# LCMS Convention Workbook_St. Louis Missouri_2007_S136 # Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration) 136 MISSIONS Resolved, That the convention give thanks to God for the bless- ings He has bestowed during the past triennium and implore His continued blessings on Fan Into Flame; and be it further Resolved, That the convention thank the Texas and South Wis- consin Districts for their willingness to serve as pilot districts, test- ing the Fan Into Flame concept; and be it finally Resolved, That the convention urge all remaining districts and their congregations to prayerfully and generously support the Fan Into Flame effort so that the church may receive the resources it needs to meet its Ablaze! goal of sharing the Good News of Jesus with 100 million people by 2017, the 500th anniversary of the Re- formation. Trinity St. Louis, MO ’ 1-11 To Clarify Ablaze! Terminology Wtereas, A proper understanding of the theology of the mis- sion of the church—proclaiming the Gospel and administering the Sacraments—is of crucial importance to the church’s mission and affects the manner in which the church confesses the faith to the world; and Whereas, The Ablaze! resolutions of the 2004 convention con- tain language which some people have considered to be theologi- cally confusing or ambiguous, for example the terms “critical event,” “encounters,” “missionary,” and “Lutheran Christian”; therefore be it Resolved, That we continue to encourage all members to be about the mission of the church in all of its forms—evangelization, Holy Baptism, preaching, teaching, Holy Absolution, Holy Com- munion, and the mutual conversation of the brothers and sisters; and be it further Resolved, That we remind each other throughout the Synod to recognize and praise God for the mission efforts which have taken place among and by Lutherans for the past 490 years and by the whole Christian church on earth since Pentecost; and be it further Resolved, That we remind each other throughout the Synod to recognize the inseparable bond between strong theology and strong © mission work; and be it further Resolved, That we ask the LCMS Ablaze! Steering Committee to clarify in future publications the terms mentioned above so as to reflect our Lutheran doctrine; and be it finally Resolved, That we encourage all within the Northern Illinois District to participate in the Ablaze! movement and to pray that the mission and ministry of the church be propelled by God’s Spirit - through the means of grace as we face the mission opportunities before us. Northern Illinois District 1-12 To Correct the Theology of Ablaze! WHEREAS, A proper understanding of the theology of the mis- sion of the church—proclaiming the Gospel and administering the Sacraments—is of crucial importance to the church’s mission and affects the manner in which the church confesses the faith to the world; and WuereaS, The Ablaze! resolutions of the 2004 convention con- tain statements which are theologically confusing or ambiguous, namely: 1. The expression critical event narrows the mission of the church down to only one of the Gospel’s forms—evangelization. It is defined as one person talking to another and excludes as “critical” Holy Bap- tism, Holy Absolution, Holy Communion, the preaching of the Gospel by pastors, the teaching of children by parents, the comforting of the bereaved, or any other church-defining things found on a long biblical list of what the church has always regarded as Gospel min- istries. 2. The use of the word encounter has no biblical or confessional prece- dent and is so closely associated with neo-orthodoxy, which denies the power of the Word, as to make its use ill-advised by a church which is built by the power of the Gospel alone. Sad The exclusive counting of such encounters tends to disparage or di- minish all other occasions in which the Holy Spirit works in the hearts of His people. 4. The use of the word missionary confuses the personal missionary ac- tivity of individual lay Christians with the divine call of missionaries by the church and so tends to blur the clear distinction between pas- tors and the royal priesthood. . The use of the expression Lutheran Christian tends to blur the clear distinction between what has been called the fides qua (faith which believes) and the fides quae (faith which is believed) by making it seem as though there are many types of Christians (Lutheran Chris- tians, Baptist Christians, Roman Catholic Christians, Pentecostal Christians), all of whom are somehow equal or interchangeable, in and WHEREAS, The theological formulations in the Ablaze! resolu- tions of 2004 tend to present missions in a manner more similar to American Evangelicalism than to Historic Lutheranism; therefore be it Resolved, That the 2007 LCMS convention continue to encour- age all members to be about the mission of the church in all of the Gospel’s forms—evangelization, Holy Baptism, preaching, teach- ing, Holy Absolution, Holy Communion, the mutual conversation of the brothers, etc.; and be it further Resolved, That the Synod recognize and praise God for the mis- sion efforts which have taken place among and by Lutherans for the past 490 years whether they bear the name Ablaze! or not; and be it further Resolved, That the Synod recognize the bond between strong theology and strong mission work; and be it further Resolved, That the Synod ask the leading theologians of the church, our seminary professors, to produce a theology of missions which corrects the flaws reflected in the Ablaze! resolutions of 2004 and which truly reflects our Lutheran doctrine; and be it fi- nally Resolved, That all within the Synod pray that the mission and ministry of the church be propelled by God’s Spirit as we face the mission opportunities before us. Holy Cross Albany, OR To Request Accounting of Ablaze! and Fan Into Flame Funds WHEREAS, Congregational stewardship calls for the accounting of funds in a congregation to a right and salutary use; and WHEREAS, Stewardship in the Synod calls for the same; and WHEREAS, Certain sums of money have been entrusted to the Ablaze! movement to further God’s kingdom; therefore be it Resolved, That Northern Illinois District request that a line-item statement of functional expense of monies that have been received and expended in all aspects of the Ablaze! movement and Fan Into Flame be made available to all congregations of the Synod. Northern Illinois District 1-14 To Present Detailed Accounting of Ablaze! Funds WHEREAS, The 2004 Res. 1-04 established a $100 million Ablaze! fund-raising effort; and WHEREAS, It appears that the chairman of the Synod’s Board for Mission Services or the board itself is in charge of these funds (see Reporter, December 2006, p. 2); and WHEREAS, No detailed report to the congregations has been is- sued; therefore be it