Justification unites! Preserving the “outside of ourselves” objective view of justification is a point of doctrine that must continue to unite the LCMS.
LCMS church father, C.F.W. Walther, wrote in one of his Convention Essays that the doctrine of justification stood as the “alpha and omega, the heart in the body, the soul, that which rules everything in the Lutheran church body, moves and gives life to all, the kernel in the shell…This is the sun; the other doctrines are only the sunbeams that are emitted from it and return to it again. They are all there for the sake of justification; they expand our understanding of justification.”
Amen.
Why do I share this quote? To confess that sometimes it may be interpreted in my writing and ULC podcasts that we are flippant with the primary doctrine of justification. Some may insinuate that a statement about leaders in the LCMS “playing defense” around “purity of doctrine” is a frontal assault on the doctrine of justification by grace through faith in Christ alone. Nothing could be further from the truth in so far as I speak as an LCMS parish pastor and leader of the ULC.
The mission of God has a Church. What is the role of the Church? To get all of God’s kids back. What is the means through which God gets His kids back? Justification by grace through faith in Christ. Period. This teaching should be the uniting rally cry in the LCMS. I do not know of one pastor or leader in the LCMS who would disagree with anything written thus far.
So, what are our issues?
I do not have a list of “12 Reasons the LCMS Is in Decline” like former LCMS President Jerry Kieschnick. Demographic and birth-rate shifts are certainly predominant reasons. Yet, are we simply going to stop preaching the Gospel to the world, resigned to the fact that we’re going to shrink as a church body, and there is little that can be done?
I would pray not. I would boil our issues down to one primary concern.
Prideful and petty power plays. None of us are exempt. We are all guilty of seeing things simply from our unique perspectives and isolating ourselves to those with whom we agree. Those in my closest circle may put the worst construction on LCMS national leaders. I would love to deepen relationships with those who have different opinions. That is one reason the ULC hosts two weekly podcasts.
My personal observation is that LCMS leaders struggle to listen to strategic and tactical pastors and church leaders who are striving to faithfully preach and reach their growing and diverse communities with the Gospel. I have heard this concern from so many leaders discontent with the vision that we’re simply resigned to decline due to demographics. One would think that reversing the decline of our synod would be a constant topic of discussion by LCMS leaders. I am not sure it is.
Why not? If it were, the ULC model of raising up faithful Lutheran leaders through Competency Based Theological Education would be eagerly explored with curiosity rather than condemnation. All sorts of “tests” would be run around leadership development and how to best meet felt needs in various communities to spread the Gospel.
Finally, the recent White Paper on pastoral formation titled “An Ordained LCMS Pastor for Every Synod Congregation,” initially requested by the Joint Seminary Faculty Retreat and then presented by Pacific Southwest District President Mike Gibson, was not received with a glowing endorsement at the recent Council of Presidents Meeting. I would hope the Joint Seminary Faculty actually took it deeply to heart at their gathering. It was put together by thirteen district presidents, all of them eagerly trying to figure out how to fill vacant LCMS pulpits.
None of these topics have anything to do with our primary uniting doctrine—justification. We strongly agree in the LCMS doctrine contained in the Scriptures and the Lutheran Confessions. The ULC eagerly desires to offensively storm the gates of hell raising high the banner of faith being an extra nos gift of God given through the Word and Sacraments. We have been declared justified before God by faith in Christ!
The doctrine of justification sets free those captive to the crushing weight of sin! This doctrine sets us free from any man-made constraints that would keep us from uniting to do whatever it takes to get the Gospel into the ears of broken sinners in need of Christ.
LCMS leaders, please unite with those of us at the local level working toward this end. Eternities are at stake.
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