A Blue Ribbon Task Force has been appointed by the president of the LCMS to address the question of how best to structurally organize the church. Already their initial report, which only presents items for discussion, has generated considerable opposition in the Lutheran blogosphere.

Winston Churchill famously remarked, “It has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.”

Growing up, I heard, contra Churchill, the oft asserted quote that “The best form of government is a benevolent dictatorship.” But in this world of sin, how do you guarantee that your dictator will be benevolent? And the answer to that question leads to perhaps the most popular worldview of all, so cleverly sumarized by Richard Branson: “I believe in benevolent dictatorships, provided I am the benevolent dictator.”

I am convinced that most people favor bishop-like figures in the church -as long as the Bishop agrees with them. Those who follow church political Missouri have watched as individuals who wanted former president Al Barry to have more centralized power to address disunity, now find themselves on the receiving end of the very tools of power that they gave to the office now occupied by Gerald Kieschnick. And yet these same now-outsiders in Missouri continue to talk about the importance of District Presidents enforcing unity of doctrine in the church which is an exercise that can only practically be done by authoritative bishop-like figures. But what if the bishop begins enforcing Ablaze!, Lay Ministry Programs, and church growth principles with which you disagree? On the other side of the church-political divide those who criticized the centralization of power under Al Barry, are strangely silent under Gerald Kieschnick. Who is in charge matters. Most in Missouri believe in benevolent dictatorships, as long as their guy is the benevolent dictator.

Therein lies the problem with any stuctrual reorganization of the LCMS – it will only be as good as the guys (LCMS-remember!) who are left standing after the popular votes held at each convention. Call them Bishops, call them Presidents, give them small Synods or big Districts, reconfigure the way that leaders are elected, and you still haven’t solved the core problem. Any organization is only as good as the people in charge, and to put people in positions of leadership you need to have an election. And that brings you back to a big messy democracy – where sometimes people we like get elected and sometimes people we don’t like get elected.

The confessions were right to leave this one alone. Regardless of the structure and the failings of the men who occupy the places of importance in the structure – the church goes on. Word and Sacrament in pulpits and altars under the head of the one truly benevolent Dictator.