March 1, 2007
The Politics of Our Church
A couple months ago, I was struck by a fellow parishioner's comment that "pressure is being put on us by the synod to buy the new hymnals". It doesn't matter who it was that said it, and it's not relevant to our adoption of the new books. What I find pertinent is that such remarks indicate among us a fairly common misunderstanding of how our ELCIC is organized and governed.
More specifically, this has to do with the 'direction of governance' in the ELCIC. I wonder how many of us realize and appreciate that our national church is essentially a grass-roots organization. It's right there in the ELCIC constitution, Article III (Nature of the Church):
"This church derives its character and its powers both from its congregationsand from its inherent nature as part of the Church universal." [emphasis mine]
Note: the complete ELCIC constitution is on-line. It's a well-written, easy-to-read text, and I recommend it!
Ours is not a top-down organization; in the sense that the national bishop and church office decide how things are to be, and we follow. Our constitution indicates quite the opposite, which has very real consequences that make our church unique. For example: in contrast to the Anglicans, we congregations in the ELCIC are the sole owners of our church property, and it is we who set the conditions of employment of our pastors, whom we ourselves call.
Interestingly, the ELCIC synods are organizational constructs, created by the national church for the administration of its program (Article IV, section 2-j). The ELCIC could decide to merge, divide, or even eliminate any or all of its regional synods. While that is not likely to occur, it gives some indication of how our church's 'Lutheran heirarchy' is supposed to be organized.
The only really binding condition on congregations for membership in the ELCIC (Article VI) is that they hold to the Lutheran confessions of faith, preach the Word, and offer proper worship and administration of the sacraments. Many of us are not too familiar with these Lutheran confessions. The ELCIC constitution lists them in Article II. These statements of belief, written by the Reformers, form the basis for what we today know as our unique grass-roots church. For example, Article XXVIII of the Augsburg Confession presents Luther's reasons for limiting the power of bishops, who sometimes err.
I find nothing in the ELCIC constitution empowering the national church or its synods to 'pressure' a congregation to adopt a new hymnal. They might have offered a 'carrot' by, say, providing a discount, but it would be improper for them to use a 'stick'. So if someone sensed 'pressure', perhaps they were unfamiliar with our role as a member congregation.
By voluntarily agreeing to become and/or remain a supporting member of the ELCIC, a congregation receives from the greater church valuableadministrative support, such as operating seminaries that train pastors, management of pastors' pensions, organizing missionary work, etc. Our church 'citizenship' provides us with the opportunity - some would say duty - to participate in the political life of our organization, e.g. petitioning our synod or the ELCIC with our concerns, and sending delegates to national and synodical conventions to make our voice heard.
Nils Ek
(Christ the Redeemer Lutheran Church, Dollard des Ormeaux, QC)
