LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 1981, Page 24

Transcription machine transcription, uncorrected

⤓ Download .txt · copy text

24 MISSIONS

e. The board assists the Districts in planning and conduct-
ing workshops and clinics in different areas of evangelism and
provides speakers or resource leaders.

5. Dialog Clinics and Witness Workshops

Since the development of the Kennedy-style visitation
evangelism program by Dr. D. James Kennedy in the late 60s
and the publication of Evangelism Explosion in 1970, many
Missouri Synod congregations adopted or adapted this type of
evangelism program. Through the years various Lutheran
adaptations have been tried in order to be Lutheran in theology
but still retain some features of the Kennedy method such as
on-the-job training, the use of diagnostic questions, a memor-
ized outline for the presentation of the Gospel, and the seeking
of a response. Speaking of Salvation was developed by Rev.
Stephen Biegel. Presenting the Gospel was developed by Dr.
Armand Ulbrich and published by the Board for Evangelism.
Dialog Evangelism was developed by Rev. W. Leroy Biesenthal
together with clinics in order to teach pastors and key laypeople
the content of the materia] and the method to begin to
implement the program.

The Board for Evangelism has now adopted Dialog Evan-
gelism as the method they recommend to congregations. Rev.
Biesenthal, with the assistance and cooperation of the District
evangelism leaders, conducts clinics through the Synod. The
demand has been so great that four other teachers have been
trained and qualified to teach clinics: Dr. Oswald Waech,
Cypress, Calif.; Rev. Robert Scudieri, Spotswood, N.J.; Rev.
Ellis Rottmann, St. Louis, Mo.; and Rev. Darwin Karsten,
Eureka, Mo. A notebook that contains the complete course has
been published for use in the clinics and as the teaching
notebook for the 16-week training course in the congregation.

Dialog Evangelism is intended for intensive training in
making a Gospel presentation, especially on visits to homes in
the community. It has been found that approximately 10
percent of a congregation can be involved in this kind of
ongoing program since about 10 percent of the members may
have the gift of evangelism. In order to provide training for the
other members of the congregation who do not take the Dialog
Evangelism training, the board has developed materials for
Witness Workshops. It began with calling together individuals
who had worked with training laypeople or students in
Ambassador programs or Lay Witness Workshops. Those who
attended were:

Rev. Ellis Rottmann, Springfield, II].
Rev. W. Leroy Biesenthal, St. Louis, Mo.
Rev. Wallace Schulz, St. Louis, Mo.

Rev. Gordon Gross, Colby, Kans.

Dr. Alan Harre, Seward, Nebr.

Rev. Robert Rahn, River Forest, II.

Dr. Erwin J. Kolb, St. Louis, Mo.

As aresult of the consultation, a pilot manual of guidelines
for a Witness Workshop was developed. Leaders from several
Districts were then brought together to experience a Witness
Workshop led by Rev. Biesenthal and to experiment with the
material in their home Districts. These leaders were:

Lou Jander, Texas District

Rev. Ron Pluger, Iowa East District
George Gleichmann, Colorado District
Rev. Lyle Muller, Northern I]linois District
Rev. Marty Lundi, Northwest District
Larry Zenner, Florida-Georgia District

The material for the Witness Workshops is now available
for all the Districts to conduct Witness Workshops in their
Districts, so that finally all the congregations can make it
available as regular training for their members. In the goals
suggested in the attached memorials the Board for Evangelism
is asking the Synod and the Districts to adopt a goal for the
next biennium of 60 percent of the congregations providing
Dialog Evangelism Training for their evangelism callers and
75 percent of the congregations providing witness training for
their members.

6. Open-House Missions

The two evangelism thrusts adopted by the 1979 synodical
convention were the Great Commission Convocation (Res.

1-09) and Open-House Missions (Res. 1-11). Each District was
encouraged to conduct a Districtwide Open-House Mission
during the biennium. Twenty-two Districts as of this writing
have either conducted a Districtwide Open-House Mission or
are planning to do so. Other individual congregations have
had Open-House Missions on their own. The percentage of
congregations that participated varied in the Districts, usually
around two-thirds. The results also varied. A typical District
was Nebraska, which tabulated the results from those congre-
gations that participated:

6,140 calls completed by 2,382 lay visitors

124 enrolled for the pastors class

136 desired membership by transfer

30 people were ready to return to the church by reaffirma-

tion of faith
113 children were reached for Sunday school enrollment
41 were gained for Baptism

The Districts that had Open-House Missions are:

1979 1980) 1981
Nebraska Eastern SID Texas Missouri
lowa East Indiana Minn.N. Kansas N. Dakota
S. Dakota Kansas N. Wis. Man./Sask. N. Wis.
Ontario Colorado NID S. Wis.
Southern CID
Mid-South

7. Equipping the Professional Church Worker

The Board for Evangelism continues to have a vital interest
in equipping professional church workers during their years at
synodical colleges and seminaries so that they are motivated
and prepared to lead the congregations in evangelism and
know how to motivate and equip God's people. It is a great
blessing to the church that now at least one course in evangel-
ism is required of each seminary graduate, and most of the
terminal schools of the Synod also offer elective courses in
evangelism. The Board for Evangelism cooperates with the
Board for Higher Education and offers various services to
synodical schools that desire them. In the past biennium the
board has been involved in the following:

a. The board conducted one of its regular meetings on the
campus of St. John’s, Winfield, Kans., and another at Con-
cordia College, Portland, Oreg. While on campus board and
staff members spoke in chapel, conducted student convoca-
tions, and spoke with the faculty and student leaders about
giving evangelism training and activities on the campus a
greater emphasis.

b. The board assisted with the annual Student Evangelism
Conference at St. Peter Lutheran Church, Arlington Heights
on Oct. 26—28, 1979, and Oct. 24—28, 1980. St. Peter continues
to host the students from the midwest synodical schools free of
charge. The trainers for the two conferences were Rev. W.
Leroy Biesenthal and Rev. Ellis Rottmann.

c. The board offered speakers to campuses under the “Guest
Evangelist on Campus” program. An evangelism staff person
from the Synod ora District, ora pastoris brought toa campus
for a two-to-four day period to speak to classes, to faculty, to
dorm groups, or in chapel and generally to be available to talk
about evangelism in a variety of situations. During the past
biennium, Concordia, St. Paul, Minn.; Christ College, Irvine.
Calif.; and Concordia, Seward, Nebr., have used the program.
Speakers have been Rev. W. Leroy Biesenthal, Rev. Ellis
Rottmann, Rev. Charles Mueller, Rev. Darwin Karsten, and
Dr. Erwin Kolb.

d. The board assisted with evangelism classes. The evan-
gelism staff speaks for one class period to every evangelism
class at the seminary in St. Louis and conducts a Dialog Clinic
for them. Dialog Clinics will also soon be made available to the
students at Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne.

The most recent development in equipping professional
church workers to be evangelism leaders in their parishes is the
director of evangelism program that has been developed at
Christ College, Irvine, and at Concordia College, St. Paul.
Minn. A student, through a four-year college program together
with an internship, is prepared to take charge of the evan-
gelism program of a parish. (See the memorial attached on
directors of evangelism.)