# LCMS Convention Workbook_St. Louis Missouri_1973_S309 # Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration) 8. EVANGELISM 8-01 Report of Board for Evangelism Introduction “You've come a long way. Missouri.” was the title of an article in The Lutheran Witness reviewing the evangelism record of the LCMS during the 125 years of our existence as a Synod. Missouri was a “late starter,” but the momen- tum has gradually accelerated and continues to do so. From the early evangelistic efforts among the American Indians, the deaf, and the black, the Synod moved to organized pro- grams such as “The Call of the Hour” in the early 30s. the “Call of the Cross” at the centennial of the arrival of the Saxons, the “Each One Reach One” in the 40s. the “Preach- ing-Teaching-Reaching Missions” in the 50s, followed by its offspring the “Spiritual Life Mission” and the “Families for Christ” programs. The 1960s brought some new approaches with separate workshops for pastors, for teachers. for lay people. The youth workshops were called “Ambassadors for Christ.” Since 1964 a special Sunday has been observed in many con- gregations called “Evangelism Sunday” or “Evangelism Fes- tival.” Programs were developed to reach special areas of concern: for the dropouts from church membership. the “Membership Referral” was developed: for the members who visited and worked overseas an “Ambassadors Kit.” In the 70s a ‘new look” seeks to broaden the approach of evange- lism to include the “whole man,” and to work together with other Christians when this is possible. The momentum of outreach concern was strengthened by the evangelism em- phasis on the 125th anniversary celebration and now through the special efforts of Key 73. The interest in evangelism in the 50s_was evidenced by the establishment of a Department of Evangelism by the 1953 Houston convention under the Board for Missions in North and South America. At the 1965 Detroit convention, a Committee on Evangelism within the now single Board for Missions was established. Finally the 1971 Milwaukee convention responded to many requests and established a separate Board for Evangelism. (Res. 1-19) Until future elections. the new Board for Evangelism was appointed by the Board of Directors, and the appointees chose their officers: Pastors: Armand H. Ulbrich, Detroit (4 years) Chairman; John W. Ott, St. Louis (2 years). Laity: Evelyn Hartman, Richland, Washington (2 years), Secre- tary; Jerry Bartos. Dallas. (4 years). Teacher: William R. Wright. Fort Dodge, (2 years), Vice-Chairman. The Board began its work in November 1971 with an “Acting Secretary for Evangelism,” loaned to the Board for Evangelism from the Board for Missions. the Rev. Walter Meyer. The Board called an Executive Secretary, The Rev. Dr. Erwin J. Kolb. who took office on 1 July 1972. Rev. Meyer returned to his assignment as Secretary for North America (Congregation and Community). Why was Missouri a “slow-starter” in evangelism? The article in the Lutheran Witness suggests four possible an- swers: 1. The Synod always considered itself “evangelistic” be- cause it was an “Evangelical” church. 2. The Synod had to break out of its German shell before it could become evangelistic. 3. During the first years the Synod gave priority to estab- lishing its base with training schools for pastors and teachers and setting up a parochial school system. 4. Some members of the Synod put_ more emphasis on preserving the pure teachings of the Bible. Others could come and get the pure doctrines if they wanted them. There is still some tension within the Synod with some of these reasons. especially number 4. the tension between preserving and proclaiming the Gospel. When undue time and attention is devoted to preserving the truth. it can easily detract from the concern to share the truth with others outside of the circle of those already within the fold. The reverse also happens. that so much energy and enthusi- asm is devoted to winning the outsider. that the heritage of true Bible teaching is slighted. Proper attention must be oo given to both, both preserve and proclaim, both a solid con- fessional stance and an active application of the Gospel to the needs of people in the world around us. Thus, feeling the push of the heritage of the Missouri Synod, the Board pursued its task with a sense of urgency continuing to study the needs of the Synod in the 70s and resolving to make the most of the evangelistic opportunities that the celebration of the 125th anniversary and the move- ment called Key 73 would bring. Here is a report of the work with special recommendations for “beyond New Orleans.” 1. Evangelism Emphasis of the 125th Anniversary The Milwaukee Convention accepted the challenge pre- sented by the President of the Synod in his opening address and resolved to mark the occasion of the 125th anniversary celebration by demonstrating a passion for souls through (1) “endeavoring to gain 125,000 converts to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ”; (2) “rededicating themselves to ‘in- creased efforts in evangelism’; and (3) “a concerted effort in personal witnessing.” (Res. 9-03) The Board for Evangelism in cooperation with the 125th anniversary committee asked our congregations to enlist 6% of its communicant membership to form an army of 125,000 core workers who would be called “Messengers of Rejoic- ing.” The Messengers of Rejoicing were to study the history of Synod, the congregations’ relationship to circuit, District, and Synod and then be trained for an evangelistic outreach into the community. The Messengers of Rejoicing were to be active throughout the anniversary year, and as the evan- gelism emphasis led into involvement in Key 73, these ‘“Mes- sengers’ would continue their outreach efforts as Key 73 workers. In the Missouri Synod the period of the PTRs experi- enced the most rapid growth in the number of adult acces- sions. from 26 to 620 in 1953 to the peak year in 1960 of 35.570. From that point on there was a consistent decline in adult accessions until 1970 when the total was 26,074. The vear 1971 saw a slight increase of 701 to a total of 26.775. We pray that increase will continue as we continue to commit to be. even after the anniversary year, “Mes- sengers of Rejoicing.” The Anniversary Resolution of Milwaukee (11-03) re- solved that as we give thanks to the Lord of the church we “set definite goals for internal and external growth for the decade of the seventies.” The broad objective for the Board for Evangelism sets our goal: A growing number of God's people in the Missouri Synod shar- ing the Good News of God's forgiveness in Jesus Christ, by what they say and do, both in structured programs and in an in- creasing varicty of life situations. Goals in evangelism are often misunderstood. We know that only the Holy Spirit working through the Gospel moti- vates witnesses and changes people from sinners to saints. It is also the Holy Spirit who motivates Christians to give of their time and treasure, and yet we set goals in these areas. People are the instruments for communicating the Gospel to others. These communicators can be recruited and trained and evidence in the statistics indicate that when there are structured programs for organization and training more are won to Christ and his Church. The Board for Evangelism therefore makes the following recommendation: Recommendation 1— Evangelism Goals We recommend: a) that we reaffirm our goal of 125,000 new members as a result of the 125th anniversary celebration b) that we ask congregations to establish long range goals in evangelism and annually set short range goals in terms of programmed evangelism efforts and the increase in souls that they will pray for c) that the circuit and District set short and long range goals for their evangelism programs d) that the Board for Evangelism assist congregations, circuits, and Districts by providing materials and encourage- ment for setting goals in evangelism.