{"id":108519,"date":"2013-07-26T14:27:13","date_gmt":"2013-07-26T18:27:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/?p=108519"},"modified":"2013-07-26T16:35:17","modified_gmt":"2013-07-26T20:35:17","slug":"news-crisis-when-people-agree-lutheran-edition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/2013\/07\/news-crisis-when-people-agree-lutheran-edition\/","title":{"rendered":"News crisis: when people agree (Lutheran edition)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

<\/iframe>I\u2019m in St. Louis this week at the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod\u2019s 65th regular convention. The convention was largely peaceful and unified. And where it wasn\u2019t, the issues were extremely important but fairly unique to the LCMS. I keep thinking how difficult it is to cover a convention such as this. Religion reporter Tim Townsend, of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch<\/em>, was at the convention.<\/p>\nHe had a <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/townsendreport\/status\/358637490963349505\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">hilarious tweet<\/a> the other day about the arcane language one must be familiar with when covering a denominational convention:<\/p>\n<blockquote>CCM approves reso to reconsider opinion 11-2598 and participation in 2010 Res. 8-30B \u2014 at open hearing of Floor Committee 4. #lcms2013<\/p><\/blockquote>\nIt\u2019s funny but it\u2019s also true that this is a completely typical form of discourse that must be parsed if one hopes to convey any substantive information to readers. It\u2019s challenging to just get the acronyms, terminology, back story, theology and processes down. That\u2019s key even before figuring out if it\u2019s of interest to a general audience. Seen this way, it\u2019s much easier to see why there\u2019s more media coverage of those denominations that battle over sex and other cultural issues. Imagine what a disappointment it is to parse the debate only to find out that it\u2019s on a topic such as distance-learning education.<\/p>\nUnlike previous conventions featuring narrow vote margins, nearly every resolution here was passing with huge margins \u2014 whether the topic was checks and balances of seminary faculty hiring, proper administration of the sacraments, review of non-seminary pastoral training programs, lay deacons, campus ministries, or other items. There\u2019s interesting subtext there \u2014 we\u2019re definitely in a new era in the LCMS, but it\u2019s pretty tough to explain briefly. Which is probably why the St. Louis Post-Dispatch<\/em> keeps publishing stories about how the Synod handled a First Commandment issue last year relating to syncretism, or worship with non-Christians at an interfaith worship service in Newtown, CT. (\u201cMono-maniacally obsessed\u201d was how I heard one delegate refer to the reporter\u2019s focus on the topic. \u201cTell him to get off the Newtown template,\u201d was what another said. Consider it done.)<\/p>\nBut you<\/em> try to come up with something interesting to say about a huge convention taking place in your backyard when everyone is operating in peace and love (sadly, that might actually be big news when it comes to our church body and others \u2026). Here was the St. Louis Post-Dispatch<\/em> lede for the excitingly headlined \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/www.stltoday.com\/lifestyles\/faith-and-values\/lutherans-end-convention-downtown-after-taking-care-of-business\/article_97f2e93a-d56a-5de6-b941-c0793b7ecdf1.html\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Lutherans end convention downtown after taking care of business<\/a>\u201c:<\/p>\n<blockquote>The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod closed its convention in downtown St. Louis on Thursday with the more than 1,000 delegates sticking to the event\u2019s unofficial theme of unity.<\/p><\/blockquote>\nThen there were, uh, four full paragraphs on \u201cthe Newtown template.\u201d The rest of the story up some highlights:<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<blockquote>Among the other business conducted this week by the delegates \u2014 who include ordained pastors and lay church members \u2014 was a vote to expand its relationship with Lutheran church bodies in Liberia, Siberia and Togo.<\/p>\nThe body also passed a resolution that \u201cencouraged\u201d the church\u2019s regional leaders to oversee and supervise their congregation\u2019s administration of holy communion so that \u201cpractices which are not in harmony with the Scriptures and the Lutheran Confessions be addressed fraternally and evangelically.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\nI think the declaration of formal fellowship with the Lutheran churches in Liberia, Siberia and Togo were a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.canadianlutheran.ca\/lcms-convention-expands-inter-church-relations\/\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">big story<\/a> from this convention. And these \u201cencouraging\u201d resolutions \u2014 which will force my church body to have some tough discussions about doctrine \u2014 are easy to pass with huge margins. Whether those discussions will result in some tough decisions down the line is another thing.<\/p>\nLower in the story we get some notes on non-seminary training of pastors and whether seminaries should restore the checks and balances on hiring that they had until 3 years ago (the Lutherans voted to restore that check). It was one of the more contentious debates and closer votes. Still, it passed 61 percent to 39 percent. That would have been a landslide vote in the old days.<\/p>\nI sympathize with the many delegates I spoke to who were frustrated by the \u201cNewtown template\u201d coverage of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. It certainly wasn\u2019t worth focusing on again, given that it didn\u2019t come up once during the convention, apart from a brief reiteration from District President Tim Yeadon (pictured here with one of our church body\u2019s beloved Comfort Dogs) that everything\u2019s still resolved.<\/p>\nBut I think this post-convention story is also a great case study in how difficult it is to cover non-political religious bodies, particularly those not embroiled in sexy debates about ordination or interpretation of Biblical passages on sexual morality. As one of my editors once told me, \u201ccontinue\u201d is not a very exciting verb for a lede.<\/p>\nNews is about drama. I\u2019ve been to our recent conventions. They were nothing but drama. We had a president who would barely get re-elected and debates so tense that you could feel it in your body. There were lots of serious debates full of theological subtext \u2014 did we want to be a church body that retained its Lutheran identity? Did we want to adopt a more American approach? Were our doctrines on communion, the Office of Holy Ministry, etc. in need of revision? What were the theological implications of reorganizing our national headquarters? We still have those debates. The current administration and district presidents seem to want to work on handling those debates in a less contentious manner \u2014 through discourse and open engagement. From the votes of our Synod, it\u2019s clear that this is being largely well received by the clergy, church workers and laypeople \u2014 but it makes for very difficult news writing.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"I\u2019m in St. Louis this week at the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod\u2019s 65th regular convention. The convention was largely peaceful and unified. And where it wasn\u2019t, the issues were extremely important but fairly unique to the LCMS. I keep thinking how difficult it is to cover a convention such as this. Religion reporter Tim Townsend, of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":605,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,1,48],"tags":[2037,970,265,2036],"class_list":["post-108519","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-religion","category-uncategorized","category-worship","tag-convention","tag-lutheran-church-missouri-synod","tag-st-louis-post-dispatch","tag-tim-yeadon"],"yoast_head":"\n<title>News crisis: when people agree (Lutheran edition)<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I'm in St. Louis this week at the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod's 65th regular convention. The convention was largely peaceful and unified. 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