# LCMS Convention Workbook_St. Louis Missouri_1983_S169 # Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration) ADMINISTRATION AND PROGRAM IMPLEMENTATION 169 Program Administration, Finance, and Support Services and Ecclesiastical Administration, Theology, and Church Government Planning Units Option 1-Maintain the status quo. This means continuing to cut the budget for national and international ministries by reducing or eliminating programs. This will also result in increased but fragmented fund development activity by agen- cies within the Synod. Option 2-Change the philosophy of the Synod by trans- ferring programs and ministries to the Districts, allowing colleges and seminaries to become self-supporting, and pro- viding only the most essential services from the national offices of the Synod. Option 3-Change the method of funding. Here a number of additional options are available: (a) The Synod appeals di- rectly to congregations. (b) Congregations are instructed to provide separate pledges of support to the District and the national offices of the Synod. (c) The Synod receives income directly from the congregations. The national offices then allocate funds to District offices. (d) The Districts are in- structed to allocate a fixed percentage of income for the national and international work of the Synod. Option 4-In this design all general unrestricted offerings, bequests, special gifts, and other income made available to Districts and the Synod (est. $70 million) are allocated in the following manner: a. 35% of each District’s receipts to be retained by the District for the mission and ministry functions assigned to the Districts. (Any District not requiring the 35% would be granted the opportunity to select mission functions in the synodical budget with which they would like to identify.) b. 10% of each District’s receipts to be sent by the District to the Synod for use in North American missions. This would be allocated through a collegial process involving synodical and District officials to Districts for mission projects the Districts could not fund from their 35 of receipts retained. c.55% of each District’s receipts to be sent by the District to the Synod for the mission and ministry functions administered by or for the entire Synod: + 25% for professional education services of seminaries and colleges; + 15% for foreign missions; —— Planning Assumptions 1. The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod will continue to be a confessional church. 2. People want to bein mission. If the Synod doesn’t provide mission opportunities, people will find them elsewhere. 3. The Synod has a real opportunity to provide world leader- ship in confessional Lutheranism. It has something to offer to the world. 4. The Synod will be a church which will take the changeless Word and apply it to a changing society. 5. The composition of age groups in North America is chang- ing from a pyramid with a high percentage of young people at the base to a block with even distribution throughout. This will affect church programs and priorities. 6. The population will continue to be mobile, and the Synod will have to move with it. 7. Openings of new ministries will be on a national priority basis. Funds will have to be distributed on a priority basis around North America for the Synod to continue to serve its present membership. 8. Some Lutherans in North America will have as high priority items merger and ecumenism. Others will have to put additional emphasis on North American mission and ministry for Lutheranism to grow this next 10 years. 9. 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. 10. The Synod will have to rethink its philosophy of higher education and do some restructuring of its higher edu- cation system. 11. The Synod will be able to utilize all of the pastor and teacher graduates of the colleges and seminaries. 12. More programs of continuing education are required to help full-time church workers in their personal and pro- fessional lives. 13. While continuing to emphasize the separation of the two kingdoms of church and state, the Synod needs to provide added resources to help its constituency reach informed decisions. + 15% for all parish services coordination and helps for programs conducted by Districts, supervision of doctrine, study of theology. publication of official religious periodi- cals, communications. church relations, financial opera- 14. The accumulated operating debt will be repaid. tions. and general and administrative needs of the Synod. 15. The debt on the new building will be repaid. 16. Strong Districts are good for the Synod. -17. Changes will take place in sharing resources. 18. District and synodical structures wil] need to be changed to make maximum use of available resources. Goals 1. Continue to be a solidly confessional church. 2. By 1986 develop closer relations with confessional Luther- “ an churches around the world and, where possible, work together to spread the saving Word to all the world. 3. By the end of the century double the baptized and com- municant membership. 4, Atthe 1983 convention provide a new method of allocating resources so that all the work the Lord would have us do will get done on a priority basis. 5. Atthe 1986 convention approve additional restructuring of the Synod and Districts to make them more effective and efficient. . Districts and Synod together balance the budget in 1983. . Eliminate the operating debt by 1986. . Eliminate the building debt by 1986. a > Planning and Working Together On February 22—23, 1983. the Synod’s Board of Directors, Council of Presidents, Council of Administrators, and senior staff members considered a number of alternative methods for planning and working together in the future. No decision was reached on which of the alternatives should be adopted as a | course of action. The relative merits and disadvantages of each Option 5-A proposal by a subcommittee of the Executive a Coordinating Committee. This proposal notes that from the presentations and discussions on the assumptions and goals for the planning units (summarized earlier in this report) the Lord has placed tremendous opportunities and challenges before the congregations and the Synod. its Districts, colleges. seminaries, partner churches. Congregations at each District and synodical convention are requesting more services. Mis- sion fields are opening up at home and abroad. New tech- nologies are providing different methods of communicating the changeless Gospel of our Lord and Savior to a changing world. More full-time church workers are needed to meet these opportunities. Present workers want continuing education to keep current to meet the ever growing problems in our society. To meet these challenges we truly need to ‘walk together” and “plan together’ as a Synod. No one component can plan and work independent of the other components for that portion of the body of Christ known as the Synod to be a healthy and growing body. All must work together in a decentralized but coordinated process. The emphasis must be on (1) improved service to the congregations and their members to meet their felt needs, (2) better coordinated services on behalf of the congregations, and (3) better accountability to the congre- gations for the stewardship of the resources shared with Districts and the national offices of the Synod. ; The 1979 convention of the Synod resolved to‘‘commititself | to developing new methods for joint planning ofthe workofthe ! Synod and its Districts, so that new work can begin ona priority basis; that present programs which may not meet the ; needs of the Synod can be revised or terminated: that dupli- cation between the Synod and its Districts can be minimized: and that resources can be shared in such a way so that on YL lo ee meP) warrant further discussion.