LCMS Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 1983, Page 69

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their income to the church in the last reporting period.
Imagine what would happen if that percentage were
increased by only one-half of one percent, to 2.8 percent?
Do you realize that would mean additional income to
our church body of $123 million this year alone? Imagine
how many new mission projects could be begun with
that amount! Think what it would mean for mission and
ministry in North America! Let your mind dwell on
what this would mean for additional work through your
ocal congregation and your District! With that kind of
ncrease, we could even pay off the operating debt of the
Synod at the national level and still have $111 million
left over—just by increasing our average gift to the Lord
py one-half of one percent!

> Some may think that such talk is naive and unreal-
istic, but I do not agree. Our financial problem, described
recent publications of our church and discussed at
any levels of our work, is not really a financial
roblem, but a spiritual one. Too few of our people have
geen the vision of what could be accomplished for the
“Lord with adequate support for the ministries carried on
.in His name. This convention will need to give strong
: direction in the area of stewardship education to help
- our people learn more about the joy of sharing all that
. God has given us in order to share the Gospel of Jesus
’ Christ with others.

In the meantime, attention needs to be given to the
effect our financial situation has on the work we are
’ able to do together in 1983 and the years to come. In
many respects we are not acting like a single church
body at all, but more like a loose federation of autono-
mous Districts, congregations, institutions, and other
- agencies. At times we give the impression that our

financial situation is out of control, although this is
most definitely not the case. But it is my hope and
prayer that the committees will give strong leadership
to this convention so that our delegates will return to
their homes and congregations with a renewed sense of
the Christian stewardship life and its importance for
the ministry and mission of proclaiming the Lord Jesus
- Christ—in this “time of the parenthesis.”

6. Corporate Planning. Perhaps that terminology
suggests to some of you that the church needs to become
more like a business or industry, but that is surely not
- what I mean. However, there are many fine models of
planning that can help our complex and large organiza-
tion. Emphasizing the spiritual nature of our church
body as we do should not mean for any of us that we fail
to recognize that our Synod is very much an organiza-
tion with objectives, offices, staffs, accountability,
responsibility, communication needs, and many other
elements quite similar to those of other large organiza-
tions. It is apparent to many of us who serve the church
in an administrative capacity that our church body is
not engaged at all of its levels in sound and extensive
planning for the organizational dimensions of our life
together. Too frequently, one part of the Synod is
unaware of the needs. and opportunities of another
component of the Synod.

Some, to be sure, fear a trend toward centralization,

PRESIDENT’S REPORT 69

and reacting to that fear, engage in activities that
promote an opposite danger, namely, a kind of auton-
omy and individualism that produce costly waste,
inefficiency, and corporate narrowmindedness. Neither
extreme is desirable. We need to give attention to
structural decisions that will reduce inefficiencies,
provide a stronger sense of walking together, and help
District and national operations as well as local congre-
gations to make the best possible use of the resources
God has given us as we carry out our task. We have
developed into a church body that speaks of itself too

‘frequently in terms of “we” and “they” instead of

realizing that we are all the Synod and that the needs
and opportunities of each of us are the needs and
opportunities of all of us—especially now in this “time
of the parenthesis.”

7. Human care. We don’t need to impress upon one
another how much the world around us is hurting.
People are hungry, and dying because of it. The poor in
many countries of the world, including our own, are
very poor indeed. Victims of prejudice, persecution,
natural disasters, or war are eking out a living not very
many miles from our own borders. A growing influx of
refugees has brought the matter much closer to home for
many of us. In our hospitals and institutions there are
thousands of people suffering need and want. A growing
number of elderly persons in our church body and in our
society stand in need of our friendship, companionship,
and support. Perhaps no one in our day and age needs
our strong voice and concern so much as the unborn.
Just think of it: an estimated million and a half unborn
babies died through abortion last year alone! Our
church body has avery strong position on this issue, but
it often appears that we are not doing very much about
it. Some say that it’s because conservative and confes-
sional groups like ours are concerned only about
doctrine, and not about suffering and hurting people. I
do not believe that, and neither do you. One of the great
challenges facing this convention is to reaffirm loudly
and clearly that we are a church body that cares about
social ministry, that is, caring for other human beings
in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ whose love and
forgiveness we proclaim to one and all in this “time of
the parenthesis.”

There are of course many issues of great importance
before this convention in the areas we have been
discussing and in many others we have not even
mentioned. I hope and pray that you will help the
convention discover courses of action that will encour-
age greater involvement in the mission and ministry of
our Lord. We especially need to involve more women
with their fantastic gifts in the service of our congrega-
tions and our church body. Our young people are eager
to play greater roles in the life of our Synod. What a
wonderful thing it is that this convention can give
leadership and direction to the ministry of youth, and I
strongly encourage you to that end.

In this “time of the parenthesis,” a time between
eras, we have many reasons to look back from time to
time, particularly upon 500 years of blessing as the

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