This is Part  10  of a continuing series analyzing the final report of the Blue Ribbon Task Force on Structure and Governance (BRTFSG). All posts in this series are listed here. Here is Recommendation #7 of the Blue Ribbon Task Force. Recommendation #7: Establish Five Geographical Regions in the Synod Create five geographic regions within the Synod. As the districts are themselves reconfigured (Recommendation #4), these regions also may have to be reconfigured. (Final Report, p. 33) This is one of the recommendations that if passed would have little effect one way or the other and so is somewhat benign.   More…

This is Part  9  of a continuing series analyzing the final report of the Blue Ribbon Task Force on Structure and Governance (BRTFSG). All posts in this series are listed here. The Great Deception – Upholding the Congregation Principle The one theme that has been sounded louder than any other by President Kieschnick’s Blue Ribbon Task Force on Structure and Governance (BRTFSG) is upholding the congregational principle. The Task Force claims to uphold this principle but in recommendation #6 (and in other recommendations) they undermine it drastically. In this ninth part of my comprehensive analysis on the recommendations I will   More…

This is Part  8  of a continuing series analyzing the final report of the Blue Ribbon Task Force on Structure and Governance (BRTFSG). All posts in this series are listed here.   DuPage County Illinois is Slowly Growing Liberal and so is the LCMS DuPage County, Illinois in the western suburbs of Chicago has long been a stronghold of conservative politics but over the last fifteen years it is growing more and more liberal. As the average American grows less and less interested in politics there is a natural slide toward tolerance and this favors liberalism in the polling booth.   More…

This is Part  7  of a continuing series analyzing the final report of the Blue Ribbon Task Force on Structure and Governance (BRTFSG). All posts in this series are listed here.   This proposal is an upside down solution to an invented crisis that addresses the wrong problem with a proposal that works against the folks’ ingrained territorial tendency that in the end is controlled by a single person. Other than that it is a harmless proposal, well, except for the hundreds of thousands of dollars that it will cost. Let me explain. The Proposal Proposal #4 calls for a   More…

This is Part 6 of a continuing series analyzing the final report of the Blue Ribbon Task Force on Structure and Governance (BRTFSG). All posts in this series are listed here.   Blue Ribbon Task Force Recommendation # 3 is about the congregations and circuits. Here is the text of the recommendation: Recommendation #3: Restore Circuits to Their Primary Purpose The task force recommends empowering the districts (they already have the responsibility of creating circuits) to consider not only geography as a criterion but also mission and demographic considerations to create these small ecclesial clusters of congregations for care, support,   More…

This is Part 5 of a continuing series analyzing the final report of the Blue Ribbon Task Force on Structure and Governance (BRTFSG).   All posts in this series are listed here. Here is the text of Recommendation #2: Recommendation #2: Clarify the Congregational Principle In order to advance Christ’s mission and clarify who we are by underscoring the essentially congregational character of the Synod, the role of the ordained and commissioned members (all associate members), and the participation of the laity in the life and work of the Synod, we recommend revising and clarifying Article V of the Synod’s   More…

This is Part 4 of a continuing series analyzing the final report of the Blue Ribbon Task Force on Structure and Governance (BRTFSG). All posts in this series are listed here.   Recommendation #1: the Constitutional Amendments to the Preamble and Articles II, III, VI and VII The first recommendation from the Blue Ribbon Task Force on Structure and Governance (BRTFSG) includes proposed amendments to four of the articles of the LCMS constitution. (For the text of these proposed amendments see above for a link to the final report with appendices.) Proposed changes to The Preamble Here is the current   More…

This is a continuing series analyzing the final report of the Blue Ribbon Task Force on Structure and Governance (BRTFSG). I started out with the troubling revelation that the proposals are based on the work of non-Lutheran consultants (10/28/09) and a follow up a few days later focusing on the fact that these consultants cost you and I one half a million dollars (10/29/09). I then jumped to the “Conclusion” of the proposals to illustrate the Task Force’s abuse of a Walther text in a failed attempt to demonstrate that Walther supports their misleading views on “the mission of God”   More…

I shall continue working my way consecutively through the Blue Ribbon proposals but want to take a break and jump to the conclusion of the final report where the Task Force quotes Walther. They totally misread the section of Walther that they quote which I believe is more proof that they have an agenda and that they have done the LCMS a disservice with this report.

I hope to work my way through the Blue Ribbon Task Force on Structure and Governance’s (BRTFSG) Final Report (pdf)  one section at a time and provide some analysis and commentary. We begin with the introductory pages where we find a disturbing revelation. The proposals to remake our synod are based on the advice of non-Lutheran consultants, one of whom is religion and cultural pluralist David Roozen. Cultural pluralism and its cousin multiculturalism are sociological approaches to understanding human behavior which promote a diversity of viewpoints (truth systems) and reject the idea that there is one foundational truth. As far   More…