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| Walther and Heiser: CFW made himself the Pope. Heiser made himself the Bishop. |
Pastor Rolf Preus on LutherQuest
Now in in ELS, it's different. They follow the WELS doctrine of the church that places the synod above the pastors and congregations. When the synodical president demanded that I retract a paper I had written without showing me where I erred either in fact or in doctrine, my ELS congregation believed that I was duty bound to obey him because they thought he was my boss. He wasn't. But they believed he was, so they rescinded my call when I refused to obey him. That's how it works in the W/ELS. That's not how it works in the LCMS. Despite all of its flaws (and there are many!), in the LCMS the synod is advisory only. In the W/ELS, the synod is the boss. It appears to be that that's also the way it is in the LCR. These micro-synods tend to be quite authoritarian. Consider ELDoNA with their "bishop" Heiser. He's the man. In Missouri, we treat our DPs and the SP with respect, but we don't take orders from them.
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| The Joint Rolf-Jim Synod did not last very long. |
