Lawsuit against Kieschnick dropped
80 members in the LCMS had wanted to remove the presdient from office.
A year-long conflict over decision-making and exercise of authority within the second-largest Lutheran body in the United States has come to a peaceful close.
A lawsuit brought by 80 members of the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS), claiming the denomination’s president wrongly “stacked the deck” with delegates favorable to his election, was filed in the Circuit Court of St. Louis County, Missouri, in August 2005.
After a year of contentious charges and countercharges, the group unhappy with Synod President Gerald Kieschnick’s re-election to his current three-year term in office decided to withdraw the suit.
The Synod’s Board of Directors began meeting with a four-member committee representing the 80 plaintiffs in February of this year. By July they had reached agreement on a document which included a dismissal of all claims against the President.
The statement also included an expression of regret by the plaintiffs for pejorative language contained in and resulting from the filing of the lawsuit, and an apology to the Synod, the President and the First Vice President, as well as to all others offended by the lawsuit.
The dismissal was finalized on September 30.
