Version History
Current published version
Today's Business, Issue 3. pp. 336-337. Revised published proposal.
Official Resolution Source Text
Resolution: 7-06
Canonical number: 7-06
Committee: University Education
Source: Today's Business, Issue 1
Printed pages: pp. 129-130
PDF pages: 129-130
Version: original, superseded
Source reference: Issue 1, pp. 129-130
Line numbers follow Today's Business, Issue 1, with numbering reset on each printed page, so delegates can compare this page with the official PDF.
Page 129
- To Encourage University Worship Practices That Form Students
- to be Faithful to Scriptures and Lutheran Confessions
- RESOLUTION 7-06
- Overture 7-06 (CW, 423–24)
- WHEREAS, The Synod in convention (2023 Res. 7-04B, “To revise Bylaws to Revisit and Renew Relationship of
- Colleges and Universities with the Synod”) revised Bylaw 3.6.6 to direct the Concordia University System (CUS) Board
- of Directors to develop and adopt Lutheran Identity Mission Outcome Standards (LIMOS), which were adopted in
- February 2024, including Identity Standard 2.1, that states, “The ecclesiastical mission and goals are clearly and
- consciously pursued in the design and delivery of campus worship;” and Identity Standard 2.1.5 of the LIMOS Evaluation
- Tool asks, “How is commitment to the church’s heritage and unity reflected in the use of liturgies, hymnals, and
- hymnody?” and “Describe the regular pattern of chapel services noting liturgies and hymnals used and those who serve as
- preacher and liturgists” (CUS, “Lutheran Identity and Mission Outcome Standards with Evaluation Tool,” Feb. 1, 2024;
- cus.edu/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/LIMOS-Evaluation-Tool.pdf); and
Page 130
- WHEREAS, Fostering a consistent approach to worship practices across the congregations, universities, and seminaries
- of the Synod strengthens the unity of the Synod and provides a coherent witness to students, congregations, and the broader
- community; and
- WHEREAS, The Lutheran Church has long heeded the apostle’s injunction that all things be done decently and in order
- (1 Corinthians 14) by, for example, joyfully and freely receiving the church’s historic orders of prayer (e.g., Matins,
- Vespers, Compline, etc.) and the historic order of the Divine Service (e.g., the Ordo as described in 2016 Res. 4-04A, “To
- Appeal to the LCMS Congregations, Workers, and Institutions within Christian Freedom and for Love’s Sake to Retain a
- Common Order of Service for the Lord’s Supper”) as a precious gift from previous generations of Christians; and
- WHEREAS, It is simply not necessary for the true unity of the Christian Church that ceremonies instituted by human
- custom should be observed uniformly in all places (AC VII 3); and
- WHEREAS, The Lutheran reformers could insist that those church usages that have been established by human
- authority ought to be observed, provided they could be observed without sin and without the erroneous opinion that they
- justified (AC XV), for the sake of training the unlearned in the faith (AC XXIV 3); and
- WHEREAS, The Lutheran reformers confess that the churches of God in every locality and age have authority to order
- the ceremonies of worship in such ways as are fitting and profitable for the edification of the communion of saints in
- particular times and places (FC Ep X 4) and so that the weak in faith might not be scandalized (FC Ep X 5); and
- WHEREAS, The reformers also authored church orders, such as the Church Order for Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel,
- published in English by CPH (2015), which show how evangelical freedom may fruitfully be joined with a grateful
- reception and creative appropriation of the church’s living liturgical and hymnological heritage; and
- WHEREAS, The church orders evidenced variation in the details of the humanly established ceremonies from place to
- place, yet all within the order received from previous generations; and
- WHEREAS, Constitution Article III 7 states, “The Synod, under Scripture and the Lutheran Confessions shall— …
- encourage congregations to strive for uniformity in church practice, but also to develop an appreciation of a variety of
- responsible practices and customs which are in harmony with our common confession of faith”; and
- WHEREAS, The Synod in convention has appealed to our congregations and workers to welcome and encourage the
- development and use of new hymns, spiritual songs, and liturgical settings, which continually are called forth by the Holy
- Spirit, not as a supplanting to what has come before, but as a supplement to it, its living growth (2016 Res. 4-04A); and
- WHEREAS, Const. Art. VI 4 requires the “exclusive use of doctrinally pure agenda, hymnbooks, and catechisms in
- church and school”; and
- WHEREAS, The chapels of the Concordia universities are fertile training grounds for all students, faculty, and staff to
- learn and grow in joyful, reverent, Christ-centered worship; and
- WHEREAS, The adoption of Lutheran Service Book (LSB) in 2006 provided a common, unifying liturgical and
- hymnological foundation for our life together as a Synod; and
- WHEREAS, The CUS Board and its Campus Worship Committee, which includes representatives from each of the
- Concordia universities, is earnestly working to develop a plan for consistent Lutheran worship, spiritual life and pastoral
- care on the Concordia campuses; therefore be it
- Resolved, That worship life in the chapel services and across the campuses of the CUS is to be planned, practiced, and
- aimed at the goal of forming all students, faculty, and staff to be scripturally-faithful Christians, grounded in Lutheran
- doctrine and practice, and active members of Synod congregations; and be it further
- Resolved, That use of LSB is encouraged as the benchmark, and that other worship materials and practices should be
- doctrinally pure (Const. Art. VI 4); and be it further
- Resolved, That the CUS Board and its Campus Worship Committee continue working to foster a rich, faithful, and
- distinctly Lutheran worship and spiritual life throughout the CUS; and be it finally
- Resolved, That the CUS Board include in its report to the 2029 Synod convention the progress of its Campus Worship
- Committee.
