In response to a promise to the late Herman Otten, Editor of Christian News, Pastor Tim Klinkenberg, candidate for LCMS President, wrote about his experience as a pastor and his priorities for the LCMS. Pastor Tim’s letter is reprinted with permission.
From the beginning of our Synod, we struggled with big questions of relationships and governance polity. Should the laity have authority over the clergy? Should the clergy have authority over the laity? Should a “bishop” have authority over the congregations? Questions like those formed the chaotic beginning of the Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod! This essay will follow the decisions our Synod has made from its beginnings with quotes from C.F.W. Walther and our own LCMS Constitution. Top-down or bottom-up? What is right-side up?
