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DISTRICT NEWS

The First Meeting of the Joint Council 

The Joint Council of the Augsburg Lutheran District will meet at Holy Nativity Lutheran Church, New Hope, Minnesota, on October 25, 2001. This will be the first meeting of the Joint Council since the constituting convention of the district in Elk Horn, Iowa. Our first item of business will be approving the Post Convention Report and convention minutes, and the financial report. Then we’ll hear from each of the committees that have taken over the what the working groups began in Elk Horn, Iowa. 

The joint council will also attend the first LCMC convention as official representatives of the Augsburg Lutheran District. Our District Pastor, Mark Jamison, will participate in a panel discussion and have an opportunity to address the convention participants during a plenary session. 

The items memorialized for adoption in the LCMC constitution have been forward to Barry Anderson, the chair of the constitution committee and President of LCMC. The article on the nature of the church and our organizational principles are part of our constitution. Our public statements are posted on our website, and have also been posted on the LCMC listserv (LCMCTalk@wordalone.org) for broader discussion prior to the LCMC convention at Westwood Lutheran, St. Louis Park, MN, on October 26-27, 2001. 

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Educational Resources in ALD’s Online Library 

ALD extends its thanks to Lutheran Quarterly, for receiving permission to reprint articles by Dr. Gerhard Forde and Dr. Craig Koester in our Post Convention Report. Bob Herbon has scanned Dr. Forde’s article, “Law and Sexual Behavior,” for us and it can be found in our website Library at . “The Bible and Sexual Behavior,” by Dr. Koester, will be available soon. Sorting through the confusing sexual arguments that challenge Christians today can easily become a battle between a legalistic “moralism” vs. an anything goes legalism that demands its “right to be immoral.” Those sorts of arguments have only led to studies and calls for more studies on the issues. In other words, we get nowhere and are left with one opinion opposing the other. 

ALD believes that we should address the confusion in a different way, by distinguishing between law and gospel in God’s Word while acknowledging that God’s Word is the sole authoritative source and norm of our preaching, teaching, faith, and life. It is not up to us to discuss what we wish God would have said, or to pay for opinion polls to find out what we should do. Christians are called to discern what God has revealed to us and apply that word to our life today. The articles in the ALD online Library, and our public statements, are offered to help our members and affiliated individuals hear Scripture as law and gospel as they sort out the issues involving sexual boundaries and the demands society is placing upon Christians today. 

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Are You Willing to Help a Seminarian? 

You may not know it, but you can do a lot to preserve Lutheranism “as we know it.” If your church is looking for a pastor, you can educate fellow members and guide your church to interview and call a confessing seminary graduate who does not want to be episcopally ordained. 

Another option is to educate fellow members and guide them to offer the church as an internship site for a confessing Lutheran seminarian who wants to learn how to be a parish pastor, not a sacerdotal priest! 

If you’re interested in learning how you can help seminary graduates, contact John Fahning at 763-546-1498 or email him at jfahn@worldnet.att.net.

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ALD’s Organizational Principles 

As Article 8 of the Augsburg Confession tells us, the church is the assembly of saints and true believers ... [but] many hypocrites and evil persons are mingled in with the believers. Recent experience has demonstrated yet again that until the second coming of Christ we are sinners who need such principles to direct us in our corporate life together. 

Since the LCMC constitution did not contain organizational principles, we memorialized the LCMC convention to adopt our adaptation of Paul’s advice to the Galatians.

1. Life Together vs. Guerilla Warfare-Our most important battle will be for the viability of our “life together” as a faith community (treating one another as brothers and sisters in Christ), and against the temptation to turn in upon ourselves, splitting into factions that use “guerilla warfare” tactics to “bite and devour one another” (Galatians 5:15). 
   
2. Confessional Faithfulness vs. Political Expediency-Faithfulness to our witness is more important than political expediency. We ought to “fly our confessional colors” openly and proudly without regard to considerations of what will be to our political advantage or what will make us popular. “I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus . . . preach the word, be urgent in season and out of season . . . be steady, endure suffering . . . fulfill your ministry” (2 Timothy 4:5). 
   
3. Transparency vs. Secrecy-The transparency of open discussion and open operation is vital to our life together as a district. Secrecy (e.g., “private” strategy sessions, closed list serves, fear of open discussion, “informal” decision making groups-within-groups) should be unacceptable to us. “For every one who does evil hates the light . . . but he who does what is true comes to the light . . .” (John 3:20-21). 
   
4. Serving in Freedom vs. Obligated Servitude-Our individual and especially our corporate relationships (i.e., ALD/LCMC) ought to be free of any hint of paternalism, coercion, or legalism. We are set free to serve each other in Christ. We are under no one’s dominion. “Owe no one anything, except to love one another” (Romans 13:8, cf. also Mtt 27:37-40).

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