February 14th, 2006 at 6:18 pm
Last night in a phone conversation I was informed that the new “confessional” pastor of a church in my parents’ circuit was making waves and alienating half the members of his quite large congregation. Confessional is in quotes not because he may or may not be confessional but because the adjective is apparently becoming a warning flag about a pastor’s behavior. Since words do mean things, those involved need to make sure that the word does not become a slur.
To be “confessional” means that someone adheres to a confession of faith. In the Lutheran church that confession is the set of documents contained in the Book of Concord. Some Presbyterians adhere to the Westminster Confession. The United Methodist church has more than one, among which are the Articles of Religion of the Methodist Church and the Confession of Faith of the Evangelical United Brethren Church. Some do not profess to adhere to a confession of faith at all. Some Lutheran confessionals are rabble-rousers, and some are not. 
A layman need not be confessional in a strict sense, but in the Rite of Confirmation or the Profession of Faith the Lutheran layman declares that he/she does “hold all the prophetic and apostolic Scriptures to be the inspired Word of God and the doctrine of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, drawn from them and confessed in the Small Catechism, to be faithful and true.” The Small Catechism is part of the Book of Concord and agrees with the other parts on the topics it covers.
A pastor in the Lutheran church in his ordination vows not only declares that the Small Catechism is true but the entire Book of Concord. He also confesses that “the canonical books of the Old and New Testaments to be the inspired Word of God and the only infallible rule of faith and practice.”
So, to remind Lutherans out there, that’s all that being confessional means. Being confessional is a good thing. It means trusting God’s judgment in all of His direct revelation of what is right and wrong. It means accepting that one cannot do anything to come closer to God, but that Christ has died for everyone, that those who believe and are baptized shall be saved. It is a great burden and an even greater relief that we carry.
It is not proper for a confessional pastor to split a church by changing practice without congregational acceptance. He has to preach and teach the Word. All of it. Practice will follow doctrine in time. I cannot recommend The Fire and the Staff enough to a pastor with such a congregation. If a congregation wishes something heterodox, the pastor is obligated to build in them a new foundation which will cause the bad theology not to stand.
February 15th, 2006 at 10:01 pm
“Last night in a phone conversation I was informed that the new ‘confessional’ pastor of a church in my parents’ circuit was making waves and alienating half the members of his quite large congregation…. This particular pastor has gotten himself quite involved in the politics of the LCMS.”
Well, is he confessional?!? “[H]e may or may not be…”
If there is something this pastor is doing that violates his call then be specific and provide documentation. Otherwise, such an accusation against a called Servant of the Word is so vague and ambigious that it is little more than idle gossip.
February 16th, 2006 at 1:06 am
If there is something this pastor is doing that violates his call then be specific and provide documentation. Otherwise, such an accusation against a called Servant of the Word is so vague and ambigious that it is little more than idle gossip.
That’s a fair statement, and that’s why I’ve not put his name and church on here. I am not making an accusation on his confessional-ness. I have read a speech of his on Consensus, but that’s still not enough information were it even my business to correct him. I can speak and say, “look, what a person said here doesn’t match the Confessions,” but I do not write the roster on who is confessional or not.
When I told someone I considered myself confessional, I heard feedback from that person that a pastor who called himself confessional was splitting a church in the area (not his). I do not want people I know to have expectations of chaos in the future when they hear someone is “confessional”. I apologize for not making that point more clearly.