A CONFESSIONAL SYNOD: A GATHERING OF THOSE WHO ARE CALLED TO THE DANGEROUS BUSINESS OF CONFESSING

By The Rev. Dr. Philip D. Long, January 17, 1988 as the basis for the formation of the Confessing Synod Ministries.

IF YOU NEED TO BE ATTRACTED -
IT'S NOT FOR YOU.

I. WE START WITH THE FACT THAT OUR DENOMINATIONS
ARE ILL.

Well meaning believers in our country don't like to discuss it but they sense there is something wrong with their organized churches. Denominations are straining too much to present a happy image while membership erodes. The agendas of denominational leaders offend or confuse the sensibilities of the local membership. And the more that leadership appears to be floundering without a clear sense of purpose, the more it claims the rights and trappings of regal office.

In local congregations there is a sense of weariness and doom regarding genuine evangelism. Members are either content to huddle around ingrown survival interests or else impelled to try desperately to project such a happy public image that outsiders will be attracted in sufficient numbers to keep the organization afloat. In both cases the greatest fear is of any disturbance or conflict whatsoever that would damage the tranquility of the survivalists or endanger the bait of happy image on which the so-called growing churches depend to attract new members and new dollars. And this in turn prevents the members and pastors from taking risks and from addressing the Gospel to today's hard questions which simply cannot be done without disturbing someone.

Preachers are floundering. They have been trained and are encouraged by their leaders and publications to concentrate on feelings rather than truth. They seem to think their only hope of keeping their members unified in the face of tough issues like corporate guilt in unemployment or banking influence in local communities or racial politics or abortion or anything from gay rights to nuclear war is focusing on how one feels about the questions rather than on answers that might require taking sides. Today a preacher believes he is successful if he can get his audience to recognize the validity of all sincere feelings about life's tough questions and to stop expecting definitive (divisive) answers. Meanwhile, clear thinkers and passionate believers alike are quitting congregations, disappointed by the provision of a one-size-fits-all empathy rather than clear Biblical answers.

Members of every denomination sense that there is something fundamentally wrong when their church publications talk of noble concepts like inclusiveness but their bishops are a clique of white males who fight over political power and status. If the new corporatized denominations are so wonderful why are major theologians throwing up their hands in despair?

But if we do admit that our denominations are ill, what can we do about it? Is it possible to change anything? Won't we just be overwhelmed with grief and frustration? Isn't it better to keep quiet as long as we can stand it in hopes that things will improve? If things don't improve we can always quit, can't we?

II. PULLING OUT IS NO ANSWER

A common response to the illness of our denominations is to quit them. This is encouraged by the current mentality of the American middle-class according to which it is always more virtuous to quit and walk away than to cause trouble. It is American individualism gone to seed: "If I can't have my way, I quit", i.e., it's better to be an unencumbered though impotent individual than part of an organization that does not cater to one's egotistical interests.

When members of congregations can no longer repress frustration and disappointment, they politely quit. They think that's the only honorable thing they can do. And pastors who are upset with the illness of the church get the same advice from bishops and theologians: "If you don't like it, just leave! Go start your own church and leave us alone." The implication is that you have the freedom to do as you please, start a church of your own if you like, but you don't have the right to disturb anyone else. This is usually enough to quiet liberal critics.

We simply cannot accept this ideology of righteous quitting if we are faithful to Jesus Christ. There are two compelling reasons. First, to quit is to concede the right of way to whatever evil may be causing the problem thus willfully allowing it to grow and cause more trouble. This is particularly important regarding churches. Since Jesus Christ is God's gift to the world and the whole world depends on Him for salvation, no church, denomination or congregation has the private right either to withhold Christ from or misrepresent Him before the world. In the preaching of Jesus Christ his churches have no private rights. If we just walk away from or quit churches whose ministry is weak or misrepresents Christ then we are actually cooperating with those forces of evil that would prevent people from coming to faith and finding eternal salvation.

