The convention filled its officer corps today. Only the Central Region was close, where Benjamin Ball beat the man who had just lost the presidency by five votes.
We don’t win or lose elections in the church. The lot falls to Matthias. Nothing more. No mandates. No majority rules. Simply a selection among qualified men that seemed good to the Holy Spirit.
This is where I have to strongly disagree. No lots were drawn. There was intense politicking, and I witnessed some of the ugly bits, which the Holy Spirit had nothing to do with.
The LCMS is weirdly charismatic about Synod elections and "divine" calls.
I’ve been a proponent for bishops for life from before I was ordained. When you democratize the church, this is what you can expect. I don’t think our system is charismatic; it is almost anti-charismatic. We use the methods of the ordo politicus and then expect things not to get political. Then we think that politics is too dirty for the Holy Spirit but that’s precisely how God gives us governmental leaders. What means would you propose?
Same comment applies. If by charismatic we mean populist, then the synod is just mimicking the ordo politicus, which today votes emotionally on a populist basis. This is what you get with a democratized church body. Wilhelm Loehe warned us of “mob rule” a long time ago.
I did, in fact, mean it in the Pentecostal sense. Our guys get very mystical about the call when they are looking at house prices on Zillow and mulling the salary and benefits package. Ditto, vote outcomes are freighted with a strange fatalism.
Would to God our Synod made 'big' decisions as in Acts 15.22, "Then the apostles and elders, with the whole church, decided..." and afterwards conclude, "It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us" [v. 28]. But like an assembled 'conclave' of RC Cardinals would a College of DPs discern better?
The Missouri Synod has bishops; they are normally called “pastors” because of their divine call to a congregation. And they are called for life unless the pastor accepts a divine call to another ministry, or retires for health or other acceptable reasons, or is removed for cause. A district president may be referred to as a “bishop” when he also has a divine call as the pastor of a congregation.
It is a false and misguided notion that a district president is a bishop solely because of his election to be district president. This has been repeatedly pointed out in the Missouri Synod by convention resolution or numerous CCM rulings. The Synod Constitution makes no mention of “bishop.” Also recall President Al Barry’s words from 1998:
“[O]ur Synod and seminaries still stand clearly behind Dr. C.F.W. Walther's position as he articulated it in his book Kirche und Amt. Because of this, our Synod rejects both the errors in the positions of Loehe and Grabau positions, as well as the errors in the position of Hoefling.”
We don’t win or lose elections in the church. The lot falls to Matthias. Nothing more. No mandates. No majority rules. Simply a selection among qualified men that seemed good to the Holy Spirit.
This is where I have to strongly disagree. No lots were drawn. There was intense politicking, and I witnessed some of the ugly bits, which the Holy Spirit had nothing to do with.
The LCMS is weirdly charismatic about Synod elections and "divine" calls.
I’ve been a proponent for bishops for life from before I was ordained. When you democratize the church, this is what you can expect. I don’t think our system is charismatic; it is almost anti-charismatic. We use the methods of the ordo politicus and then expect things not to get political. Then we think that politics is too dirty for the Holy Spirit but that’s precisely how God gives us governmental leaders. What means would you propose?
I didn't read the term "Charismatic" in the Petntecostal sense.
Same comment applies. If by charismatic we mean populist, then the synod is just mimicking the ordo politicus, which today votes emotionally on a populist basis. This is what you get with a democratized church body. Wilhelm Loehe warned us of “mob rule” a long time ago.
I did, in fact, mean it in the Pentecostal sense. Our guys get very mystical about the call when they are looking at house prices on Zillow and mulling the salary and benefits package. Ditto, vote outcomes are freighted with a strange fatalism.
Would to God our Synod made 'big' decisions as in Acts 15.22, "Then the apostles and elders, with the whole church, decided..." and afterwards conclude, "It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us" [v. 28]. But like an assembled 'conclave' of RC Cardinals would a College of DPs discern better?
College of DPs would be a train wreck. An expanded College of Regional Vice Presidents could be a thing.
"Train wreck" <=> too kind
The Missouri Synod has bishops; they are normally called “pastors” because of their divine call to a congregation. And they are called for life unless the pastor accepts a divine call to another ministry, or retires for health or other acceptable reasons, or is removed for cause. A district president may be referred to as a “bishop” when he also has a divine call as the pastor of a congregation.
It is a false and misguided notion that a district president is a bishop solely because of his election to be district president. This has been repeatedly pointed out in the Missouri Synod by convention resolution or numerous CCM rulings. The Synod Constitution makes no mention of “bishop.” Also recall President Al Barry’s words from 1998:
“[O]ur Synod and seminaries still stand clearly behind Dr. C.F.W. Walther's position as he articulated it in his book Kirche und Amt. Because of this, our Synod rejects both the errors in the positions of Loehe and Grabau positions, as well as the errors in the position of Hoefling.”