Strangers to Sisters - Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary Library: Essays

congregation, and that our privilege of fellowship with that
congregation must be regarded as suspended. 303
This announcement set off a firestorm of protest by the LCMS officials not only
against the Wisconsin Synod, but also against the ELS officials. Gamber let his disgust
with the ELS and WELS be known to B.W. Teigen at the Synodical Conference
convention at St. Paul during that same year. 304 Many LCMS officials refused to accept
the notice that had been printed. However, it was what Fehner did next that joined the
WELS and ELS fronts into a single line.
No sooner had the ink dried of the notice of severance of fellowship with Our
Savior’s in the Northwestern Lutheran than did the Mankato Free Press announce on two
successive Saturday nights that a Boy Scout Troop would be meeting at Our Savior’s. All
the initial fears of Immanuel and her pastors, Wisconsin and ELS officials had were now
realized. The specific promise made when organizing Our Savior’s was not only broken,
but broken with brazen panache. To be fair, Fehner was not solely to blame for this gross
offense. A hefty portion of the guilt falls upon the shoulders of the founding members of
Our Savior’s, who went against their word and, at the very least, misled Fehner in what
had and had not been promised in regard to the creation of a scout troop at Our Savior’s.
Still greater guilt must fall upon Otto Brauer, the head of the LCMS District Mission
Board, who, having been contacted by Fehner in regards to the Boy Scout issue was
misleading in regards to the promises that had been made. Brauer even went so far as to
303 Oscar Naumann to Carl Lawrenz, letter, September 27 th , 1952, ELS Presidential Files: 1950s – the
Fehner Case. Evangelical Lutheran Synod Archives, Mankato, MN.
304 Stuart Dorr to Hugo Gamber, letter, October 1, 1952, ELS Presidential Files: 1950s – the Fehner Case.
Evangelical Lutheran Synod Archives, Mankato, MN.
163