{
  "bookName": "History of Christianity in India: Source Materials",
  "authorName": "M. K. Kuriakose",
  "publisherName": "Indian Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge",
  "publicationYear": 2011,
  "chapterNumber": 190,
  "chapterName": "1959. C.S.I. Lutheran Consultation: Agreed Statements",
  "pageFrom": 398,
  "pageTo": 402,
  "pages": [
    {
      "pageNumber": 398,
      "ocrText": "398\nHISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY IN INDIA\napplying for such admission. In issuing certificates of admission\nthe Bishop will require information on this his point.\n(f) Persons belonging to either of the Churches residing in an\narea where they have no access to the ministrations of their own\nChurch may be admitted as members of the other Church without\nprejudice to their membership in their own Church on recommenda-\ntion from the minister of their own congregation and the head of\ntheir Church.\n190. C.S.I./LUTHERAN CONSULTATION: AGREED\nSTATEMENTS (1959 A.D.)\nFollowing the formation of the Church of South India in 1947,\nrepresentatives of that Church entered into conversations with other\nChurches in South India with the purpose of exploring means of enlar-\nging the unity of the Churches. Among the more significant and\nfruitful of these conversations were those with the Lutheran Churches.\nThey led ultimately to the proposal to unite the C.S.I. and the Luthe-\nran Churches in South India in the proposed Church of Christ in\nSouth India. The agreed statements reached in 1959 were an impor-\ntant landmark in this movement. The CSI-Lutheran Theological\nConversations 1948-1959, selections from pp. 165-180.\n1. The Relation of Doctrinal and Confessional Statements to the\nBeing of the Church.\nThis statement was prepared at a conference of representatives\nof the C.S.I., Lutheran and Baptist Churches in South India. It\nhas since been officially accepted by the Synod of the Church of\nSouth India, and by the Federation of Evangelical Lutheran\nChurches in India.\n(1) God has revealed Himself to us, and the centre of that\nrevelation is His saving act in Jesus Christ. This revelation of\nHimself is the reality which the Church seeks to express in words\nin its creeds and confessions of faith.\n(2) The faith by which this revelation is apprehended is a far\ndeeper thing than intellectual assent to propositions. It is the\nself-surrender in love and trust of the whole personality to the\nloving God, who offers forgiveness, the status of sons, to men who\ndo not deserve and can never deserve such mercy and such love.\nIt is man's answer to the God who quickeneth the dead and\ncalleth those things that be not as though they were' (Rom. 4:17).\n(3) Yet faith necessarily involves an intellectual element. It\nmust include belief in certain truths about God and the belief that\ncertain events happened and that they have a certain meaning.",
      "status": "completed"
    },
    {
      "pageNumber": 399,
      "ocrText": "SOURCE MATERIALS\n399\n(4) As the Church seeks to confess what it believes and to\nsafeguard it from misunderstanding or distortion, it must use\nhuman language, but must always remember that human language\nis necessarily inadequate to express the fullness of God's revelation.\n(5) The use of creeds and confessions to guide Christians into\ndeeper experience and to preserve the essentials of the Christian\nmessage, is, in principle, sound and scriptural.\n(6) All creeds and confessions are subordinate standards\nsubject to the authority of the word of God.\n(7) The Word of God is primarily and essentially the Incarnate\nWord, Jesus Christ. It is in the Holy Scriptures that God speaks\nthis Word to us, for they are the inspired record of and testimony\nto His revelation of Himself. They are therefore the supreme and\ndecisive standard of faith. But, in seeking to understand them we\nmust remember that Christ, the central subject and at the same\ntime the Lord and the Master of the Holy Scripture, is the ultimate\ntouchstone of every biblical book and word. We must also\nremember that there is no authority either of Scripture or of creed\nwhich can convince the natural man of Christian truth apart from\nhis spiritual conversion, or which can preserve the Christian man\nor church infallibly from error. It is the work of the Holy Spirit\nto enable us to hear and believe the Word of God in the Scriptures.\nbrings ho\n(8) The Holy Spirit, who speaks in the Scriptures, and who\nhome God's Word to our hearts, unites us thereby in one\nfellowship of the faithful which is the Church. It is in that fellow-\nship that the Scriptures are to be read and understood. While\nevery man is finally responsible for his own discerning of and\nobedience to the truth, no Christian can disown his fellowship with\nother Christians or ignore the testimony of the Church as to what\nthe Holy Spirit says in the Scriptures. In particular the ancient\ncreeds of the Church, setting forth the Christian mesasage as believed\nand confessed by the Church in many lands and in many centuries,\nand as we believe and confess it, must carry immense weight, not\nas being themselves the revelation which is the object of faith, but\nas witnessing to it and as guarding against misunderstanding of it.