President Harrison’s article “Life Together: Confession or Witness?’” (Dec. 2010) was a breath of fresh air! I’ve been in the ministry for 44 years, 34 years as a parish pastor, nine years as a district president, now retired and serving a part-time hospital chaplaincy for the district, and throughout this time, I’ve heard this struggle between those who claim to be “missional” and those who claim to be “confessional.”
It is so incredibly simple: If the witness we give is not a confession of the faith we hold, it is false doctrine, and we are leading people down the wrong path. In the words of President Harrison, “Put simply, witness without confession is not witness, and confession without witness is not confession.”
Hopefully, a little common sense will help bring this Synod together so that we can truly “walk together.”
Rev. Gary Arp
Marion, Iowa
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