Six people were appointed to a drafting committee as the Commission on Theology and Church Relations set a schedule for completing its report on “The Scriptural Relationship of Man and Woman.” The appointments followed the commission’s second consultation on the topic during its April 16-18 meeting in St. Louis.
During the regular meeting, Dr. Jerald Joersz, associate executive director, announced his decision to retire at the end of December. Joersz has served on the CTCR staff for 30 years. The commission voted to call for nominations in June to fill the position.
The CTCR also asked its executive staff, in consultation with the Synod President and the Council of Presidents, to prepare a recommendation for plans for a Synodwide theological conference in the summer of 2008. The commission will act on the plans at its next meeting in September. Theological conferences in 2002 and 2005 served as models for similar conferences in districts.
Three men and three women will serve as the drafting committee to assist the commission in completing a 1995 LCMS convention assignment to study the scriptural relationship of man and woman. The CTCR already has produced several documents related to this request.
The committee is to provide a detailed outline of the report to the CTCR meeting in September.
Members of the committee are Dr. Jean Garton, Benton, Ark., a member of the LCMS Board of Directors; Dr. David Lumpp, Roseville, Minn., chairman of the Department of Religion and Theology at Concordia University, St. Paul; Dr. Walter A. Maier III, Fort Wayne, associate professor at Concordia Theological Seminary; Dr. Paul Raabe, St. Louis, professor at Concordia Seminary and a CTCR member; Deaconess Eva Rickman, a missionary in Panama; and Carolyn Schoenborn, Scappose, Ore., an organizational management consultant. They all participated in the CTCR consultations on the scriptural relationship of man and woman, held last December and last month.
The CTCR intends to hold two more consultations on the topic. The next consultation, tentatively set for December this year or possibly in February 2008, will respond to a first draft of the report. In April 2008, a consultation will respond to the final draft.
Executive Director Samuel Nafzger reported on a trip he made to Sweden in late March, where he spoke to a group of confessional pastors and met with officials of the Mission Province of Sweden.
He was invited by the Mission Province, which considers itself a free province of pastors and congregations in the Lutheran Church in Sweden that seek to remain faithful to the Scriptures and the Lutheran Confessions.
“The LCMS wants to be fundamentally constructive and intentionally supportive in upholding and nurturing confessional Lutheran theology around the world, including Sweden,” Nafzger explained. “At the same time, we want to proceed in a proper manner, taking into account and respecting existing relationships.”
Posted May 1, 2007
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