# LCMS Convention Workbook_St. Louis Missouri_1969_S384 # Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration) 354 SOCIAL ACTION AND WELFARE “doing good unto all men,” in “bearing one another’s burdens,” in possessing a “faith that works by love.” 2. The social welfare agencies and institutions de- veloped by the church must not operate as independent enterprises or as ends in themselves but as arms of the church and as part of the church's outreach to the com- munity. These services are always a part of the testi- mony and witness of the church. In special circum- stances, programs of evangelism and social services may operate in tandem. provided the social services are given freely without regard to race or creed. 3. While Christians are admonished to remember “especially those who are of the household of faith,” this admonition is prefaced by the command to “do good unto all men.” Church-related welfare services should be open and available to all in need. Insufficient man- power and money, and special needs of people, may limit the services offered. 4. The church in its social-ministry programs has the special opportunity. along with voluntary community agencies, to explore new avenues of meeting human needs, to experiment with new techniques, and to try new responses to social problems. To prepare itself to do so, the church must participate in social-welfare planning on the national, state, and community level in both the private and the public sectors. To be effective in this area. the church should have planning and co- ordinating units on the national and state levels, staffed by persons with professional specialization in community organization. Wherever possible such units should be intersynodical. 5. Since the general-welfare clause of our Constitu- tion states that the government has the responsibility for the basic welfare needs of its citizens, the estab- lished social-welfare agencies of the church may prop- erly accept public funds for providing care for those eligible for public support. In entering into arrange- ments for purchase of care by the state or for reim- bursement for cost of services given to state wards. church-related agencies should at all time provide — a) those services that meet genuine needs: and b) those services that are conducted in conformity with accepted standards in the field. In these days of a changing society, a continuing evaluation of priorities must occur. This may mean dis- continuance of some programs that the church-related agency has traditionally provided. When church-related agencies enter into an arrange- ment with a public department to provide a needed ser- vice, financing should be based on the cost of the ser- vice rendered. 6. Church-related social-ministry agencies should be legally responsible to the jurisdictional units of the church bodies they serve with regard to authorization. broad social policy, administration, and dissolution. As the ultimate authority, the church through its appropri- ate boards or committees should (1) nominate the mem- bers of the agency board, (2) approve the annual budget. (3) approve any major change in program, and (4) authorize capital-fund campaigns. 7. The massive and pervasive social problems arising in a highly mobile and changing society require govern- ment to assume increasing responsibility for meeting social needs and dealing with its causes. Beyond this the public-welfare program provides the framework within which the essential services of the church-related agencies, as well as other voluntary agencies, are carried on. Christians as individual citizens and together as people who constitute the church have an obligation to promote adequate public-welfare programs and to work for their improvement. 8. The church has a unique opportunity to act in the twin role of defender and critic of public-welfare programs because these too are part of its responsibility, On the one hand it can and should defend public wel- fare against the attacks of those whose resistance to government responsibility for the welfare of the poor leads to the adoption of inadequate assistance payments, invasion of privacy, the erosion and destruction of hu- man dignity. and deprivation of people of their God- given rights. On the other hand the church can mobilize public opinion to eliminate from public-welfare pro- grams the remnants of the old poor law — the means test, residence requirements, and unrealistic assistance budgets. By joining hands with other forces in the com- munity, the church can work for more humane and dig- nified ways of meeting the basic maintenance needs of the poor. 9. Social-welfare services whose main focus is still on amelioration must be coupled with study, discussion, and action aimed at the elimination of the causes of social ills. Poverty, racism, social and economic in- justices, family breakdown, delinquency, alcoholism, and mental illness are some of the problems that need more study by the church. From such study. programs of preventive services can be launched, including needed changes in public social-welfare laws and policies. The church also must speak publicly, on the basis of God's truth, both in judgment on society’s ills and in showing ways to establish justice. mercy, reconciliation, and healing. 10. In planning for programs intended to produce social change. the church must involve the people whom the programs are intended to help. The provider and the consumer of the services participating together in the planning process will assure greater effectiveness for the programs. We believe that the changing scene in society de- mands more than ever that the church of the future recognize its inescapable mandate in social ministry. It is the Word with its perceptive life-giving truths for the whole of life that makes this mandate clear and un- mistakable. “A new commandment give I unto you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you.