Well I'm glad the seminaries aren't polarized. Personally I think more power should be given to the District Presidents(Bishops).
The LCMS teaches that the Church exists in the congregations where the Gospel is preached in it's purity and the Sacraments are administered according to Christ's command. While the DP's are "bishops" in an ecclesiastical sense, they are more administerial in their positions. The synod in it's organization is not the Church.
What type of "power" do you think the DP's need?
I agree with NordicLutheran, as do most of the more orthodox and confessional Pastors here in Canada.
Our DPs need to be able to exercise more doctrinal and Scriptural authority. Currently their work seems to be more administrative, a chairman of the board so to speak. Liberal clergy and their congregations like it this way. There are two congregations within 10 miles of my Church that practice full open Communion, and are very liberal in many other respects. (One is my old congregation is one of them.)
There was also a very liberal core in the congregation that I now attend. When the feces hit the fan about 3 years ago, the DP was contacted and we were told that he had no authority over the congregation. He did attend a Congregational meeting where he spoke for about 15 minutes, quoted the constitution and very little Scripture. The rest of it was rhetoric and political double-speak, lots of potatoes and no meat.
He really offered no doctrinal support, nor did he even stress the "official" Synodical position regarding the issues at hand. We were on our own.
Both factions were looking for guidance from district as the Elders at that time were split along family lines, and both sides were blaming the Pastor (who is just trying to maintain confessional integrity).
About half of our membership left, only one family now attend a Lutheran Church, the rest have gone to either Baptist or Missionary Churches. Those that are left, about half of them still blame the Pastor. All are angry with District. District has yet to offer any support or advice.
Last Sunday at a voters meeting one elderly member stated that "in the New Year, I'm driving down to District and I am going to give them a piece of my mind", and he will. I'm afraid that all he will achieve is a higher level of frustration, as have we.
Is the sole purpose of District, and Synod for that matter to write feel good letters for the various publications, and feel good programmes for outreach where we can throw thousands of dollars at, with no results what so ever? It would appear that the answer to the above questions is yes.
Something should change, we need DPs with the authority of Bishops.
