Friday, January 1, 2016

Faithful witness from Down Under. . .

A Covenant to Promote Biblical Renewal within the Lutheran Church of Australia...  It is certainly a long title and not a brief document either.  It is a faithful witness and a call to faithful witness for those within the Lutheran Church of Australia.  It is pleasantly written in clear and unmistakable language that is accessible for everyone.  It is also a deep and profound witness and call to remain faithful to the Scriptures and the Confessions at a time when Biblical illiteracy and suspicion and a nebulous confessional subscription seem to rule the day in Lutheran circles.  All in all it is an impressive document with impressive signatories and we should all give thanks to God for the faithful who contend for the faith within the LCA.

If you have a care and concern for faithful Lutheran witness, careful and steadfast churchmanship, and a concern to pass on the faith as faithfully as it was received, it will warm your heart to read and rejoice in the covenant proposed for the renewal of the faith (and not just a concern for the ordination of women) by Dr. Gregory Lockwood.  The Lord of the Church is being well served by folks like Dr. Lockwood and the many who have joined in his call to renewal.  God bless you all who heed the call and endeavor to remain steadfast and immovable in the orthodox and catholic faith.

Read the document here. . .

Okay, I cannot help myself.  Here is the conclusion:
We have prepared these theses for our mutual encouragement and as an appeal to all LCA members to join us in our endeavour to uphold the authority of God’s Word.
We commit ourselves to provide sound biblical teaching in line with these theses, and thereby promote renewal within the Church.

We are thankful for the unity God gave the LCA at its inception. With his help we will strive to preserve that unity on the basis of the common confession of the two former churches. We pledge ourselves to work for the building up of the church in love, so that it will grow to maturity in Christ in its life and mission, and not be blown around by every wind of doctrine.  (Ephesians 4:14-16)

In order to avoid the disunity and division fuelled by the critical attitudes of some towards our foundational documents, and in order to resolve the issues that have arisen among us, we reaffirm the following thesis on ‘Principles governing church fellowship’:
Where differences in teaching and practice exist or arise between Churches uniting, these differences are to be removed by willingly submitting to the authority of the Word of God. Where a difference in teaching or practice is a departure from the doctrine of the Bible, such difference cannot be tolerated, but must be pointed out as an error, on the basis of clear passages of Holy Writ; and if the error is persisted in, in spite of instruction, warning, and earnest witness, it must at last lead to a separation.
In adopting this covenant, we invite you, the Pastors and lay-members of the LCA, to
append your names to ours as we pledge to uphold and promote the LCA’s confessional basis, so that the church rediscovers fullness of joy in Christ and his Word.

2 comments:

ErnestO said...

How very moving and how straightforward the 11 page document of the LCA moves. They truly are our brothers and sisters in Christ.

The following is another good look at people of faith on the move this time from Canada.

http://www.kairoscanada.org/blog/world-turn-sermon-luke-1-46-55/

Carl Vehse said...

This Covenant is in response to the recent LCA convention vote in which 63.6% (short of the required 2/3) of the delegates voted for pastrixes in the LCA.

An analysis of the vote, with stated assumptions, indicated that an estimated 75 pastors voted against pastrixes in the LCA and 63 voted for. Of the lay delegates, an estimated 70 voted against and 206 voted for pastrixes (with 9 fence-sitting abstentions).

The Covenant's signatories include some, but not all of the LCA's Commission on Theology and Interchurch Relations members.

The CTICR has created a website, Ordination - We're Listening, with a "Message from the LCA Bishop" John Henderson, a pro-pastrix heretic.

The LCA has 540 congregations, 450 pastors, and 70,000 members.

A motion to have pastrixes in the LCA will likely be voted on again at the next LCA convention. If the motion passes a significant number of congregations and pastors will likely leave what the Covenant describes as a "syncretistic sect."