LCMS Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 1983, Page 67

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AiIt will need the assistance and direction of our floor
ttees, as you give your careful attention to the big
enges and opportunities that we face together
the Word of God—in this “time of the paren-
Sis. »”»

y judgment, the coming convention needs to be
fticularly conscious of seven major areas as we carry
your business. They are: theology, mission, leadership
ip ort, relationships with other Christians, utilization
ources, corporate planning, and human care.

is Theology. Theology should always top the list of
jor emphases in a confessional church body like
Our Lord admonished us to seek first the kingdom
od, and that’s what theology is all about. Lutheran
heology, as heirs of Dr. Martin Luther have been
vileged to know and confess it, is simply language
bout the God of our salvation, Jesus Christ, and it is
rawn from His Word—Holy Scripture. At a time when
jeare tempted to focus on organizational problems and
portunities, it is important to focus again and again
in the Gospel message we proclaim, to study it, learn it,
teach it to our children, confess it, apply it, defend it
‘against errors and diminution, and to discover more
and more of its glorious and brilliant facets to enrich
and deepen the spiritual lives of our people. There are
many reports, recommendations, and overtures before
this convention that will enable us to continue to give
confessional Lutheran theology the preeminence it

PRESIDENT’S REPORT

a.
~ ee

must have in our midst, especially in this “time of the
parenthesis.”

2. Mission. We have many outstanding opportuni-
ties at this time in both foreign and North American
missions. What will we do in 1983 to insure continued
growth and expansion in our outreach to others with the
Gospel? The world population today stands at approx-
imately 4.3 billion people who live in 223 nations, 8,993
people groups, in 16,750 subcultures, speaking 7,010
languages. Nearly 3 billion of these people are still
sitting in the darkness of sin and unbelief, and have not
heard of Him whom we proclaim. Only 1,811 languages
have the Holy Scriptures or any part of it. The field is
ripe and the harvest indeed is waiting. We have begun
102 new ministries in North America within the last
year and have initiated new work in five foreign
countries in the last two years. In large part, we have
been able to expand our mission outreach in these ways
largely through the generous outpouring of gifts from
our members in our Forward in Remembrance appeal.
Several graduates of our seminaries have again been
assigned to ministries within foreign lands. Our mission
momentum is building. A question before this conven-
tion is how to keep that momentum going and to extend
it even more. We must find ways to capitalize on our
blessings and to continue with even greater vigor to
reach out into our communities and into our world to
touch the lives of people with the message of salvation