# LCMS Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1953_S1086
# Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

380 MISSIONS

on such or similar visits, we rtain}
. want to say that the i
to give us a better picture of the mission problems and, y Serve

congregation sends out the evangel, the good news of a Rete local
and invites men to accept Christ. Toward that end our Bee

*ponsored the “Each One Reach One” movemen
€ promotion of vacation Bible schools, and we i urnal
t \ . e issued j
Today, which was directed particularly to the clergy of ore ch
in order to encourage them to greater evangelistic activity neh
Today .
When the Rev. H. W Gockel recei
. AL W. eived a leave of abs
our Board in October, 1951, in order to work with Synod’e i
viston program, our Board decided to suspend Tole,

: : li i
temporarily. Since our staff was already undermann ce ond

t, we sponsored

the time being.

When the Rev. Gockel accepted a permane i i
pynod's television program in November, 1952, the editorehn
oday also became vacant with his departure. Befor th dat
Pastor Gockel was merely on leave. ema date
ther on Board has taken no steps to replace the Rev. Gockel, since

er consideration a Proposal to issue Toda di
a new setup whereby the scope of Today would be changed so that
it would become a journal of practical parish procedure instead

It is generally agreed that Toda i |
y; which was sent to all pasto
of Synod for six years, under the able editorship of Pastor Gockel,

did much to os
our Church. Promote a greater evangelistic zeal and fervor in

. Continued Emphasis on Evangelism

Your Board has endeavored to give continued emphasis to
evangelism by offering its assistance to District mission boards in

MISSIONS 381

-omotion of evangelism. We have personally and with mate-

--and guidance helped Districts promote conferences on

elism. ;

‘wo pamphlets entitled “Witness Where You Are” and “Mis-

;-. Work and Our Society” have been prepared and published

ie the sponsorship of our Board during the past triennium.

“Courses in evangelism have been taught at Concordia Semi-
both in the Graduate School and the Correspondence De-

,
partment, under the sponsorship of our Board.

‘“" Evangelism was the principal topic at our Kansas City mission
inference held in May of 1952. Three of the major essays were
in the field of evangelism.

“ It is gratifying to note that there is in our midst a growing
interest and participation in evangelism. Several District mission
boards have undertaken ambitious programs of promoting evan-
gelism on the District level. Here and there circuits and local
conference groups have launched out upon an effort of mutual
encouragement to a greater evangelistic: activity. In our Synod
we also have certain individuals who, in an unofficial capacity, are
putting forth great efforts to stimulate evangelism through confer-
ences, evangelism schools, and evangelistic services. All of this is
most encouraging.

Nevertheless, it is the belief of our Board that we must con-
stantly keep before our Church the need for being evangelistic
and for intensifying all our efforts to extend the outreach of the
Church.

- For that reason our Board comes to the general convention of
Synod with a proposal that we invite all congregations of Synod
to join hands in a

Conquest of Souls

In order to achieve this objective we submit the following sug-
gestions: :

A. Let this not be a campaign, but let it become, as it should
be, a part of the normal life of the congregation and the individual.
Campaigns have a way of ending, but evangelism dare never end.
For that reason we also believe that it might be well if in this effort
we avoid anything which resembles a campaign. Let it be a re-
newed emphasis on what is and should be the lifework of the
Church.

B. Even if we do not think of this effort as a campaign, it dare
not become just a general invitation to everyone to be more evan- |
gelistic. For that reason our Board proposes to come to the pastors
and congregations of Synod during the next triennium with some
definite suggestions to intensify the evangelistic activity on the