LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 1981, Sheet 382

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OTHER REPORTS 373

professor Michael Hendrickson of the Leonard Davis School of
Gerontology at the University of Southern California, Los
Angeles, resulted in these recommendations: hold a series of
followup workshops aimed at starting creative and innovative
programs for the elderly, create a national Lutheran commis-
sion to promote studies on religion and aging and formulate
policy recommendations on the subject, sponsor a national
forum on religion and aging by 1982, establish a certificate
program in gerontology for clinical pastoral educators and
practitioners, and promote the creation of a curriculum in
gerontology for seminary students.

Another concern of the department has centered on chap-
lains for the aging. Seven persons have been named to a task
force assigned the urgent task of seeking to improve the
training and supervising of such chaplains.

The work of the 15 Lutheran consultation committees which
assist the department and church bodies in being a “pastoral
arm’ to clergy contemplating or involved in specialized minis-
tries took on a new dimension with the decision to interview
clergy seeking endorsement as police chaplains.

Continuing education for those in specialized pastoral care,
always a concern of the department, was enhanced in 1979 by
$20,000 from Lutheran Brotherhood for individual scholar-
ships. The department has begun holding regional conferences
for SPC clergy. Topics discussed have included “What Can We
Do About Burn-out?” “The Use of Dreams in Counseling,”
“Biblical Interpretation of Human Suffering,” and “Pastoral
Care for the Abusive Family.” The fourth in a series of national
experiences in continuing education took place in January
1980. The 140 persons in attendance sought to integrate their
own spiritual journey with their leadership in ministry.

The department had a leadership role in the organization in
April 1979 of a broadly based Council on Ministries in Special-
ized Settings, which is “to encourage and facilitate the practice
of quality ministry in specialized settings.” David E. Farley,
associate director of the department, was elected the council’s
first chairperson.

National Youth Agency Relationships

Since the beginning of the Pro Deo et Patria program in
1944, 27,617 Lutheran youth in Scouting and Exploring have
completed the requirements and received the emblem. The God-
Home-Country program was started in 1951 for members of
Camp Fire, Girl Scouts, and 4-H, and 2,214 have earned the
emblem. The God and Family program, introduced in 1977, is
being vigorously promoted and enthusiastically pursued by
Cub Scouts, Junior Girl Scouts, Adventurers in Camp Fire, and
young members of 4-H. To date, 1,776 children have completed
the program and received the emblem.

The department has launched an emphasis on ministry
with the handicapped through units of Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts,
Camp Fire, and 4-H related to Lutheran congregations or
meeting in Lutheran churches. The units are being encouraged
to seek to bring handicapped youth and adults into packs,
troops, posts, and clubs; to make the handicapped feel welcome
and wanted; and to do whatever is necessary to provide them
with satisfying experiences.

Each of the 55 organized Lutheran Associations of Scouters
and Committees on Scouting across the country was invited to
send representatives to the second biennial forum for such
groups in April 1980. The principal business was the formal
organization of a National Lutheran Association of Scouters.
Ron Adolphi of the association in northern Virginia was
elected the association’s first president.

The annual Lutheran conference on Scouting held each
summer at Philmont Scout Ranch in New Mexico since 1961
attracted 50 participants in 1979 and 87 in 1980. They concen-
trated on the ministry opportunities offered through Scouting.

Continuing coordination of the work of the department with
that of the Church Commission for Civic Youth Serving
Agencies has emphasized arranging for chaplaincy services at
Philmont Scout Ranch, at local Boy and Girl Scout camps and
at the 1981 National Jamboree at Fort A. P. Hill, Bowling
Green, Va.

In 1979 and 1980 the department’s Lamb Award was given
to 60 and 66 persons, respectively, for their “distinguished
service” to youth through Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, and Camp
Fire.

At the retirement of General Secretary George Harkins, he
was given an honorary Gold Lamb award for his “unselfish
service” to the agencies. Early in 1980 Gold Lamb awards were
given to six persons whose ‘‘dedicated work” in establishing
relationships with the youth agencies set the stage for the
current work of the department. Honored were William G.
Fischer of Minneapolis; Irma Herrboldt and E. W. Mueller,
both of Sioux Falls, S. Dak.; Loren Ness of Sun City, Ariz.;
Clarence H. Peters of St. Louis; and Frans Victorson of Mount
Prospect, II].

Lutheran Housing Coalition

The self-governing housing coalition, which was estab-
lished in 1972 with administrative services provided by the
Division of Mission and Ministry, became a part of the
Lutheran Social Service System in 1980.

Division of Service to Military Personnel

The Division of Service to Military Personnel provides a
means for the council’s participating church bodies to offer a
ministry of Word and Sacrament to Lutheran military and
paramilitary personnel and their dependents. This work
includes assisting the churches in filling the authorized spaces
for Lutheran chaplains, providing the chaplains with in-
service training and counseling, arranging for the help of
civilian clergy in communities adjacent to military installa-
tions, supervising several field ministries, and furnishing
congregations with materials to encourage them to keep in
touch with their members in the armed forces.

The division’s staffing arrangement is unique among
council units. Three assistant executive directors handle
responsibilities related to both the division’s common work
and particular concerns of their church bodies. For example,
the LCMS representative on the staff, Milton S. Ernstmeyer,
doubles as executive secretary of the Synod’s Armed Forces
Commission.

The latest count of Lutheran chaplains on extended active
duty in the Army, Navy, and Air Force showed 279, including
95 LCMS clergy. The number serving civilian parishes but on
reserve with military units was 378, of whom 136 were LCMS
clergy. The number with the Civil Air Patrol was 54, 16 of
whom were LCMS clergy. Participants in the “chaplain
candidate” program for seminarians numbered 36, of whom 8
were LCMS seminarians.

In-service training provided the chaplains in 1979 and
again in 1980 centered on a series of seminar-retreats which
examined the present relationship of theology and science and
“Lutheranism 450 Years After Augsburg.”

The latest count of civilian clergy who serve as the division’s
military contact pastors was 245 related to 258 installations
stateside and overseas. Where a Lutheran military chaplain
was assigned to the installation, the contact pastor and
chaplain coordinated their efforts.

Anew pastor, Larry W. Myers, who was professor of religion
at Concordia College, Saint Paul, Minn., arrived at Trinity
Lutheran Church, Frankfurt, West Germany, in July 1980. His
duties also include calling on groups of Lutherans in Europe
and southwest Asia not being served by Lutheran chaplains.

The Frankfurt church is one of the five field ministries
supervised by the division. The others are the Lutheran Church
of Guam; Faith Lutheran Church, Okinawa, Japan; Inter-
national Lutheran Church, Seoul, Korea; and the Lutheran
Service Center, Olongapo, Philippines.

An annual practice of Lutheran chaplains stationed at
military installations in Europe and the Near East is to bring
their confirmation classes to Worms in West Germany for a
joint confirmation service on Pentecost. DSMP executive
director Magnus P. Lutness preached at the 1979 service, at
which 100 persons were confirmed. A remark regularly heard
in the military is, “I was born and baptized in the Philippines,
confirmed at Worms, and married in Alaska—and all by
Lutheran chaplains.”

Among recent materials produced by the division was a
pamphlet, “Your Church Supports You.” In the words of is
author, Bertram Gilbert of the staff, the pamphlet “‘is a limited
attempt to say that there are reasons why persons in the service
can know that God continues to care for them and that the
Lutheran churches support them in their calling.”