Second, to quit is to relinquish our power to change anything. Few seem to realize that once they are outside the organization they no longer have any way to work effectively for its improvement. That's why most political or hierarchical leaders are really relieved to see their critics quit. Those who quit and walk away always lose - their credibility, their power and eventually their cause. Note that Martin Luther did not quit the Catholic Church. He was rejected, excommunicated and denounced, but still he pressed on as a faithful pastor to demand a council of the whole Roman Church to deal with his objections. And his following grew. Compare the experience of those at Concordia Seminary in St. Louis who quit and left when they became involved in a conflict over doctrine and politics back in the 1960's. Of course, there was little choice for them since they had no structure or encouragement in those days that would have enabled them to stay and fight. But despite the righteousness of their cause, by their having to quit and walk away they eventually lost their support and their battle with the Lutheran Missouri Synod.

As committed members of our denominations serious about getting to the roots of the present malaise we cannot even contemplate quitting. Any change for the better will require us to stay inside our denominations no matter how frustrating they may be and regardless of how much they may punish us for our confessional stance. Calling together a Confessional Synod opens a way for us to work through specific steps for the health of our churches while remaining firmly within our denominations.

III. OUR SPECIFIC PURPOSES IN CALLING THIS SYNOD:

-TO COVENANT TOGETHER AS AN ASSOCIATION OF FAITHFUL CONFESSORS

-TO TEACH OUR CHURCHES

(1) TO IDENTIFY APOSTASY AND HERESY

(2) THE NATURE OF CONFESSING

(3) THE ROLE OF PROPHETIC MINISTRY

-TO ORGANIZE AS A SUPPORT BASE FOR CONFESSORS

In Detail:

A. TO COVENANT

One major purpose in calling this Confessional Synod into being is to give formal expression to the unofficial kinship we already experience with confessors across the nation and even in other countries. By the very fact that more and more individuals and groups within the historic Christian communions are finding themselves called to stand up and confess the true Gospel of Jesus Christ in the face of what their organized churches are preaching and teaching we already have a far-reaching common bond of experience. This Synod will give this bond formal expression for both those who already experience it and those who may as yet be unaware that they are called to the task and fellowship of confessing by the Holy Spirit and their distress over the current illness of their churches.

But in essence this Synod will be a covenant association rather than a bureaucratic structure. There will be no constitution, by-laws, or parliamentary process. There will be no attempt to imitate or compete with our present denominational structures. Instead, we will be an association of believers bound only by a simple covenant something like this:

After searching the Scriptures and after much prayer we conclude and agree together that the present difficulties of the major Christian churches in America are due primarily to their turning away from the true Gospel of Jesus Christ as expressed in the Bible and we agree to support and help each other as we are able in confessing that true Gospel within our denominations in words and deeds until the time of confessing passes.

To carry out this covenant agreement, that is, to identify current expressions of an alien gospel in the churches and to alert the covenantors of needs for support of those confessing in the face of it, we will need to recognize our Apostolic Council, and allow for additional appointments by the assembly, which will meet as needed between assemblies. This council will operate under under the guidance of the Holy Spirit and only in that way! No one speaking by the Holy Spirit can invoke Roberts' Rules!

Implicit in this covenant is the agreement to remain faithful first to the Lordship of Jesus Christ, then to all of Holy Scripture and finally to our various historical, denominational confessions of the Christian Faith. Our bond with each other as confessors will in no way be allowed to conflict with this primary faithfulness to Christ and the historic confessions of Him. Implicit here is also our firm belief that if our churches return to faithful confession of the historic Gospel of Jesus Christ nothing more will be required to restore them to health. An alien gospel is the root cause of our churches' current illness and the exposure and removal of that gospel is the cure. The Confessional Synod will be an association of confessors dedicated to representing and propagating this view relentlessly.

B. TO TEACH

A second major purpose of this Synod will be to teach both at the assembly in April and in an ongoing effort through whatever means possible. Here will be our greatest challenge, for we are faced with the Herculean task of completely reeducating our churches on the nature of apostasy, heresy, confessing and prophecy.

