To Admonish and Review Fellowship with Siberian Evangelical Lutheran Church

Official Workbook overture source text

5-04 
To Admonish and Review Fellowship with  
Siberian Evangelical Lutheran Church 
WHEREAS, The Holy Scriptures enjoin us to maintain the unity 
of the faith in the bond of peace (Eph. 4:3, 13); and 
WHEREAS, The Lutheran Confessions state : “The church is the 
assembly of saints in which the gospel is taught purely and the 
sacraments are administered rightly. And it is enough for the true 
unity of the church to agree concerning the teaching of the gospel 
and the administration of the sacraments. It is not necessary that 
human traditions, rites, or ceremonies instituted by hu man beings 
be alike everywhere” (AC VII 1–3, Kolb/Wengert); and 
WHEREAS, “Apostolicity” in the Church is found not in a flesh-
and-blood lineage of men, but rather, in the apostolicity of doctrine, 
which consists of continuing steadfast in the apostles’ doctrine 
(Acts 2:42), as the Lutheran theologian Hermann Sasse confesses: 
“Authentic apostolic succession, then, is always and only the 
succession of doctrine” (Hermann Sasse, “Successio Apostolica” in 
Letters to Lutheran Pastors, ed. Matthew C. Harrison [CPH, 2014]: 
2:437); and 
WHEREAS, The bishop of the Siberian Evangelical Lutheran 
Church (SELC), a church in altar and pulpit fellowship with The 
Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod since 2013, has taught that so-
called “apostolic succession,” which he defines as a succession of 
duly consecrated bishops, is necessary for a church to have a valid 
ministry; and 
WHEREAS, By promoting this teaching and interjecting itself in 
the life of another sister church body, the Evangelical Lutheran 
Church of Brazil (IELB), by asserting the claim of apostolic 
succession, by ordaining deacons, and by establishing 
congregations outsid e of Siberia, the SELC has created scandal, 
confusion, and disharmony in the confession of the one true and 
saving Gospel; and 
WHEREAS, The bishop of the SELC is also identified as the 
“guiding bishop” of the Independent Anglican Congregation in 
Thailand (IACT), a church that according to its website 
(inachurchthailand.com/weddings-blessings) allows for the 
blessing of LGBTQ unions; therefore be it 
Resolved, That the President of the Synod admonish the bishop 
of the SELC to immediately cease and desist in these unwanted 
intrusions into the life of the IELB; and be it further 
Resolved, That the President of the Synod, in consultation with 
the Commission on Theology and Church Relations (CTCR), 
engage in conversation with the leadership of the SELC to assist 
them in embracing a genuinely biblical, Lutheran confession of the 
one Office Christ Jesus has instituted for the pure preaching of the 
Gospel and the right administration of the Sacraments; and be it 
further 
Resolved, That the President of the Synod, in consultation with 
the CTCR, admonish the bishop of the SELC to withdraw 
immediately from the unionistic relationship with the IACT; and be 
it finally 
Resolved, That the President of the Synod report the outcome of 
these efforts to the 2029 Synod convention with a recommendation 
as to whether the conditions for altar and pulpit fellowship with the 
SELC still obtain. 
Beautiful Savior, Spokane, WA; Grace, San Mateo, CA; 
 
Circuit 2 (St. Paul Metro), Minnesota South District;  
Circuit 9 (Decatur), Indiana District