ELCA communications staff and the Joy Advisory Committee. 'Joy is a program of sacred music. The focus is on the classics of sacred Christian music...’"
ELCA Newsbriefs, Christian News, 12-9-91, p. 2.
Denial
"The article in Christian News to which you refer escaped my attention until one of our other pastors called it to my attention soon after it appeared. Initially I even had difficulty relating to it. After thinking about it for a time I remembered that I was asked about a year ago whether the WELS would endorse or be in sponsor of such a program. My answer then was 'No’ and still is. I have consistently taken the position with the fraternal benefits societies that 'pan-Lutheran' projects almost inevitably exclude us from participation because of our fellowship principles. The leadership of the fraternals has respected our position. So the statement by a member of the ELCA communications staff that this is the 'first joint venture into ministry' ever done by these three Lutheran churches is simply not factual. It has been called to the attention of those who made this statement."
President Carl H. Mischke (WELS Synodical President), Letter to Pastor James Sherod, 1-3-92. [WELS staffmember John Barber did attend the meetings, as a ‘consultant,’ according to the revised denial in The Northwestern Lutheran.)
WELS, ELCA, LCMS at Joint Leadership Conference, Snowbird
"CHIEFS CONFER: Waiting their turn to speak at a recent Lutheran leadership consultation are Dr. Carl Mischke, president of the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Church...Bohlmann...and ELCA Bishop Herbert W. Chilstrom. At the July 18-20 event in Snowbird, Utah, in the Wasatch Mountains, 130 Lutheran leaders gathered to articulate a 'vision of leadership' for their respective church bodies."
The Lutheran, (ELCA) September 4, 1991 p. 33.
Jointly Planned by ELCA, WELS, LCMS
"The Lutheran Leadership Consultation, facilitated by Lutheran Brotherhood in partnership with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), the Lutheran-Church Missouri Synod (LC-MS) and the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS), was the first meeting of this type that included the three major Lutheran Churches as planners and participants."
Lutheran Brotherhood, Bond, "Preparing the Church for the Next Century," Fall, 1991 68, p. 12.
ELCA Bible Study Leader
"Throughout the Consultation, Walter F. Taylor, Jr., Professor of New Testament at Trinity Lutheran Seminary in Columbus, Ohio, explored principles and examples of leadership in the Pauline epistles."
Lutheran Brotherhood, Bond, "Preparing the Church for the Next Century," Fall, 1991 68, p. 13.
Church Growth Loves Druckerism
"Four speakers prominent in the field of leadership research shared their perspectives. Frances Hesselbein of New York City, president and chief executive officer of the Peter F. Drucker Foundation for Nonprofit Management, spoke on 'The Challenge of Leadership.' She noted, 'The church shares the same bottom line with all voluntary and human service organizations: changed lives.'"
Lutheran Brotherhood, Bond, "Preparing the Church for the Next Century," Fall, 1991 68, p. 12.
Reformed Professor
"William McKinney, dean and professor of religion and society at Hartford (Connecticut) Seminary, disagreed with the popular view that conventional Protestant churches have moved from mainline to sideline."
Lutheran Brotherhood, Bond, "Preparing the Church for the Next Century," Fall, 1991 68, p. 12.
"George Barna of Glendale, Calif., president of the Barna Research Group, a marketing firm specializing in research for Christian churches and parachurch organizations, laid out 'The Context for Leadership' with rather challenging facts about the society the church faces today."
Lutheran Brotherhood, Bond, "Preparing the Church for the Next Century," Fall, 1991 68, p. 12.
WELS Money for LWR and C.A.R.E (United Nations)
"$60,000 General world relief (through C.A.R.E. and Lutheran World Relief).”
Rev. Kennth Strack, chairman WELS Reports and Memorials for the Fifty-fourth Biennial Convention, Milwaukee: WELS, 1997. p. 165.
One of Many LCMS Congregations in the Reformed Willow Creek Association
Saint John's Lutheran Church
Address:
15808 Manchester Road
City, State, Zip:
Ellisville, MO 63011
(314) 394-4100
www.willowcreek.org
A Troubled Conscience
"We find this attitude of tolerance quite frequently among unionists. It is often used to assuage a troubled conscience, one's own as well as that of others; for the unionist declares that every one may continue to hold his own private convictions and merely needs to respect and tolerate those of another. This attitude is totally wrong, for it disregards two important factors: (a) in tolerating divergent doctrines one either denies the perspicuity and clarity of the Scriptures, or one grants to error the right to exist alongside of truth, or one evidences indifference over against Biblical truth by surrendering its absolute validity; and (b) in allowing two opposite views concerning one doctrine to exist side by side, one has entered upon an inclined plane which of necessity leads ever further into complete doctrinal indifference, as may plainly be seen from the most calamitous case on record, viz., the Prussian Union."
M. Reu, In the Interest of Lutheran Unity, Columbus: The Lutheran Book Concern, 1940, p. 20.
The so-called Church of the Lutheran Confession does the same thing, and they condemn WELS for being unionistic!
WELS Pastor Tim Glende denounces my scholarly use of Lutheran sources, while he plagiarizes Groeschel and denies it.
With me as the attorney for Jeske and Ski, WELS would be laughed out of court.
