# LCMS Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_2016_S93
# Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

CONVENTION
E S S AY • 1

Upon This Rock: Repent, Confess, Rejoice
by Th e R ev. Dr . Lawrence R. Ra st, Jr .,

Pr e s i d en t, Concordia The ol ogica l S em ina ry, Fo rt Way n e , I n d.
66th Regular Convention of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod • July 10, 2016

Greetings from your seminary in Fort Wayne, Ind.,
Concordia Theological Seminary.
Dear Friends in Christ:
The church’s existence today is a testimony to God’s
continued faithfulness to His people and a fulfillment
of His promise to continue to care for it. Christ’s assurance that the gates of hell shall not prevail against
His Church is confirmed among us as we repent,
confess, and rejoice together.
We can’t always imagine what God will do to sustain
His Church, but we know He will. The Lutheran
Church nearly came apart in the period immediately
following Luther’s death in 1546. All hope seemed
lost. But in 1580, Concordia was achieved, and the
church continued to fulfill its divine mission. In 1840,
the majority of Lutherans in America had lost their
distinctive confession. It appeared that it was simply
impossible for the Lutheran Church to survive with
confessional integrity. Yet by 1847, a small synod of
twelve pastors and 16 congregations, totaling about
3,000 members, was founded—today’s Lutheran
Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS). God was faithful
in maintaining His Church.

light that we might declare His wonderful deeds
(1 Peter 2:9). Indeed, God the Holy Spirit has called,
gathered, enlightened, sanctified, and kept us in the
one true faith so that we might repent, confess, and
rejoice.
Is it too much to say that we see the fulfillment of
this in the history of our Synod? No! For God is at
work in us both to will and to do His will! Thus we
see, in the stories of the people, pastors, and congregations that make up the Synod, God’s continued faithfulness in the way He enables us to fulfill
the works He has prepared in advance for us to do.
Take a quick walk through the exhibits hall at this
convention—the 66th Regular Convention of the
LCMS—and you will see repeated and remarkable

And what about today? Today, the church has clearly
lost its privileged position in North American culture.
What will God do now?
He will be faithful—He will be faithful to His mission; He will be faithful to us, His people, because
He has called us out of darkness into His marvelous

“Upon This Rock: Repent, Confess, Rejoice”

U P O N T H I S R O C K • Essay

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