LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 1981, Sheet 379

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370 OTHER REPORTS

identifying sites for the development of future Lutheran con-
gregations has concentrated in recent years on the counties of
Riverside and San Bernardino in California. The LCMS, ALC,
and LCA are in the process of each buying five sites in those
counties. Under consideration as the next area of concentra-
tion is either Denver or Seattle.

Office of Communication and Interpretation

The Office of Communication and Interpretation is directed
to ‘‘publicize the objectives, scope of interest and activities of
the council; supply information concerning the Christian faith
and life as reflected by the Lutheran Church; assist the
cooperating churches by providing a means for furthering
cooperation among them in the work of public relations and
communications; and supplement, at the request of the
cooperating bodies, their activities in this field and interpret
their faith, objectives and programs.”

In carrying out this mandate OCI works closely with reli-
gious and secular print and broadcast media and communica-
tion agencies; the council’s offices, divisions, departments, and
related units, including Lutheran World Relief and the Luther-
an World Federation; and the communication offices of the
church bodies. OCI provides staff services to the separate
corporation, Lutheran Film Associates.

A cooperative project carried out in 1980 with funding from
Lutheran Brotherhood brought together at two duplicate con-
ferences decision makers in the communications industry who
are Lutherans and communication professionals who work for
the LCMS, ALC, LCA, AELC, and Lutheran Council. The
thinking about vocation and dialog between industry and
church colleagues begun at the conferences is expected to lead
to acontinuing ministry. As one participant expressed: “Just
as we need to have our faith shored up through worship, we
also need to be reminded as God’s people that we need to
practice our religion in our day-to-day work. A good example is
often contagious. The conference rejuvenated me in thinking
about my work and my religion.”

Lutheran audiovisual specialists were convened in January
1981 for a consultation as part of the annual convention of the
National Audiovisual Association. Sponsors included Luther-
an Film Associates and Lutheran World Ministries.

During the biennium the OCI news bureau issued more
than 100 editions of its print news service. The editions carried
400 stories plus nearly 50 commentaries. The bureau assembled
semimonthly summaries of its stories plus those put out by the
church bodies in the service, ‘““News Now,” aimed at Lutheran
leaders.

Facsimile equipment was installed in the spring of 1979 in
the news bureau in New York City and the LCMS and ALC
communication offices in Saint Louis and Minneapolis respec-
tively. This makes possible the transmission ofthe printed text
of stories via the telephone. The hope is to add the LCA and
AELC to the network.

Office for Governmental Affairs

The Office for Governmental Affairs monitors governmen-
tal activities which would affect the life and ministry of the
church; communicates the information gathered to interested
Lutherans through its monthly publication Focus on Govern-
mental Affairs, occasional research memoranda, and other
ways; provides a common channel for the council and church
bodies to express their concerns about public issues to congres-
sional committees and regulatory agencies and to inform
governmental officials of Lutheran positions; serves as an
“ombudsman’”’ for Lutherans in solving church-state prob-
lems; and works with other church offices and voluntary
organizations in Washington, D.C., in addressing legislative
issues. These groups include WISC, the Washington Interreli-
gious Staff Council; IMPACT, an ecumenical advocacy net-
work; and the Coalition of National Voluntary Organizations.

The office’s “brightest glow” during the biennium came
from a three-session consultation which dealt with the growing
encroachment by the federal government on the church’s life.
The resulting document, officially adopted by the 1979 annual
meeting of the council, set a ‘‘policy issues’’ agenda for the
1980s. Among issues to be watched are the process by which
governmental units establish regulations and legislation

requiring charitable solicitation disclosure. Also to be chal-
lenged is the government’s extremely narrow definition of reli-
gious mission, and among church agencies already serving as
“guinea pigs’ in this challenge is Lutheran Social Service of
Minnesota. Other followup actions are establishing a commit-
tee of legal consultants to deliberate on the legal aspects of
church-state relations and planning an interreligious confer-
ence on church and government. The Aid Association for
Lutherans funded the consultation.

The office has continued its pastoral service to Lutherans in
the federal government in three formal ways: monthly break-
fasts on Capitol Hill, an annual spring dinner, and an annual
fall weekend seminar. Themes considered at the past two
seminars were ‘“Caesar’s Role vs. Church Rights: Are the
Church and State on a Collision Course?” and “‘Power and
Government.”

More than 500 church leaders, including 50 Lutherans,
spent three days in Washington in March 1979 and again in
March 1980 for in-depth briefings and discussions with
members of Congress and governmental officials. These events
were sponsored by WISC and IMPACT.

Division of Campus Ministry and Educational Services

The Division of Campus Ministry and Educational Services
is mandated to provide the church bodies with the means for
consultation and coordination in campus ministry, church
college education, and theological education; to undertake
requested programs to accomplish this; and to conduct campus
ministry on behalf of one or more of the churches.

The division administers National Lutheran Campus
Ministry, an agency of the ALC, LCA, and AELC which is
funded separately by these church bodies and their districts
and synods.

The division provides staff services to the Center for the
Study of Campus Ministry located at Valparaiso (Ind.)
University, with the Aid Association for Lutherans funding the
center’s programs, and to the Lutheran Educational Confer-
ence of North America.

Campus Ministry Common Work

General support services provided by the division to
“common work” in campus ministry currently center on the 14
campus ministry agencies which are fully cooperative and
unified for the administration of ministry on 30 campuses and
on another dozen coordinated ministries.

“Common work” includes conducting studies of pertinent
issues in cooperation with the center at Valparaiso University
and through task forces. Subjects addressed during the
biennium have included: the meaning of metropolitan campus
ministry; the self-image, ministry models, professional stand-
ards, and contractual concerns of the laity and women in
campus ministry; a pastoral perspective on homosexuality;
resources relating to world community in campus ministry
settings; international student ministry; parish-based ministry
to community colleges through trained volunteers; student-to-
student peer ministry models; and Lutheranism as a confes-
sional resource in campus ministry today.

All full-time campus ministers related to NLCM and the
LCMS Board for Missions were convened by the division for
their 10th and 11th continuing education conferences in 1979
and 1980. They studied “Ethics and Ministry in Higher
Education” and “Faith, Science and the Future of the World
Community.” An orientation week for all newly appointed
campus ministers, previously a common activity, was carried
out separately those years by NLCM and Missouni.

Campus Ministry Communications, a ‘common work”
project administered by the division with funding from the
LCMS Board for Missions and NLCM, produced, distributed,
and promoted these and other items during 1979—80: 14 issues
of Circle, a packet of campus ministry news and resources;
specially designed calendars for each school year; Bible study
booklets on Micah and Daniel and on “Seeds of the Kingdom:
On Being a Christian in the University”; a tract on “Readings
on Vocation”; an abridged version of the classic, Our Calling,
by Einar Billing; a folder on “Beyond Boring: Working Your
Way to a Better Newsletter”; and a resource packet on cults,
which has become CMC’s “most ordered” item.