# LCMS Convention Workbook_St. Louis Missouri_1983_S304 # Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration) 304 OTHER REPORTS puzzles, bulletin inserts, and program guides; the 1982 edition of the quinquennial “Lutheran Church Directory for the United States”; and issues of the standing periodicals Inter- change, LIRS Bulletin, LIRS Bulletin Board, SPC, SPC Journal, Focus on Governmental Affairs, Lutherans in Step. Volunteer, and LC People. A special four-issue periodical, Jubilee, is focusing on all aspects of Luther’s 500th birthday celebration. The many events, meetings. and personalities covered by the OCI News Bureau during the past two years dealt with subjects such as in-vitro fertilization, Polish refugees arriving in the United States, the root causes of social and economic injustice, parental kidnapping, Lutheran-Baptist dialogue, Christian-Jewish relations, the forced deportation from the United States of Salvadoran refugees, Lutheran unity talks, independence for Namibia, the shape of Lutheran social ministry in the years ahead, the rights of mentally retarded persons, and ‘“‘dorm blitzing” on campuses. Each year OCI arranges an average of 300 radio, television, cable, and press interviews with Lutheran newsmakers. One with many placements the past two years has been Coor- dinator Marv Solberg of the Central American Concerns Program of the LCUSA Department of Immigration and Refugee Services. She needed to present the church's concerns regarding E] Salvador as quickly as possible to as many as possible because of the emergency nature of the cause and the limited resources she has to accomplish her work. Office for Governmental Affairs The Lutheran Council joined the National Council of Churches, U.S. Catholic Conference. Svnagogue Council of America, National Association of Evangelicals, and Southern Baptist Convention to sponsor in February 1981 in Washing- ton, D.C., a conference on government intervention in religious affairs. Archbishop John I.. May of Saint Louis, chairman of the Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Church and State. indi- cated that Lutherans deserved the major share of credit for the gathering of 350 delegates representing 90 percent of the nation’s religious bodies. As reported by the Christian Science Monitor. the basic message of the conference was “that what diminishes the freedom of one diminishes the freedom of all, that all religions havea common interest in ensuring the rights of each religion. that they ought to keep in touch to understand and resist the pressures on religious liberty.” The report indicated “that government is narrowing the definition of religious liberty .... It is not a simple situation. Often more can be achieved in protecting religion through thoughtful case-by-case progress than through confrontation on the whole matter of religious liberty. If such progress is spurred by the recent conference. the hikelihood of confrontation ought to be reduced.” Monitoring the impact on the poor and powerless of the Reagan administration's budget proposals for the 1983 and now the 1984 federal fiscal vears has been the focus of special advocacy efforts by OGA. Other timely issues to which the office has given attention include tax deductions for charitable contributions, tax-exempt status of organizations which in fact have a policy or practice of racial discrimination. prayer in public school classrooms, extension of the Voting Rights Act. hunger, arms control, immigration reform, and freedom for Namibia. A monthly breakfast is one of the ways OGA makes “ministry contacts” with federal employees. One recent break- fast speaker was Rep. Tom Lantos of California, who described the special Swedish passports issued by Raoul Wallenberg to Hungarian Jews facing extermination by the Nazis during World War II. Lantos. one of those saved by Wallenberg’s heroic intervention, shepherded through Congress a bill mak- ing the Swedish Lutheran an honorary U-S. citizen—only the second in recent history. The first was Winston Churchill. Division of Campus Ministry and Educational Services The vear 1982 was a time of celebration and remembrance for the division. Seventy-five vears ago. on July 5, 1907, the first full-time campus ministry was begun at the University of Wisconsin by a new seminary graduate, Howard R. Gold, and 60 years ago on May 9—11, 1922. in Toledo, Ohio. 39 students from 26 campuses organized the Lutheran Student Association of America, now the Lutheran Student Movement. In 1907, 200.000 students were enrolled in U.S. colleges and universities. Today the number is 12 million. including 300.000 international students who offer a ministry dynamic akin to world mission responsibility. The earliest work was located almost exclusively on residential campuses. The advent of community colleges and those serving large commuter student populations has meant assigning staff members to multiple campuses. However, the basics of campus ministry have remained largely unchanged. with the staffleading in worship. teaching courses in theology. conducting Bible studies. pro- viding pastoral care. organizing opportunities for service involvement in the community, holding retreats, identifying and developing student leaders, and cooperating with ecu- menical partners in professing the Gospel in campus settings. For the first time Catholic Campus Ministry shared with the division in sponsoring the 1981 continuing education conference for all full-time Lutheran campus ministers. A group of 161 Lutherans and 41 Catholics shared perspectives on “Our Ministry in Higher Education” and examining “our growing convergence in theology and practice.’ The next summer's conference saw total attendance of 240. It had an international emphasis, “Hope for the World Community.” Campus ministers are regularly offered summer seminars. regional conferences, and “‘over-the-shoulder” and “‘visit-to- Valpo” programs by the Center for the Study of Campus Ministry at Valparaiso University in Indiana. The center receives staff services from the division. After three vears of activity, a divisional “working group” concerned with how to increase in quality and quantity the community college ministry of Lutheran congregations throughout thecountry completed its assignment in September 1981 by issuing a book, Ministry with the Community College: A Lutheran Perspective. “A Guide for Host Families of Inter- national Students” is one of the projects of the world com- munity “working group,” as is sponsorship this summer of a trip by 20 students to Zimbabwe. The students will exchange their skills and ideas with the residents of a 650-acre agri- cultural community called “Oasis Farm.” A third “working group.” concerned with faith and science. has held a series of five regional conferences on the subject. Support services provided by the division to the inde- pendent LSM have included arranging its 12th national assembly in August 1981 in Colorado Springs and its 13th in August 1982 in Edinboro, Pa. Both attracted approximately 400 students, record numbers for the movement. Holding leadership development workshops is current LSM priority. Jean McCreery, an LCMS student at Auburn University in Alabama, is the movement's president for 1982—83. Cessation of LCMS support for the division’s Campus Ministry Communications program by vote of the last synodi- cal convention took effect July 1, 1982. CMC began in 1969 and has published everything from calendars and Bible studies to postcards and resource packets. It has become an ALC-LCA- AELC endeavor under National Lutheran Campus Ministry, which is administered by the division. DCMES support services to Lutheran colleges and uni- versities have centered on continuing to be the “eves and ears”’ of Lutheran higher education in Washington, D.C., especially monitoring legislation regarding tuition tax credits and fed- eral education budget cuts; preparing a ‘Legal Deskbook for Administrators of Independent Colleges and Universities”’: planning and directing the annual meetings of the Lutheran Educational Conference of North America, publishing the “Papers and Proceedings” resulting from these meetings, and staffing LECNA’s curriculum consultation project, its history project, and its public policy advisory committee; and coordi- nating the annual series of Lutheran College Nights held in 35 centers throughout the nation to provide recruitment oppor- tunities for Lutheran college admissions offices and highlight the scope and quality of Lutheran higher education. Support services in theological education have centered on arranging annual conferences of Lutheran seminary presi- dents and deans and of directors of field education-internship and coordinating in 60 clusters approximately 550 interns and their supervisors for discussion and educational programs related to parish ministry.