# LCMS Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1950_S1299
# Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

MISCELLANEOUS MATTERS 821

Our Lord has given our Church a great deal. We must let
Egur light shine so that men may see and glorify, not us or even
church organization, but rather our Father which is in heaven.
The Public Relations Department of Synod purposes to act
; an instrument, even though a humble one, in glorifying Christ,
through the building of public understanding of the Missouri Synod
and its work and through the removal of misunderstanding and
: misconceptions of our Church, which often lie as artificial obstacles

® in the path of Christ’s Gospel.

i Department Created by Synod in 1947
i Synod’s Department of Public Relations was established by
. resolution of the last synodical convention, held at Chicago in 1947.
cS In response to many requests over a period of years, Synod estab-
*. lished the new department for the purpose of interpreting the Mis-
souri Synod and its work to the American public and to the world.
| Certain public relations objectives were specified in the resolu-
tion. The department was asked to:
1. Correlate the work of the then existing District Press Com-
tees and otherwise provide for the dissemination of news
through press and radio;
2. Present the Lutheran viewpoint on issues of the day;
| 3. Answer attacks on our Lutheran Church;
|

4. Keep abreast of legislative developments with a view to pre-
serving our constitutional guarantees of the separation of
Church and State, and maintain contacts with the State
Department in the interest of Synod’s missionary and edu-
cational program. '

The resolution provided for a board of seven members, and
for the appointment of an executive secretary who should hold the
position of Director of Public Relations for Synod.

At the same time the Fiscal Conference was instructed by
Synod to allocate “ample funds for the establishment of the de-
partment which would compare favorably with those of other
leading church bodies.”

Personnel of the Department _

; President John W. Behnken appointed the following men to
the Board for Public Relations: The Revs. Ernest C. Fackler, De-
troit, Mich., Adolf F. Meyer, Yonkers, N. Y., and Manfred E. Reinke,
La Porte, Ind.; Messrs. John W. Boehne, Jr., Washington, D.C.,
George Halter, Cleveland, Ohio, and Frederick Strodel, Chicago,
Il.; and Dr. Albert G. Huegli, River Forest Il. Pastor Fackler
resigned from the Board for reasons of health. The Rev. Herman
W. Gockel, St. Louis, Mo., was appointed to take his place.