1959 Report of Floor Committee No. 23 Re: A Call for Decision

Floor Committee No. 23 was set up in order to deal with the memorial called A Call for Decision. Here is their report:

Floor Committee No. 23, 1959 WELS Proceedings, p. 211-212

Quotes of note: Not really any quotes except that this committee (and the Synod) disavowed any serious charges made by the memorial A Call for Decision.

1959 "A Call for Decision" Revisited

The 1959 memorial to the WELS convention entitled "A Call for Decision" was circulated to other interested parties to see if they would like to sign it as well.

Here it is again, with all 30 signers: A Call for Decision, 1959 WELS Proceedings, p. 209-211

1959 Memorial to the WELS Convention

Here is another memorial urging the WELS to sever fellowship with the LC-MS on the basis of Romans 16:17,18. The signers of this memorial also mention their agreement with a memorial called A Call for Decision.

1959, Memorial, Wisconsin Synod Proceedings, p. 181-182

Quote of note:

"Our failure to [sever fellowship with the LC-MS] has had this twofold effect: The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod has been encouraged to continue in the offenses, and we have grievous dissension in our own midst. This dissension can only become more serious unless we implicitly obey the Word of God."

1959 Rollin A. Reim response to Carl Lawrenz

Rollin A. Reim and the men who wrote A Call for Decision respond to Carl Lawrenz's personal letter to them.

April 13, 1959, Reim response to Lawrenz

Quote of note:

"It is the dark genius of unionism that it loves fraternal admonition within the framework of tolerance during continued and unabated divergence in doctrine and practice."

1959 Carl Lawrenz's letter to Rollin Reim

Here Carl Lawrenz (author of A Report To The Protest Committee) writes a personal letter to Rollin A. Reim regarding a memorial called A Call for Decision to the 1959 WELS convention.

A Call for Decision takes great issue with Lawrenz's Report. Lawrenz makes the argument that they both "seek to say identical things though we employ different terminiology."

March 17, 1959, Lawrenz's letter to Rollin A. Reim.

1959 "A Call for Decision" Memorial

This memorial was written in February of 1959 by six protesting pastors in a response to the WELS Protest Committee's letter and especially to Carl Lawrenz's A Report to the Protest Committee.

After sending this to WELS President O. J. Naumann and the synod secretary, the signers let them know that they will be circulating this memorial to other interested parties and see if they will want to sign as well. Many would.

February 8, 1959, A Call for Decision, a memorial for the upcoming convention in August.

Quotes of note:

"Termination of fellowship is called for when Scriptural correction has been offered and rejected and the erring brother or church body have continued in their error despite admonition. This is the persistence which distinguishes an errorist (Romans 16:17-18) from an erring brother (Galatians 2:11-14)."

"We affirm that the document entitled A Report to the Protest Committee is in its nature and content divisive, despite its conciliatory tone, becaue it does violence to clear Scripture."

"In its historical presentation, the Report distorts plain, documented facts relative to the action of the Saginaw Convention of 1955. We consider this distortion of historical facts to be a lesser offense, however, than the abuse of Scripture upon which it is based."