# LCMS Convention Workbook_St. Louis Missouri_1975_S32 # Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration) 32 MISSIONS 2-08 To Commend Board for Missions for Faithful Adherence to God’s Word WHEREAS, The present Board for Missions has faithfully held to Christ-centered Scriptural principles in mission policy: and WHEREAS. The present Board for Missions has recognized the different situations in mission fields that make it imperative for our missionaries and sister churches to follow practices that take into consideration the context in which they carry out their ministry; and WHEREAS, The present Board for Missions has utilized the Mission Affirmations as under the Scriptures, not above them: and WHEREAS, The present Board for Missions has recognized spiritual forces that continue to be detrimental to the Christian faith, warning us against unionism: and WHEREAS, The present Board for Missions has held to Scriptural and confessional principles of fellowship which are to be honored by us all: therefore be it Resolved. That we commend the present Board for Missions for its faithful adherence to God’s Word and a Christ-centered mission program for the Synod: and be it further Resolved. That we commend the present Board for Missions for adhering wholeheartedly to the Synod's official position in doctrine and practice according to the Scriptures and the Lutheran Confessions. Zion Lutheran Church New Orleans, La. S. Ponseti, Pastor A. Macke. President 2-094 To Thank Synod’'s Board for Missions WHEREAS, The Synod’s Board for Missions has faced diffi- culties in the past years as it has sought to serve its Lord Jesus: and WHEREAS, It has remained faithful and firm to the principles of mission .work laid out in God’s Word, rejecting, for example, any thoughts or tendency toward the teaching of universalism: and WHEREAS, We need to stand as a church body behind the dedicated. faithful work of our church servants: therefore be it Resolved. That we express a strong thank-you to the Synod's Board for Missions for its service to the church, wishing its members the Savior's blessings for the future and encouraging them to stay faithful in the days to come. St. Thomas Lutheran Church Rocky River, Ohio Edgar H. Krause, President James P. Walker, Secretary Phillip B. Giessler, Pastor Identical or similar: 2-09B Zion, New Orleans, La. S. Ponseti 2-10 To Maintain Confessional Integrity on Mission Fields and Commend and Support Present Mission Board and Chairman WHEREAS, The Constitution of The Lutheran Church— Missouri Synod in Article I States: The Synod, and every member of the Synod, accepts without reservation: 1. The Scriptures of the Old and the New Testa- ment as the written Word of God and the only rule and norm of faith and of practice: 2. All the Symbolical Books of the Evangelical Lutheran Church as a true and unadulterated state- ment and exposition of the Word of God, to wit: the three Ecumenical Creeds (the Apostles’ Creed, the Nicene Creed, the Athanasian Creed), the Unaltered Augsburg Confession. the Apology of the Augsburg Confession, the Smalcald Articles, the Large Cate- chism of Luther, the Small Catechism of Luther, and the Formula of Concord. WHEREAS. Article VI of the Constitution of The Lutheran Church ~ Missouri Synod in part states: Conditions for acquiring and holding membership in the Synod are: 1. Acceptance of the confessional basis of Article II 2. Renunciation of unionism and syncretism of every description... , WHEREAS, Article XIII of the Constitution of The Lutheran Church — Missouri Synod in part states: 1. Members who act contrary to the confession laid down in Article II and to the conditions of membership laid down in Article VI Or persist in an offensive con- duct. shall. after previous futile admonition, be ex- pelled from Synod; WHEREAS, Furthermore every missionary of The Lutheran Church — Missouri Synod ona foreign mission field, no less than every other pastor and teacher of Synod, has freely, without coercion, pledged himself without reservation to uphold the Constitution of the Synod: and WHEREAS. Because of our Synod’s declaration of altar and pulpit fellowship with The American Lutheran Church — which churches and the rest of Protestantism—and because of a pervading worldwide “ecumenical spirit” that consistently puts doctrinal concerns aside in order to achieve unity, our Synod’s missionaries on foreign fields are under enormous pressures to practice unionistic fellowship with other Lutheran and Protes- tant missionaries with whom we are not one in doctrine: and WHEREAS, We fully acknowledge that our former missions in foreign lands, which, though still dependent on Synod for finan- cial and manpower aids. are now autonomous sister churches of our Synod and have the right and freedom to practice rites, traditions, ceremonies, church polity, etc.. of their own choosing (AC VII 3) so long as they do not conflict with Biblical doctrine: and or outward harmony and the furtherance of the unionistic “ecumenical spirit” of our age (FC XI 95): be it therefore Resolved. That we petition The Lutheran Church ~ Missouri Synod to do its utmost, through its appropriate boards and agencies, to cultivate, foster, nurture, strengthen, support, and maintain complete doctrinal unity between itself and the Resolved. That the Synod do its utmost to maintain and support the confessional integrity of its missionaries on foreign fields and, should it become necessary, to give fraternal admoni- tion and warning, where needed, that anyone violating the mutually agreed upon conditions of membership in the LCMS (Constitution, Art. XIII) endangers his status as a missionary of the LCMS: and be it finally Resolved. That the Synod commend and support its present Board for Missions and its chairman, Waldo J. Werning, for