# LCMS Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1971_S188
# Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

188 RESOLUTIONS

To Accept the President’s Challenge
for Outreach

RESOLUTION 8-03
In Response to the Report of President Preus

Wuereas, Our Lord says in Acts 1:8, “You shall be
witnesses unto Me... ”: and

Wuereas, Statistics reveal a tremendous challenge
to the church today in gaining souls for Christ; and

Wuereas, Our President has challenged the members
of our Synod to mark the occasion of the 125th anni-
versary celebration by demonstrating a passion for
souls through “endeavoring to gain 125,000 converts to
our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ”; therefore be it

Resolved, That in recognition of God’s grace during
125 years of blessings to our Synod we rededicate our-
selves to increased efforts in evangelism; and be it also

Resolved, That we accept the President’s challenge
for outreach through personal prayers for power of the
Holy Spirit, and a concerted effort in personal wit-
nessing.

Action: Adopted (2).

To Concern Ourselves with “Back-Door
Losses”

RESOLUTION 8-04
In Response to the Report of President Preus

Wuereas, Statistics reveal a tremendous challenge
in preventing losses to the church; and

Wuereas, Our sincere concern for souls compels us
to give greater attention to these back-door losses;
therefore be it

Resolved, That this convention request the Depart-
ment of Evangelism to address itself toward diagnosing
the problem of back-door losses in our church and
endeavor to prescribe remedies.

Action: Adopted (2).

To Accept the Report of the Department
of Evangelism

RESOLUTION 8-05
Report 1-01, VI (CW, pp. 16—19)

Wuereas, Considerable effort has been expended by
members of the Evangelism Department, the Evan-
gelism Commission, and the Evangelism Task Force in
fulfilling their tasks as evidenced by the evangelism
report on pages 16—19 of the Convention Workbook;
therefore be it

Resolved, That this convention commend the efforts
of the Department of Evangelism, the Evangelism Com-
mission, and the Evangelism Task Force; and be it also

Resolved, That the report on evangelism (CW, pp.
16—19) be accepted.

Action: Adopted (4).

To Increase Our Evangelism Thrust
RESOLUTION 8-06

Report 1-01, VI (CW, pp. 16—19)

Wuereas, Denver Resolution 1-02 has directed an
increased Synodwide evangelism thrust; and

WuerEAs, It is essential that there be a strengthening
of a personal consciousness for an increased and on-
going sharing of the Gospel; therefore be it

Resolved, That we commend the Department of
Evangelism for its efforts at developing an aggressive
ongoing program and we request the department to
assist the Synod in increasing its evangelism thrust
in every way possible.

Action: Adopted (4).

To Study the Office of Evangelist
RESOLUTION 8.07
Overture 8-01 (CW, p. 377)
Wuereas, Eph, 4:11 States, “His gifts were that some
should be... evangelists”; and

Wuereas, There is a growing desire in our Synod
and its congregations for active evangelistic outreach
and increasing concern for an office of evangelist in the
Parishes of our Synod; and

Wuereas, There is a need for persons with specialized
training in the area of evangelism to complement and

early date.
Action: Adopted (2).

To Encourage Evangelism Programs
in the Schools of Our Synod

RESOLUTION 8-08
Overture 8-04 (CW, pp. 377—378)

Wuereas, Several of our schools have programs sim-
ilar to the Ambassadors program of Concordia Teachers
College, Seward, Nebr., all of which have demonstrated
their value in pilot projects; and

Wuereas, These programs have proven their effec-
tiveness as a means of training students and congrega-
tions in various aspects of evangelism; and