LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 1983, Page 15

Transcription machine transcription, uncorrected

⤓ Download .txt · copy text

MISSIONS, EVANGELISM, AND SOCIAL MINISTRY 15

“What is evangelism?” is the question we hear over and
over in The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod. Often it is
asked because there is a question about some method or style of
doing evangelism, whether it makes word or deed primary.
whether it is public or private, or how it involves the human
instrument and the power of the Holy Spirit. The theme verse is
a good summary of the basic ingredients of evangelism—
proclaiming the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus for the
forgiveness of sins to the world so that people can come into a
saving relationship with God through the power of the Spirit of
God.

The current popular definitions of evangelism stress the
same ingredients. The definition formulated at the Consul-
tation on World Evangelization in Lausanne in 1974 states:

To evangelize is to spread the Good News that Jesus Christ died
for our sins and was raised from the dead according to the

Scriptures, and that as reigning Lord He now offers forgiveness of

sins and the liberating gift of the Spirit to all who repent and believe.

Our Christian presence in the world is indispensable to evange-
lism... but evangelism is the proclamation of the historical. Biblical
Christ as Savior and Lord, with a view to persuading people to come
personally and so be reconciled to God.... The results of evangelism
include obedience to Christ. incorporation into His church and
responsible service in the world.

The exhortation on “Evangelization in the Modern World”
(Evangelti Nuntiand?) by Pope Paul VI stresses that “Evange-
lization means bringing the Good News into all the strata of
humanity, and through its influence transforming humanity
from within and making it new. ... Evangelization will always
contain—as the foundation center and at the same time
summit of its dynamism—a clear proclamation that in Jesus
Christ, the Son of God made man, who died and rose from the
dead, salvation is offered to all men as agift of God's grace and
mercy.”

In 1975 in convention at Anaheim, Calif.. the Synod
adopted a definition of evangelism which stressed these six
points:

1. Evangelism in its general sense is sharing the Gospel of
Jesus Christ with everyone in every form and with whatever
means are appropriate. Evangelism in the particular sense is
sharing the Gospel with those who do not confess Jesus Christ
as Lord.

2. Evangelism in both senses is the responsibility of every
baptized Christian.

3. Evangelism takes place naturally in daily life and work
as well as with special gifts which the Spirit gives.

4. The congregation will utilize a variety of means. meth-
ods, and agencies for the purpose of sharing the Gospel with
one another and with people of all ethnic and cultural tra-
ditions.

5. Evangelism has as its goal the conversion of the world.

6. The motivation for all evangelism is the Christian's
Spirit-born compulsion to share the Gospel.

Some of the reports and discussions of this convention will
deal with the message of Christ that is to be proclaimed,
clarifying and defining what the Scriptures teach concerning
the justification of sinners by God's grace. This report from the
Board for Evangelism Services deals with how the Missouri
Synod is proclaiming that message and the results of the
proclamation in terms of those that are added to the church or
lost from it. It will also suggest programs and goals for
congregations in their work of proclamation.

1. A Look at the Statistics

After reaching its peak in baptized membership in 1971,
The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod started a decline until
the year 1980, when there was an increase of 1.323. In 1981 that
increase was 2,064. The communicant membership reached its
peak in 1976 and then began to decline. The communicant
membership also did a turnaround in 1980 and began a slight
increase—8,396 in 1980 and 3.064 in 1981.

The goals which the Synod adopted in the “Challenges of
the “80s.” which were then incorporated into the Synod's
Master Plan, set a target of increasing the Synod’s member-
ship by 50" in the decade of the ‘80s. In the first two vears of the

decade of the ‘80s the baptized membership increased by 3,887.
An increase of 50" of the Synod’s 1979 baptized membership
(2,717,996) would be 1,358.998. Two-fifths of that figure is
271.798, which is what the increase should be for two vears if
we are to stay on track forthe S50": increase. The actual increase
of 3,887 is a far cry from 271,798. ~

What can we do in the light of the above figures? Either of |

two solutions is possible—change the goal or take some drastic
action to try to achieve it. Perhaps the answer is both. The
Board for Evangelism Services has suggested changing the
50% increase for the decade to 25%, but even that action is not
very helpful unless we take some drastic action to achieve that
kind of increase, which would amount to an increase of 679,499.

The Synod grows as new congregations are planted and as
its present congregations grow. The Districts in cooperation
with the department of North American Missions are planting
new congregations at a highly increased rate. The Board for
Evangelism Services urges each congregation and District of
the Synod to look at its own growth or decline and determine by
God's grace to take drastic action.

The statistics which follow are the totals of the figures
submitted by the congregations of the Synod for publication in
the Statistical Yearbook. Each District and congregation
needs to examine its own statistics and seek to find in them the
patterns for growth and decline which point to areas which
need special attention.

Examine the exhibits and note the following comments.

Exhibit I—~Adults Gained and Lost

1. “Defections” are losses of communicant members who
are removed from the congregational membership rolls because
they stopped coming to church or because they moved and did
not transfer or just lost interest. “Defections” also include
those who are excommunicated. There has been a dramatic
increase in defections since 1977.

2. In 1980 there was a 14" increase in the number of adults
gained by Baptism and confirmation. In 1981 that increase
leveled off.

Exhibit 1I—Gains and Losses in Baptized Membership

l

1. Child baptisms began declining in 1973 but are starting
to increase again.

2. Junior confirmations continue to decline.

3. While there is a total membership loss for the decade of
the ‘70s, there has been an increase the last two years.

Exhibit I1]—Gains and Losses in Communicant Membership

1. The non-Lutheran junior confirmations continue to de-
cline.

2. Adults gained by Baptism or confirmation showed a 14”
increase in 1980 after a decade of hovering around 26,000
annually.

3. The defections have stayed at about 50.000 annually for
over a decade.

There have been some small changes in the past biennium
which could become significant trends in reaching and winn-
ing those outside the church. These changes are related to the
14” increase in adults gained by Baptism or confirmation. One
change is that more congregations are involved in winning
more and some are gaining larger numbers:

raTy ius
Number of congregations gained 0 adults 1.680 1,470

Percentage of total congregations ............. 27 24
Number of congregations which

gained ladult...............600000000 0.00. 6383 680
Percentage of total congregations ............. 11 11
Congregations which gained 30 or more....... 42 85

Another small change is in how many it takes to gain one
adult from the outside. Using the total communicant member-
ship of the Synod (2,045,708) compared to the number of adults
gained by Baptism or confirmation (30,838), one can sav that
in 1981 it took 66 communicant members to win one of those
adults. Using the same method with the total gained by adult
baptism or confirmation, reinstatement. and non-Lutheran
juniors confirmed (43.576). it figures out to 47 to win one. That