To Authorize Title Bishop for Synod President and District Presidents

Official Workbook overture source text

9-51 
To Authorize Title Bishop for Synod President  
and District Presidents 
WHEREAS, In common usage the title president is a secular rather 
than an ecclesiastical title; and 
WHEREAS, The title president when used to refer to the President 
of the Synod or a  district president is unfamiliar not only to the 
general public but also to members of churches both nationally and 
around the world; and 
WHEREAS, The title president does not adequately express the 
nature of the offices of President of the Synod and district president 
as being that of a pastor charged with the supervision of the doctrine 
and practice of pastors and congregations (Const. Art. XI B 1; XII 
7); and 
WHEREAS, The title president does not adequately express the 
nature of the office of district president as being that of a pastor 
charged with the responsibility of ordaining (either in person or by 
proxy) candidates for the pastoral office (Const. Art. XII 9 c); and 
WHEREAS, The functions of the President of the Synod and the 
district presidents, as defined by the Constitution and Bylaws, that 
entail supervising the doctrine and practice of pastors and 
congregations and ordaining (either in person or by proxy) 
candidates for the pastoral office, are the functions of those who 
from ancient times and in many parts of the Lutheran church have 
borne and continue to bear the title bishop; and 
WHEREAS, The Lutheran Confessions express the desire of the 
confessors to retain the office of bishop; and 
WHEREAS, Martin Luther during his lifetime consecrated two 
bishops; and 
WHEREAS, Carl Ferdinand Wilhelm Walther’s Synod address of 
1848 shows that he did not in principle reject the office of bishop, 
saying, “Which person … would deny that the Swedish Church 
grew splendidly under its episcopal constitution, especially so long 
as men like Laurentius Petri … bore the episcopal dignity …?” 
(Matthew C. Harrison, At Home in the House of My Fathers: 
Presidential Sermons, Essays, Letters, and Addresses from the 
Missouri Synod’s Great Era of Unity and Growth , [CPH, 2011]); 
and 
W
HEREAS, The original 1847 Synod Constitution does not use 
the German word pr äsident but rather the Latin word praeses , a 
usage that continued as long as the business of the Synod and the 
districts was conducted in the German language, as can be seen in 
the reports of both Synod and district conventions; and 
W
HEREAS, Many of the Synod’s partner churches use the title 
bishop for those charged with the supervision of doctrine and 
practice, including the Evangelical Lutheran Church of England, 
which recently adopted the title bishop  for the official formerly 
known as the chairman; and 
WHEREAS, The English, Atlantic, and Southeastern districts have 
authorized the use of the historic ecclesiastical title bishop for their 
district presidents; therefore be it 
Resolved, That in order to clarify for members of the Synod and 
for the general public the nature and function of the offices of 
President of the Synod and district president, and to bring the 
Synod’s nomenclature into closer conformity with ancient usage as 
preserved in many parts of the Lutheran church from the sixteenth 
century to the present day, the Synod in convention authorize the 
use of the historic ecclesiastical title bishop for the President of the 
Synod and the district presidents; and be it further 
Resolved, That authorization to use the title bishop implies no 
change whatsoever in the status, functions and responsibilities of 
the President of the Synod and the district presidents as defined in 
the Constitution and Bylaws; and be it finally 
Resolved, That authorization to use the title bishop implies no 
change whatsoever to the Church’s doctrine that the form of 
ecclesiastical polity (including the nomenclature of those charged 
with the supervision of doctrine and practice) is adiaphora, that is, 
neither commanded nor forbidden by the Word of God. 
Our Saviour 
Baltimore, MD 
Ov.