To Request Commission on Theology and Church Relations to Produce Study Document to Further Understanding and Conversations on Pastoral Exceptions to Closed Communion

Official Workbook overture source text

5-18 
To Request Commission on Theology and Church 
Relations to Produce Study Document  
to Further Understanding and Conversations  
on Pastoral Exceptions to Closed Communion 
WHEREAS, The Commission on Theology and Church Relations 
(CTCR) in its 1999 report, Admission to the Lord’s Supper: Basics 
of Biblical and Confessional Teaching states that the Lord’s Supper 
was given to us by God to maintain and preserve unity and that 
giving the Supper to those whose public confession is heterodoxy, 
“threatens and contradicts … the pure proclamation of the death of 
Christ for us” (46); and 
WHEREAS, The document also recognizes and embraces the 
reality that there can be “rare and genuinely difficult situations of 
unusual personal need and pastoral care” (47); and 
WHEREAS, The report admits that “it will never be possible to 
compile a list of ‘acceptable exceptions,’” explaining that “life in 
this present evil age will not allow for such simplicity and 
precision” (48); and 
WHEREAS, At the same time, the report states that, while “the 
Synod has always recognized this … we must engage one another 
in respectful mutual conversation over the controverted specifics of 
the ‘situations of emergency, and special cases of pastoral care, or 
extraordinary situations and circumstance’ which call for ‘the 
necessity of exercising responsible pastoral care’” (48); and 
WHEREAS, The report states that the Synod “must be willing to 
search for the balance between personal faith and need on the one 
hand, and the corporate dimensions and unity implied in and 
demanded by the Lord’s Supper on the other hand” (47); and 
WHEREAS, The report suggests that cases for these rare and 
difficult exceptions are likely “times of emergency, of war, of 
severe illness or intense personal crisis,” and “situations involving 
individuals who are in a state of confession,” (47) but gives no more 
examples or guidance; therefore be it 
Resolved, That the CTCR provide the Synod with a study 
document that: 
1. summarizes the 1999 report and gives clarification on what 
is meant and understood by rare, difficult, and unusual in 
the context of the document;  
2. provides guidance for the necessary follow-up pastoral care 
and on-going engagement with persons for whom 
exceptions have been made and how long such exceptions 
might persist;  
3. gives a number of case studies that include examples of 
when such an exception might be made, examples of when 
it might seem that it could be made but should not, 
controversial instances where it is unclear and men of 
goodwill and faith might disagree, and study questions; 
and be it further 
Resolved
, That this report be completed by the next Synod 
convention and made available to the Synod for use by 
congregations, circuits, and districts for engagement on these issues 
with the aim of promoting unity and faithful, evangelical practice. 
Circuit 13 (Indiana) 
English District 
Ov.