1. TEACHING THE NATURE OF APOSTASY/HERESY

In an age of relativity with people who are taught from kindergarten that the highest virtue is to respect the opinions of others no matter how bizarre, it is no wonder that church people no longer even understand the terms, apostasy and heresy, let alone fear what they represent. And the fact that church people no longer understand these terms explains why they can't analyze clearly or become overly concerned about the current illness of their denominations and congregations. If our talk of the dangers of an alien gospel is to mean anything to our people we must first teach them what apostasy and heresy are all about.

In the first place, church people need to learn that apostasy and heresy must be distinguished from stupidity, ignorance, error and incompetence. Apostasy and heresy are willful acts of knowingly turning away from the teachings of traditional authorities and embracing new and different ideas. The word, "apostasy", has a root meaning "to step back", i.e., to back away from authorized teachings and creeds. The word, "heresy", has the root meaning "to choose your own" teachings as opposed to those prescribed by authorities.

Mistakes due to stupidity or ignorance or incompetence can be forgiven. The actor may have had good intentions or may have done his best even though the results were bad. That is not heresy or apostasy. These are present when the actor knows what he is doing and chooses to take an unorthodox course. Nor is it necessary that any bad consequences of apostasy or heresy will be readily apparent. Sometimes a heretical movement will be eminently successful in terms of winning adherents and pleasing people, as was the case with Arianism.

In our churches and denominations, however, our people are often led to forgive apostasy and heresy because they don't understand how they differ from the usual innocent incompetence they have come to expect from church leaders. For example, if a pastor or a bishop cannot, due to personal inability, make a clear decision about right or wrong in a given conflict and so retreats in silence or calls the police to solve the problem, that can be forgiven as human failing. But if he justifies his retreat or his calling the police by claiming that this is what Jesus requires us to do, then he is backing away from the true Jesus and presenting a novel picture of our Lord. This is apostasy and heresy and must never go unchallenged or be easily forgiven for this threatens the very preaching of Jesus to the needy world.

It must be made clear that we are not just complaining about ineffective leadership in our churches or poor management or poor seminary education or bad preachers or stupid theologians or the political naivete of conventions or unimaginative publications. Nor are we attacking the bad taste or embarrassing style of our church leaders. Even if the thinking of our bishops has no more style or class than their polyester green sports suits with red clergy shirts and white socks, this is still not apostasy or heresy. It is when they present to us a Jesus that differs from the Christ of the New Testament that we must cry, "apostasy" (or "heresy") no matter how well dressed or how smooth or how politically sophisticated they are.

A primary task for this Confessional Synod will be to define in terms that our people can understand exactly what ALIEN GOSPEL our denominations have currently embraced that justifies the charge of apostasy and that is the root cause of the illness afflicting American churches. We will begin with the work already done in the Pittsburgh Confession and identify the other authorities which the denominations implicitly or explicitly hold up as binding on the faith and life of the church in addition to Jesus Christ. Any statement of the denominations that indicates another authority other than Jesus' Gospel is necessary for salvation is heresy.

We will also look at the denominations' current acceptance of American cultural values and ideologies as commensurate with the Gospel as indications of apostasy, i.e. of compromising the Jesus of the New Testament by recasting him in the form of an American, democratic liberal. This means we will look at the denominations' embracing of the American corporate ethos as really the basis for a new Gospel - an upbeat, popular, image-conscious, profit oriented, egalitarian ideology leading to the good life that begins now and will last forever. In the corporatization and democratization of the church and the psychologization of Jesus we will see the foundations of the new and alien gospel which lies at the root of the church's' current ills. In this Synod we will work hard to describe this kind of apostasy clearly so that church people across the country will begin to see the need to take a confessional stand.

2. TEACHING THE NATURE OF CONFESSING

Another part of our teaching task will be to instruct our people in the nature and importance of taking a confessional stand. When sincere believers begin to perceive the nature of apostasy and its deep-rootedness in the foundations of the American Christian denominations they may despair of knowing what can be done. At this point we must be equipped to guide our people in taking a confessional stand as an appropriate and effective response.

We will look at historic models of confessing and note what we should expect if we are to take such a stand today. This will mean looking at confessors from the Apostle Paul all the way up to Bonhoeffer and Christians in today's South Africa. We will also take note of current efforts to create a Free Synod in Sweden. And if we can find presenters we will have reports on confessional movements in other countries.

