# LCMS Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1956_S377
# Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

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MISSIONS 377

In compliance with the resolution of the 1954 Epiphany Mis-
sion Conference, District evangelism contact men have been ap-
pointed to work with the Secretary of Evangelism in the promotion
of a Christ- and congregation-centered emphasis. Two meetings
of these contact men have been held, and here the aims and
objectives of Synod’s Department of Evangelism were made clear:
to strengthen the local congregation in its evangelism program by
providing helps and techniques which demonstrate the spirit and
method of New Testament evangelism; to promote telemission, the
missionary phase of television, according to which all mail which
has been received by the national office is forwarded to local
congregations for follow up; to sponsor Sunday School by Mail
for children who because of illness or distance cannot attend
a regular Sunday school; to provide materials for the enlisting
and training of lay witnesses and the promotion of an effective
“inreach” and “outreach” program; to promote the area-evangelism
mission program, in which a group of congregations synchronize
their programs for a week of preaching-teaching-reaching; to pro-
mote the “Lenten Sharing Christ Plan” as developed by the
American Lutheran Publicity Bureau in New York.

That the evangelism program is moving forward is evidenced
by the fact that increasing numbers of institutes, workshops, and
conferences are today being conducted not only by the clergy
but also by the auxiliary agencies, the LWML, the LLL, and
the WL. New courses on evangelism are being taught at our
colleges and seminaries. The practical manual of church work,
Advance, came into being to assist with the dissemination of
helpful hints and techniques.

Possibly the two major developments since the last convention
are the expansion of the “Sharing Christ” Plan and inception of
the area evangelism mission program.

Lutheran Area Evangelism Mission (PTR)

Under the direction of Synod’s Department of Evangelism,
nine area-evangelism missions, in which a group of churches in
a given area synchronize their program for a week of intensive
“inreach” and “outreach,” have already been conducted, and some
twenty more are planned for 1956. There are many signs and
indications that clearly reveal that this type of mission represents
one of the most effective and fruitful evangelism programs ever
undertaken in the Lutheran Church. Reports of participating pas-
tors and lay people, together with significant results from missions
already held, eloquently indicate great blessings bestowed by
Almighty God through the preaching-teaching-reaching area evan-
gelism mission.