\n(9) The Church is bound to require belief in certain Christian\nessentials from its members and-in more detail from its ministers\nand authorised teachers. But in fulfilling this duty in each indi-\nvidual case it must never allow its practice to obscure the truth that\nintellectual belief is only one element, and that at not the most\nimportant, in what is needed. It must always seek to be sure that\nthe person in question has faith in Christ. The capacity of the\nChurch to make right decisions, and to apply its standards wisely",
      "status": "completed"
    },
    {
      "pageNumber": 400,
      "ocrText": "400\nHISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY IN INDIA\nin each case, will depend upon the measure of its faithfulness to its\nLord and of its responsiveness to the Holy Spirit in its daily life.\n(10) Agreement regarding the basic doctrines which are of the\nessence of the Gospel is the pre-requisite of union between Churches.\nNevertheless the basis for the unity of the Church is oneness in\nthe Lord Himself.\n5. The Church and the Ministry.\n(1) The nature of the Church and of the Ministry within the\nChurch can only be understood rightly within the context of God's\nrevelation of Himself, His eternal saving purpose, His saving act in\nJesus Christ His Son, and the continuing saving work of the Risen\nand Ascended Christ through the Holy Spirit. The Church exists\nby the grace of God and those who belong to it are members of the\nChurch by the grace of God.\n(2) The Church exists and men are called into the fellowship\nof the Church in order that through it God may carry out His\neternal purpose in Christ (Eph. 3:9-11). It is a fellowship of\nmen with God and with one another, in Christ. It is the fellowship\nof the Holy Spirit. As its heart is this fellowship with God, it is at\nits deepest a reality in the Spirit. We believe that it is God's will\nthat men became members of the Church through faith in the Gospel\nand baptism into Christ (Eph. 2:8-10; John 3:5; Matt. 28:19-\n20). To be outside the Church by unbelief or to be cut off from the\nChurch's fellowship because of unrepented sin is a serious matter.\nYet, in the present state of disunity no body of Christians can\nrightly claim to be in an exclusive sense the Church or look upon\nits judgements as necessarily inspired by the Spirit.\n(3) It is God's purpose that the Church should be the place\nwhere He and His saving work in Christ are manifest. It is His\nwill that the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church be seen in\nactual communities of human beings baptised into Christ, to which\nHe can make known His will and through which He can fulfil it\n(John 17:21). Because of the continuing fact of human sin, even\nin the redeemed, the Church is not in any of its manifestations\nwholly obedient to the will of God. But the Church of God in\nevery place is called continually to turn to God, so that through\nits life Christ may be set forth.\n(4) We not only speak of the Church in the sense of the totality\nof all Christ's people, throughout all ages and all lands, who are\none in Him; and of the Church as the local fellowship of believers\nwho gather in one place. We use the word 'Church' of the\nChristians in a region and of those Christians who belong to a\nparticular denomination. Where such usage carries with it the",
      "status": "completed"
    },
    {
      "pageNumber": 401,
      "ocrText": "SOURCE MATERIALS\n401\nimplication that other Christians are not members of the Church\nUniversal, it is not in accordance with the New Testament. We do\nwell to recognise that the fundamental unity is God's gift in Christ\nand does in a real sense appear even where, owing to history, race\nor tradition, there are such wide divergencies in belief and practice\namong those calling themselves Christians that we cannot yet see\nany way towards visible unity consistent with loyalty to Christ\nand His truth...\n(5) The Church is Apostolic in its essential nature, in the sense\nthat it shares in the Mission of the Son by the Father and is em-\npowered by the Holy Spirit (John 20: 21-23). For the accomplish-\nment of this total ministry to the world there is given by the Holy\nSpirit to every member of the Church some form of ministering\n(I Cor. 12). Every Christian man and women, has a charisma, a\nspiritual gift. It is an error to think that some members of the\nChurch are called to be active and the others to be passive. Every\nmember is meant both to give and to receive...