We will use this sort of study to prepare our people not only to take a confessional stand but to understand and endure the kind of persecution that will consequently befall them.

3. TEACHING THE IMPORTANCE OF PROPHETIC MINISTRY

A third part of our teaching task will be to instruct our people on the role of prophetic ministry in confronting and exposing apostasy. Here we will begin with the Biblical basis for confrontational ministry looking at the Old Testament Prophets and the New Testament models of Jesus and the Apostles.

This will be a most important and difficult part of our instruction since confrontation is intuitively considered by contemporary American Christians to be absolutely antithetical to the Gospel and to the very person of Jesus. We will show that this intuition does not spring from Scripture.

It will be important to demonstrate clearly that non-violent confrontation in the name of God is the most effective way to bring apostasy to light. It tests the spirits, and those that are evil respond in revealing rage. This is critical when we realize that most dangerous apostasy appears in the forms of sophistication and success. For example, the episcopal promoters of the current gospel of the corporatized church always appear very smooth and powerful in their luxurious offices and expensive appointments. Such bishops are very winning and can easily convince people that their suavity is a sign that they do indeed embody God's power. But when confronted firmly with God's Word their response tells the tale. Do we see the wrath of a major CEO whose prestige has been insulted? Or do we see the calm and selfless consideration which marks a true man of God?

Confrontational ministry is also an important tool for dealing with evil in the world outside the church. For example, when confessing Christians must deal with the injustices of the world of major business corporations and politicians, prophetic ministry is effective. We will have a special presentation by an economist on this subject, the nature of the super corporations and their susceptibility to any kind of influence from churches.

There is a theology of confrontational ministry which we will need to refine and make available to our churches as an aid in exposing apostasy and encouraging confessing. We will also need to consider and clarify the relationship of the DMS/DMX to this Confessional Synod. DMX has become a name identified with hard tactics aimed at attacking secular evils with secular means. In many instances this is very useful, as in the recent case of East Liberty Lutheran's challenge to a local racist Lutheran congregation. When the local politicians, mafia and media reacted violently to this challenge, they blasted DMX as the culprit even though the entire operation was from East Liberty Lutheran. DMX served a purpose in taking the heat. These are issues the Confessional Synod will wrestle with.

C. TO ORGANIZE

A final, more practical purpose of this Synod is to create a network of support for confessors. It is a fact that confessing takes place in a time of crisis, such as in the epidemic devastation of unemployment in Pittsburgh during the past five years. It is also true that confessing Christ in such times of crisis brings retaliation and persecution. We have defrocked pastors here in Pittsburgh facing jail and jailed pastors in South Africa facing torture. How many isolated confessors are there around the world who are paying a price in suffering for the Name of Jesus Christ? Only God knows! But one of our concerns is to create a network for such needy and isolated confessors which will offer hope and real support.

Support means communication, prayers and money. We must first become established as a network for confessors to contact in order to be in touch with sympathetic colleagues. This will require that we send regular mailings of encouraging and helpful material to those who ask as a way of promoting a confessional movement in all denominations. This will also mean keeping requests for prayer published among those who join in our covenant. There are people in South African jails, in Russian camps, in Pittsburgh parishes and who knows where else who face the trials of lonely punishment for confessing Christ. They all seek our prayers.

There may also be need from time to time for more direct institutional support of confessors who find themselves unjustly excluded from their denominations. When denominations for political reasons refuse, for example, to ordain qualified and called candidates, we may find ourselves called to take the action ourselves, which is a possibility recognized in our traditional denominational confessions.

And, finally, we will need to increase our network of financial supporters. Confessing Synod Newsletters must be prepared and mailed. People need to be paid for their time and efforts in doing training and organizing

Written by The Rev. Dr. Philip D. Long, PhD January 17, 1988

In honor of Pastor Long's desire for the continuance of the Confessing Synod as an important force and support base in America, we must all take responsibility and work to ensure and expand the network of financial supporters. Only with this support can those who do the research, write, and act continue with this example and witness.