To Recognize that the Synod is Not in Altar and Pulpit Fellowship with the Japan Lutheran Church

Preamble The Japan Lutheran Church (JLC) grew out of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS) mission work that began in 1968 and became an LCMS partner church in 1971. Over the years, our two church bodies have recognized and given thanks to God for the gift of altar and pulpit fellowship. In recent years, however, questions and tensions about the differing positions of our two church bodies on the ordination of women to the pastoral office have made it necessary for the LCMS to ask whether the scriptural basis for altar and pulpit fellowship—complete agreement “in the doctrine and all its articles” (Formula of Concord Solid Declaration X 31)—continues to exist between our two churches. In 2008, LCMS President Gerald Ki esch nick became aware of a proposal introduced at the JLC’s May 2008 convention to consider altering the JLC’s bylaws to permit the ordination of women to the pastoral office. He immediately extended an offer for the leaders of our two churches to meet and discuss this issue, cautioning that “a decision to ordain women would have serious implications for a relationship that our two churches have enjoyed forso many years.” Official representatives of the JLC and the LCMS met face-to-face four times between February 2009 and August 2010 for formal discussions of this and related issues on the basis of the teachings of Scripture and the Lutheran Confessions. Topics included the authority of Scripture, scriptural her men eu tics, the service of women in the Church, the Office of the Holy Ministry, and the nature and implications of church fellowship. Early on in these discussions, the LCMS representatives learned— much to their surprise and dismay—that from the very beginning of the JLC’s history there was a lack of clarity about its position on the ordination of women. In 1966, even before it became a partner church of the LCMS, the JLC had declared altar and pulpit fellowship with the Japan Evangelical Lutheran Church (JELC), which would start to ordain women in 1971. Also in 1966, the JLC and the JELC agreed to train pastors together at a joint seminary in Tokyo. In 1970 some pastors and congregations of the JLC called on it to publicly protest the JELC’s position on this issue. The JLC eventually resolved at its 1974 convention not to protest the JELC’s position by accepting President Kosaku Nao’s theological opinion that Scripture does not prohibit women to preach, and that the ordination of women must be treated as an issue of “adiaphoron,” that is, a practice not clearly commanded or forbidden by Scripture. Sadly, and for reasons that are still not entirely clear, the LCMS was not fully aware of nor sufficiently attentive to the position taken by the JLC on this issue at its 1974 convention. (This was, of course, a turbulent time for the LCMS also,internally and theologically.)Due to this lack of awareness and/or attentiveness to developments within the JLC, the LCMS did not engage in fraternal dialog with the JLC on this issue in these early years, as it surely should have. In retrospect, this is deeply regrettable and is a failure for which the LCMS itself must take a large measure of responsibility. At the same time, from its inception until its 2021 convention, the JLC continued to ordain only men, as its constitution and bylaws included the word “male” as a necessary qualification for called and ordained pastors. During the years of 1974–2002, there were some JLC pastors who continued to advocate for the ordination of women. For example, at the Hokkaido District convention in October 2001, Rev. Tatsuomi Yoshida (current JLC President) presented a paper which took the position that Scripture allows female pastors. At the conventions of 2002, 2005, and 2008, the attempt was made to move toward the ordination of women, but the motions were tabled each time. This was the immediate context that prompted the LCMS under President Ki esch nick to hold face-to-face meetings with the JLC leadership as described above. However, one important fact is to be noted. At the national convention of 2002, the JLC did establish an office of deacon—as an ordained office—open to both male and female. Hence, the JLC had de facto opened the door for women’s ordination at that time. As a result, in 2006, the first female was ordained as a deacon in the JLC. As the formal discussions that took place in 2009 and 2010 drew to a close, the LCMS representatives were hopeful for a positive outcome—one in which the leadership of the JLC and the JLC as a whole would be led to affirm unequivocally the position of Scripture on the issue of the ordination of women to the pastoral office: namely, that this position and practice is not an adiaphoron. Very late in the process,however,it became clear that the leadership of the JLC was still inclined toward recommending a change in the JLC’s official position which would result in the ordination of women as pastors. In 2010, newly-elected LCMS President Matthew Harrison, even before he was formally installed into office, wrote to JLC President Yukata Kumei and the members of the JLC expressing his deep “sadness” at the news that the JLC was still considering changing its position on this issue and acknowledging the past failures of the LCMS to bear witness as fully and faithfully as it should have to the position of the Scriptures on this issue. Then, in June 2011, the major earthquake and tsunami that devastated Japan in March of the same year brought President Harrison and his team to Japan to bring a love gift of the LCMS to the JLC. Thisvisit opened the door for the LCMS Officeof Church Relations to hold a series of conversations with the JLC leadership, starting in April 2013 and continuing through June 2019. Although another attempt was made to propose the ordination of women at the JLC’s national convention in 2011, no such motion was made at the 2014 or 2017 conventions. This was not an indication of a change in their position, however. Over time, it became clear that the JLC’s official interpretation of the result of the official face-to-face meetings in 2009–2010 had been that as long as no women were placed into the office of “pastor,”they were keeping their promise to the LCMSnot to ordain women into the pastoral office. Their apparent understanding was that the LCMSwouldnotobjectto female clergy in the JLC as long as the nomenclature of “pastor” was not applied. (As noted above, they first ordained a female deacon in 2006.) Throughout the time between 2010 and 2021, the JLC continued to pursue the goal of allowing women to serve in the pastoral office proper. They also maintained the practice of open communion and did not question their altar and pulpit fellowship with the JELC. The Office of Church Relations was fully aware of the JLC’s position and practice in these matters. Recognizing how difficult it would be for the JLC to change its official position on this issue, the Office of Church Relations focused its attempt during 2014–2019 on assisting the JLC leadership in obtaining further resources for understanding the problem theologically. As in many Lutheran Churches around the world, a lack of sound and substantive theological teaching and understanding in the JLC was a major challenge. Efforts were made to obtain opportunities for the teachings of the Scripture and the Lutheran Confessions on this and other issues to be presented and heard. No less than four meetings took place in Japan from 2017–2019 between LCMS and JLC leaders in an effort to continue theological discussions (August 2017, January 2018, October 2018, and June 2019). During these meetings, plans were contemplated and was proposed to hold a series of discussions on foundational theological issues such as the authority and interpretation of Scripture, Christology and justification, questions related to the doctrines of church and ministry, the Lutheran understanding of church fellowship (including fellowship at the Lord’s Table), scriptural approaches to missions and evangelism, and faithful worship and liturgical practices. The list above reflects the fact that the meetings and discussions that took place between 2009 and 2019 revealed other differences in doctrine and practice between the LCMS and the JLC, such as the JLC practice of open communion, differing understandings and practices of church fellowship, and differing understandings of proper principles for interpreting Holy Scripture that had implications for the understanding of the authority of Scripture. Although many of these issues had been discussed previously, it was hoped that careful and fraternal examination and discussion of Scripture and the Lutheran Confessions on foundational and intersection al issues such as these might lead to increasing consensus on the issue of women’s service in the church. Unfortunately, plans for these discussions did not fully materialize, and little or no further progress was made in this regard following the last effort of the Office of Church Relations in June 2019. On June 4, 2021, President Harrison received a letter from newly- elected JLC President Tatsuomi Yoshida informing that at its April 2021 national convention the JLC had officially changed its position on the ordination of women by amending its bylaws to remove the word “male” from the section on the qualifications for called and ordained pastors. By contradicting the clear teaching of Scripture that women may not be called and ordained into the pastoral office, the JLC’s 2021 convention thus endorsed false doctrine. Calling and ordaining women into the pastoral office is not an adiaphoron, a matter on which the Scriptures are silent. Rather, it is a doctrinal matter which, where clear disagreement exists, is divisive of fellowship. In a letter dated July 9, 2021, President Harrison responded with a “heavy heart,” indicating that “the JLC’s changed confession of faith . . . has broken the God-given unity of the faith once celebrated by our church bodies.” “I pray for your repentance and your return to fellowship in Christ in the truth of His Word,” wrote President Harrison. Should this not occur, stated President Harrison, “I will inform the members of the Synod and the Synod’s partner churches of . . . the need to place this matter before the Synod in convention.” Sadly, subsequent correspondence from President Yoshida, as well asaface-to-face meeting between President Yoshida and the LCMS Director of Church Relations—Assistant to the President at an International Lutheran Council (ILC) meeting in Kisumu, Kenya on Sept. 16, 2022, have made it clear that the JLC has no intention of changing its current position on this issue or amending its current practice of allowing women to be ordained as pastors and to carry out the duties of the pastoral office. Sadly, this assessment is confirmed by the fact that the JLC ordained a second woman into the office of deacon in 2021, as well as by official records of the JLC’s April 29, 2021, convention which indicate that there was overwhelming support among convention delegates for approving the ordination of women pastors.

