# LCMS Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1979_S83
# Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

GREETINGS OF THE LCA PRESIDENT 83

Dr. James Crumley, President, Lutheran Church in America

1. The first is the primary place of a theology based
on God’s revelation of Himself. The church is a com-
munity of faith, and as people gather around Word and
sacrament, faith is born and nurtured. Important to us
is our historical, confessional position by which we
adore the triune God, whose acts are recorded for us in
Holy Scripture and to whom generations of countless
faithful people have borne witness. We too want to be
counted in that glorious company of confessors.

We are anxious that our witness to God in Christ be
expressed in a meaningful way as the Holy Spirit guides
us in our lives today. For this biennium the Lutheran
Church in America has chosen as its theme “Confes-
sing Christ Today.” I believe each word in that theme is
crucial. To confess must always mean more than the
mouthing of pious phrases or the concern over propo-
sitional truth. Just as the German princes of the 16th

century were willing to put their lives in jeopardy in
order to hold fast to their convictions, so our words and
acts of confession must grow out of our deep-seated
confidence in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior.
Christ alone is at the center of our confession. We are
made God’s people as we are baptized into Him, and we
become new creatures through His power. Our confes-
sion asserts that the glory belongs to Him alone and not
to us.

Such a message of marvelous grace is especially
needed in our world today. As modern humanity strug-
gles with forces beyond our comprehension and cer-
tainly beyond our control, we must proclaim the word
that is at one and the same time challenging and
consoling: “Jesus Christ is Lord.”

During this biennium and as we celebrate the 450th
anniversary of the Augsburg Confession in 1980, we are
anxious that this confessional position be emphasized.

2. The style in which the church must operate is
always pastoral in nature. The Word of God portrays
God as the Shepherd of the flock. He alone can “keep”
Israel. He alone can provide all that is essential for the
well-being of his people. He alone has loved the world
enough to give his only-begotten Son. Thus our message
is not theory, nor is it conceived in an ivory tower. Our
concern is people, and our purpose is to apply the Gospel
to the lives of people. We are not program-centered but
people-centered, and every program must be justified on
the basis of its effective service of people. We are not
organization- nor institution-centered, and our organi-
zations and institutions are always to be judged on the
basis of their service to people. All that we are and all
that we try to do as a church must foster that primary
relationship which God intends to have with His people,
and through the power of God’s love we build relation-
ships with one another. Thus we intend not to erect a
triumphal institution but to serve all of God’s created
world as those who are called to be undershepherds of
the great Shepherd.

I greet you in the name of the Lutheran Church in
America, confident that both churches share these two
basic concerns, I pray God’s blessings upon you and His
strengthening and undergirding all that you as a
church and as individuals undertake in His name.

James R. Crumley Jr., D.D.

Address of the Retiring General Secretary,
Lutheran Council in the U.S.A.

First, Imust express my great pleasure that you have
resolved to continue your participation in the Lutheran
Council in the U.S.A. Your support is, among other
things, a tribute to your honored Secretary, Dr. Herbert
Mueller, who was elected less than two months ago as
the fifth president of the Lutheran Council. The second
president was the Reverend Oswald C. J. Hoffmann.
Doctor Mueller is indeed a worthy successor. It has been

a great joy to work with him in council and other
activities over the years, and we look forward to his
continued energetic support for many years to come.
As your synodical President has observed more than
once, if the council did not exist, we would have to invent
it. We have been at this cooperative enterprise for a
dozen years now, sometimes more harmoniously than
others. But, happily, we have continued together, be-