\n(6) In order that through His Church Christ may be made\nmanifest to the world which He died to save, the quality of the\nrelationship between every member of the Church and God through\nChrist and of every member of the Church one with another in\nChrist, is vital. Therefore Christ has given to His Church a ministry,\nin the special sense of persons set apart to perform certain functions\nwithin the the fellowship, w which are needed so that the Church may\nworship God in thankful remembrance of His saving act in Christ\nand may witness for Him to the world (Eph. 4:11-12). This\npastoral office was given to the Apostles at the first. There is a\nwatching over' the sheep and a 'serving' of the sheep, Episcope'\nand Diakonia'. Both are found in Christ and both He entrusts\nto men (I Peter 5: 1-4). We believe that the continuance of such a\nministry is necessary to the full well-being and activity of the Church\neverywhere and in all ages. We believe that by Christ's will it\nrests upon the Church to determine, in dependence upon the Holy\nSpirit, how from time to time these functions of watching and\nserving shall be carried out. We see no reason to believe that any\none pattern of the Christian ministry has an exclusive claim to\ndivine ordering and approval at all times and under all conditions.\nIf we discern God at work within any body of Christians through\na ministry of the Word and Sacraments, we are bound to take this\nfact into account in any discussion about Christian unity.\n(7) This ministry is within the Church and is not to be thought\nof as possessing any independent relation to Christ or any authority\nwhich is not given by Christ in the Church and for the life and work\nof the Church. It is not the creation of the Church and it is given\nto the Church not to please the Church but to do the will of Christ\nits Lord. It is the duty of the Church to be alert to recognize that\nH.C.I. -26",
      "status": "completed"
    },
    {
      "pageNumber": 402,
      "ocrText": "402\nHISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY IN INDIA\nGod has called this or that man to this special ministry, in whatever\nform, and to set him apart by prayer and, according to ancient.\ncustom, laying on of hands to the office. At the heart of the work\nof the ministry must always be the preaching of the Gospel and the\nadministration of the Sacraments, for it is in and through them that\nChrist constitutes and keeps alive His Church.\n(8) The essential continuity of the Church is in the continued\npresence and activity of the Lord with the faithful. But, because\nthe Church's obedience is imperfect the Church has not continued\nperfectly in love'. The fellowship has been broken. Because of\ndisunity among Christians, changes in the form, manner of ordi-\nnation and functions of the ministry have been made without the\napproval of the whole Church on earth at the time. It appeared\nto those responsible then and appears to many today, that such\naction was inevitable unless they were to be false to the Gospel..\nYet, although we may agree that such changes may at times rightly\nbe made, we must insist that they can only be justified if done\nprayerfully and with the widest possible approval of Christians,\nsubject always to the absolute duty of loyalty to Christ and the\nGospel. God is a God of order and we may not lightly change\nwhat we have inherited. Yet order itself may be made into an\nidolatry that turns men away from the living God. All remain\nunder the obligation to seek God's way for the restoration of unity\nin the Spirit.\n(9) Every Church makes rules for the election and setting apart\nof men for the ministry and keeps a list of those whom it accepts as\nministers within its fellowship. In the sense of obedience to its\nrules, validity is an essential concept of any society. The error\ncomes when we identify the rules of our Church with the absolute\nwill of God, and deny, implicitly or explicitly, that God accepts\nand uses some other form of the ministry equally with the form to\nwhich we are accustomed. It is not for us to determine how and\nwhere God can work.\n(10) It is true that the exercise of oversight (Episcope) was\nearly entrusted by the Church to one bishop in each area. This\nordering was for many centuries universal and is still the accepted\nform among the majority of Christians. We do not hold that it is\nessential for the existence of the Church, or for the ministry and\nthe Sacraments; or that God has bound Himself to grant through\nit greater blessing, authority or grace than through other forms of\nthe Church's ministry. It has been and can be grievously misused,\nas can every gift of God. But we see value in it as expressing\nthrough a person the oversight which is a vital part of the pastoral\nministry within the Church. However, the presence or absence of\nepiscopacy, ought not by itself to determine the relationship of one\nChurch with another.",
      "status": "completed"
    }
  ]
}