# LCMS Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1983_S75
# Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

PRESIDENT’S REPORT 75

the efforts of the Board of Directors and the
Department of Stewardship and Financial Support
to serve the Synod?

_ Will the proposed Bylaw revisions on adjudication

and appeals help us resolve disagreements more
amicably?

. Will continuation of the status quo on the franchise

question be acceptable to our membership? If not,
what is the best alternative?

= Specific Suggestions and Recommendations

1.

Discontinue the offices of Vice-Presidents two

_ through five effective immediately, but retain the
~ full-time First Vice-Presidency at least until 1986.

(If it is preferable to retain Vice-Presidents two
through five, allow District Presidents to hold these

‘offices concurrently).
. Approve proposed Bylaw changes on the Board of
*’ Directors.

“3” Approve the proposed Planning Council.

4. Eliminate 1986 as a necessary termination date for

“the Commission on Black Ministry. (All commis-

* gions should be discontinued if and when they are

no longer needed.)

. Approve proposed new Bylaw 2.68 on Standing

Committees.

. Change Standing Committees on Worship and

Church Literature to commissions, but provide for
liaison between them and the Board for Parish
Services.

; Approve the formation of a Council on Stewardship.

Approve the proposed new Bylaws on staff, tenure,
and termination.
Change nomination procedures for President and

“Vice-President to provide that only those of the top
‘five are to be considered nominees to the convention

who receive at least five percent of the total number
of nominations submitted. (But retain the present
policy of permitting a majority of convention dele-

-gates to nominate one or more candidates from the

floor.)
Adopt the proposed new reconciliation, adjudica-

* tion, and appeal Bylaws.
“Retain our present policy on the franchise.

Support 5-17 on an autonomous partner church in
Canada.

Adopt the Board of Directors’ proposal on the
classification of ministries (5-38).

‘Decline overtures to form a separate Board for
Pastoral Ministry or to have a single Board of
Regents for the Fort Wayne and St. Louis seminar-
ies, but provide for a new Standing Committee on
Pastoral Ministry to serve under the aegis of the

- BPES.

‘Return to our former (or 5-62) procedures for electing
‘Boards of Regents.

Restructure the synodical nominations committee
as proposed in 5-63.

Instruct the CCM to revise all synodical Bylaws to
eliminate language which distinguishes between

“Synod” and “District,” preferring a national/
District distinction in all such references. (Districts
are the Synod, not something distinct from it.)

VI. Professional Education

Related Planning Assumption from ECC Report (page
169)

1.

3.

10.

11.

12.

The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod will con-
tinue to be a confessional church.

The Synod has a real opportunity to provide world
leadership in confessional Lutheranism. It has
something to offer to the world.

The Synod will be a church which will take the
changeless Word and apply it toa changing society.
The population of ethnic minority groups is growing
fast, and sometime in the next century minorities
will become the majority of the population. The
Synod will expand its work with these groups and
keep up with these population changes.

The Synod will have to rethink its philosophy of
higher education and do some restructuring of its
higher education.

The Synod will be able to utilize all of the pastor and
teacher graduates of the colleges and seminaries.
More programs of continuing education are required
to help full-time church workers in their personal
and professional lives.

Questions for Consideration and Reflection

1.

Many good things are happening in Synod’s profes-
sional education system. How can we help our
members to know more about them?

Is the Synod in agreement with the planning
assumptions and goals for the next 10 years and the
Professional Education planning process contained
in the ECC report?

. Please consider the report from each board or

commission and determine agreement with the
direction it is taking.

. Can our system of higher education meet our need

for pastors in view of our mission challenges of
opening 1,800 new ministries in North America in
the next 10 years, entering 10 more unreached areas
of the world, and increasing our missionary staff to
500? (see page 166). Should the seminaries establish
a mission school or greater mission emphases to
help meet these needs?

How can the Synod once again train the number of
teachers required for the system of elementary and
secondary schools? Are more teacher colloquy pro-
grams in order? What can be done about the large
number of nonsynodically trained teachers serving
in our parochial schools?

. Are the colleges and seminaries operating effect-

ively as a system? Should the colleges and seminar-
ies be under separate boards? Does the system of
colleges need restructuring? Should the colleges
become primarily regionally supported colleges?
Should Synod support be limited to church-worker
students only?