# LCMS Convention Workbook_St. Louis Missouri_2004_S412
# Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

412 THEOLOGICAL DOCUMENTS—COMMISSION ON THEOLOGY AND CHURCH RELATIONS

Dependent on the promises of God given through the means of
grace for growth and on the power of the Holy Spirit who bestows on it
His manifold gifts, the church accepts with thanksgiving all method-
ological insights and wisdom that will enhance and facilitate the procla-
mation of the Word. In Christian freedom, though with Biblically tested
criteria, the church will gladly make use of methods and techniques de-
signed to accomplish this end. (ECG, 50)

“The church belongs to God. He has purchased it with the blood

2004 Convention Workbook

of His Son. He preserves and protects it. He guarantees its future.
Believing such promises, Christians may therefore mutually en-
courage one another to ‘serve the Lord with gladness’ ” (ECG,
50)—seeking always to carry out his mission in the power of his
Spirit and in complete faithfulness to his Christ-centered Word and
will.

Adopted Dec. 5, 2003

Commission on Theology and Church Relations