To Reconsider Issue of Woman Suffrage in the Church

Official Workbook overture source text

5-32 
To Reconsider Issue of Woman Suffrage  
in the Church 
WHEREAS, The 1969 Synod convention adopted Resolution 2-
17, “To Grant Woman Suffrage and Board Membership,”  
permitting congregations to adopt w omen’s suffrage and, at the 
same time, stating that any such suffrage in the congregation must 
not conflict with the order of creation or infringe on the pastoral 
office (Proceedings, 88–89); and 
WHEREAS, An important principle of our Lutheran Reformation 
was found in Martin Luther’s own confession at Leipzig in 1519 
(Luther’s Works [LW] 31:322) and at Worms in 1521 (LW 32:112–
17) that councils can and do err; and 
WHEREAS, The Scriptures clearly prohibit women from 
exercising authority over men as noted in 1 Tim. 2:11–12 and 1 Cor. 
14:34–35; and 
WHEREAS, The polity of many Synod congregations grants  
members of the voters’ assembly authority over  weighty matters, 
including the calling of a pastor  and the final excommunication of 
a sinner; and 
WHEREAS, Voting in the congregation is often an act of authority 
over men in that it determines matters affecting both men and 
women; and 
WHEREAS, A voters’ assembly that gives equal authority to both 
men and women overturns the order of creation and undermines the 
God-given distinction between men and women revealed in the 
Scriptures; and 
WHEREAS, Our Synod strongly opposed the practice of women’s 
suffrage in the church for the first 122 years of its history on the 
basis of the Word of God, and many of its pastors and congregations 
continue to oppose the practice to the current day; and 
WHEREAS, Scripture offers to women praiseworthy vocations to 
serve God as wives, mothers and in various capacities within the 
church ( e.g., altar guilds, ladies’ groups, mercy work, and as 
teachers or deaconesses , etc.), which do not conflict with the 
divinely ordained principle  that a woman must not exercise 
authority over a man; and 
WHEREAS, The church should not be at all ashamed of God-given 
distinctions in the area of gender despite the pressure to align our 
teaching and practice—in part or in full—with the culture; and  
WHEREAS, The biblical principles that speak to suffrage in the 
church are in no way invalidated by the fact that men, at times, fail 
to humbly and faithfully carry out the charge to sacrificial headship 
in the family, church, and state; therefore be it 
Resolved, That the pastors and congregations of the  Synod be 
encouraged to study this  matter on the basis of the Word of God; 
and be it further