# LCMS Convention Workbook_St. Louis Missouri_1983_S18 # Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration) co 18 MISSIONS, EVANGELISM, AND SOCIAL MINISTRY resolution. A goal of 10,000 in attendance at the daily sessions and 15,000 in attendance at the Saturday Night Rally has been set. 3. Synod’s Master Plan—Witness Goal No. ! The Synod’s Master Plan for the “80s lists four witness goals. The next four sections of this report take up each of those four goals and report on activities and suggested plans related to each of them. Goal No. 1 reads: “By the end of the decade. the congre- gations of the Synod increase their members by 25" over what the membership was when the decade began, increasing the total number of adults gained by Baptism and confirmation each year.” To accomplish a 25": growth would mean an increase of 679.499 members for the decade. The first two years of the decade there was an increase of 3.887. In addition to planting new congregations, the most important factor in accomplish- ing that kind of growth is the attitude of pastors and lay leaders toward outreach and growth. Too often the primary concern for the parish is maintaining the present operation of the parish and ministering to the needs of the present parish- ioners. There is nothing wrong with that concern. but the mission of the church is to be witnesses to all people and to make disciples of all nations. Before a church, a Synod, or a congregation can grow. there must be a desire to grow anda willingness to pay the price for growth. Many pastors of the Synod have attended Church Growth Seminars and read literature relating to Church Growth. Some of the Districts have entered into contractural agreements with independent Church Growth organizations to conduct a two- year Church Growth program with the congregations of their Districts. In order to help achieve Witness Goal No. 1 and to provide the Districts and the congregations with Lutheran materials and programs for Church Growth, the Board for Evangelism Services is recommending to this convention the establishment of a Church Growth Department under the Board for Evangelism Services. (See related resolution.) When a congregation develops the attitude of concern for reaching out to people in their own community with a loving proclamation of the Gospel. members will seek to share their faith with their friends and neighbors. In order to help motivate and equip members to do this. the Witness Workshop program was developed by the Board for Evangelism Services. District leaders were trained in each District who could conduct Witness Workshops for individual congregations and for groups of congregations. A manual on How to Conduct a Witness Workshop is available for use by the leaders at such workshops. At this time. most Districts are conducting some Witness Workshops. The long-range goal is that each congre- gation conduct an annual Witness Workshop for its own members. A variation of the Witness Workshop is the Teacher Witness Workshop. developed for teachers of the Christian day school. Several pilot workshops have been conducted. At present, a joint committee of the Board for Evangelism Services and the Board for Parish Services is developing the Teacher Witness Workshop and preparing materials to use in such workshops. The committee is: Dr. Kent Hunter. Corunna. Ind. Mr. Art Linnemann. Portland, Oreg. Mr. Lou Jander. St. Louis Miss Jane Fryar. St. Louis Mr. James Boldt, St. louis Rev. W. Leroy Biesenthal, St. Louis One of the ways in which congregations provide a struc- tured system to help members witness to their neighbors and friends is by conducting a Lutheran Open House Mission, which provides a series of nightly services or special Sunday opportunities to which members can invite others. In the late ‘50s and early ‘60s these were called Preaching-Teaching- Reaching Missions. At that time the adult baptisms and confirmations of the Synod reached an all-time high, up to 35,000 annually. In recent years many of the Districts have sponsored joint Open House Missions and some congregations have experimented with different styles of Open Houses. The Board for Evangelism Services called together some District leaders who had experienced Districtwide Open House Mis- sions in order to explore possibilities for the future. In attend- ance were: Rev. Roy Bleick. Nebraska District Rev. Lyle Muller, Northern Illinois Rey. Ellis Rottmann, Missouri Rev. Del Tiemann, Eastern Rev. W. Leroy Biesenthal. staff The result of the Lutheran Open House Think Tank was a recommendation that Districts and congregations continue to sponsor Open House Missions. tailoring them to meet their specific needs. The Board for Evangelism Services will provide leadership materials. (See attached resolution.) Other programs and materials which are offered to congre- gations to help motivate and equip members for personal witness are: —Materials for an annual observance of an Evangelism Festival, suggested for the fourth Sunday in January. Each year the materials include a worship service, suggestions for a sermon and a children’s message, a banner pattern, and a Bible study on witnessing. The past two years were: 1982 theme—“Come—Go Tell” 1983 theme—"Tell One” —Gospel Communication Clinics. Each District has trained leaders to conduct clinics for this program developed jointly with the Board for Youth Services. Materials include booklets for leaders and participants on the theme “The Gospel Ac- cording to You.” —Junior High Retreats. using the materials entitled Share Life. —Child Evangelism Conferences for children. a Saturday or Sunday training program together with some visitation. —Discipleshops. a retreat-style experience for youth which stresses personal renewal and witnessing with a strong empha- sis on following up the local parish, developed by the Texas District and being made available to Districts through the joint efforts of the Board for Youth Services and the Board for Evangelism Services. 4. The Synod’s Master Plan—Witness Goal No. 2 Goal No. 2: “By the end of the decade, 75": of the congre- gations of the Synod have at least five evangelism callers who have been intensively trained to be evangelists.” The basis for this goal is that there are special evangelism calls which need to be made in every parish. calls on people who visit the church. people who are searching fora meaning- ful faith. people who are struggling to understand Christianity, people who move into the community and may be looking fora church home. Scripture indicates that some members of the church are given the gift of sharing the Gospel in this kind of visitation program. perhaps up to 10 percent of the member- ship. In order to send members on this kind of evangelism calls, they need some training. called in the goal ‘intensively trained to be evangelists.” For a number of years many of the Missouri Synod congregations have used Evangelism Explosion au- thored by D. James Kennedy as the means to train lay people to be evangelists. In a recent survey taken by the Evangelism Department, 57°" of the congregations indicated that they had used or were using this program, and 53”: of them found it “very useful” or “somewhat useful.” The Board for Evangelism Services has encouraged congregations to switch to a Lutheran visitation training program. called Dialog Evangelism. written by the Associate Secretary of Evangelism of the Synod. Rev. W. Lerov Biesenthal. Pastor Biesenthal conducts clinics in cooperation with Districts in order to train pastors and key lay leaders. For four years there has also been a synodical clinic in St. Louis, held at St. Mark's Lutheran Church in Eureka, for those who cannot attend a clinic in their area. Pastor Biesenthal also conducts clinics for seminary students during their evangelism class. During the past two years 27 clinics have been held, serving 1,100 people. The Dialog Evangelism method uses some of the same features that are used in Evangelism Explosion, such as diagnostic questions, on-the-job training.