WHEREAS, Holy Scripture clearly teaches that women are not to be called and ordained into the pastoral office; and

WHEREAS, The JLC officially approves of and practices the calling and ordaining of women into the pastoral office; and

WHEREAS, The LCMS recognizes with deep sadness and regret that differences in doctrine and practice exist between the LCMS and the JLC, not only on the issue of the ordination of women to the pastoral office but also on other issues identified in the foregoing preamble (e.g., differing hermeneutical principles and approaches that have ramifications for scriptural authority; the scriptural understanding of church fellowship; the doctrine and practice of close[d] communion); and

WHEREAS, Ten years of formal and informal doctrinal discussions between the LCMS and the JLC have neither resolved the existing doctrinal differences nor offered any basis for assuming that they will be resolved in the foreseeable future; and

WHEREAS, The LCMS understands altar and pulpit fellowship to be a gift of God that exists by His grace on the basis of complete agreement in doctrine and practice; therefore be it

Resolved, That the LCMS with deep sorrow and regret declare its recognition that it is not in altar and pulpit fellowship with the JLC; and be it further

Resolved, That it acknowledges and deeply regrets its own shortcomings and failures in not giving adequate attention to these theological concerns, especially early on in its relationship with the JLC; and be it finally

Resolved, That the LCMS herewith commit itself open and eager to pursuing further doctrinal discussions with the JLC should the JLC at any time be open to such discussions, in the hope that by God’s grace our church bodies might once again attain complete agreement in doctrine and practice and once again enjoy the gift of God-given and God-pleasing altar and pulpit fellowship.