# LCMS Convention Workbook_St. Louis Missouri_1969_S1
# Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

1. MISSIONS

(1-01)
Report of Board for Missions
Introduction

The theme of this convention is “The Edifying Word.”

Delegates might well ask the Board for Missions the
question: ‘“‘What’s the good word? What’s been accom-
plished since New York?”

What is the good word?

In a nutshell, it’s this: As a church in mission, we
have some great things going for us —and we have some
real failures and problems too. We'd like to share some
of the specifics with you.

I. WHAT'S THE GOOD WORD?
A. The Good Word Is Christ

God’s good Word to man is not a what but a who
_Jesus Christ: “God... has in these last days spoken
unto us by His Son.”

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with
God, and the Word was God. ... And the Word was made
flesh and dwelt among us. . - -

In Jesus Christ, “the medium is the message.” God
communicated His love most fully to men through the
sending of His Son Jesus Christ. In Him, in His words
and deeds, we come to know what God is like, what we

were originally meant to be, and what we are now en-
abled to be.

B. The Good Word and the People of God

We are in that Word—as the lost whom He seeks
and forgives and as the found whom He claims and
sends. Baptism incorporates us into Christ’s body—
makes us part of God’s Word sent to men. The people
of God are therefore the primary resource for God’s
mission —because they are God’s “word” to other peo-
ple, because they are God’s witnesses of the Gospel
to the world.

You yourselves are the letter we have, written on our hearts,
for everyone to know and read. It is clear that Christ Himself
wrote this letter and sent it by us. It is written not with ink
on stone tablets but on human hearts, with the Spirit of the
living God. 2 Cor. 3:2-3 TEV

What’s the good word? The people of God!

1. For All the Saints

This is an anniversary year in the mission history of
the Synod: the 75th anniversary of the decision to enter
India as the first overseas mission field; the 75th anni-
versary of deaf work. Last year we celebrated 20 years
of Missouri Synod mission activity in New Guinea and
Japan, 10 years of work in Korea. Many individuals in
our church body, truly “living letters” of God's love to
other people, come to mind. We thank God for:

Ferdinand Sievers, who kept the spirit of missions
to non-Christians alive in Missouri during the first
half century of its existence.

- Theodore Naether and Franz Mohn, the Synod’s
first missionaries to India, commissioned in Octo-
ber 1894.

- Augustus Reinke, Missouri Synod pastor who
preached the first sermon to the deaf in Chicago
in 1894.

- Edward L. Arndt, who led the Synod into mission
work in China.

‘ Henry Nau, missionary to India, founder of the
Society for the Promotion of Mohammedan Mis-
sions, who later went to Nigeria at the initiative
of black Lutheran Americans to lay the ground-
work for Synodical Conference mission work
there, returning again to India as missionary to
the Muslims.

- Angela Rehwinkel, chief nurse of the mission hos-
pital at Ambur, India, from its beginning in 1921
until her retirement 10 years ago at age 75.

And there have been many, many more men and
women in the history of our Synod, known and unknown,
who were indeed ‘‘God’s word” to other people, in this
country and overseas.

2. Saints Alive

There are other “living letters” through whom God

speaks today. We could single out —

- the 13 men who served on the Board for Missions
these past 2 years, with Mr. Alfred E. Jordan,
chairman.

- the newcomers to the Board for Missions staff—
Rev. Fred Pankow, Secretary for Latin America;
Rev. Walter Meyer, Assistant Secretary for Evan-
gelism.

- the overseas missionaries called by our church.
As of Nov. 1, 1968, the number of missionary per-
sonnel under call or appointment for service with
the Board for Missions was as follows:

352 missionaries
260 missionary wives

Total 612
+ 700 children

1,312 persons

- the several thousand national pastors, teachers,
and evangelists in various overseas lands.

- the members of the Commission on Mission and
Ministry in the Church, the Medical Mission Council,
the District mission boards and their executives,
and District evangelism contact men.

Yet we still have hardly begun to tell the whole story.
For all the people of God — not just overseas missionaries
or mission officialdom— are “living letters,” communi-
cating the Gospel to all nations. They participate in
many ways: