LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 1983, Page 20

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20 MISSIONS, EVANGELISM, AND SOCIAL MINISTRY

to Jewish missions as to their effectiveness and doctrinal
correctness, and make this information available to the Board
for Evangelism Services.

2. Develop materials (tracts. Bible studies. etc.) for use in
congregations.

3. Assist Districts and congregations in conducting work-
shops on Jewish-Lutheran concerns.

4. Develop a library of Jewish evangelism missiology, to be
housed at svnodical headquarters.

5. Generate occasional articles on Jewish evangelism for
synodical publications.

6. Maintain a list of LCMS pastors who have a special
interest in Jewish evangelism and make this list available to
District Presidents once per year; maintain a list of Lutheran
laymen who have interest and aptitude for Jewish evangelism.

7. Mantain liaison with other Lutheran agencies which are
doing Jewish mission work, e.g.. Good News for Israel and the
Lutheran Institute for Jewish Evangelism.

8. When appropriate, utilize other Christian Jewish evan-
gelism agencies as resource helps.

9. Promptly refer requests from the Jewish community for
dialog tothe CTCR. as instructed by Res. 1-30(St.. Louis. 1979).

10. Develop other programs which will help our people to
bring the Gospel to Jewish people.

11. Study the causes of the increase of anti-Semitism. make
our congregations aware of the problem. and seek to provide
materials to counteract it.

Among the publications released or in the process of being
developed are:

—A Seder Communion Service

—A filmstrip on Jesus in the Passover

—A revision of the filmstrip “Bill Brought Them” for
children dealing with anti-Semitism and witnessing.

—Teaching cassette tapes on Jewish evangelism

—Bible study and meditations for Sukkoth

—Lenten series of the Bible studies on Jewish concerns

Articles which were developed and accepted for publication
include:

—"The Land and State of Israel in Prophecy and
Fulfillment. ‘written by Prof. John R. Wilch (Concordia
Seminary, St. Catharines). published in the Cuncordia
Journal, September 1982. and “Luther's Seven Point
Program,” scheduled for publication in the Lutheran
Witness.

—aAn article by Rev. John Perling. pastor of Mt.
Calvary Lutheran Church, Beverly Hills, Calif., on how
Luther's anti-Semitic statements affect his ministry to
Jewish people. published in The Lutheran Witness.

A special concern of the Task Force on Witnessing toJewish
People is the increased publicity given to “Luther's Seven Point
Program” for the Jews which he outlined in his book On the
Jews and Their Lies, and the increased references to Luther's
statements by the Jewish community. An example is Prof.
Arnold Ages’ statement relative to Luther's 500th anniversary
published in The Jewish Post and Opinion, a national weekly
tabloid (Feb. 9, 1983). He called Luther the 16th century's most
diabolical anti-Semite. “There is no doubt.” he wrote, “that
Martin Luther was the first and among the most powerful of
the anti-Semitic pollutants that poisoned German society. The
toxic elements introduced by Luther took on a special potency
in 1933. For these reasons, Jews will decline. respectfully, to
honor Martin Luther, during this his500th anniversary year.”

Two ofthe District conventionsofthe Synod dealt with Luther's
statements because resolutions had been submitted on the
subject by congregations. The South Wisconsin District re-
ferred the matter to the CTCR for study. The Florida-Georgia
District disavowed the statements by Luther and referred the
matter to this convention, asking it to do the same.

The Board for Evangelism Services has been asked by the
task force to adopt a statement presented to it as a working
policy and one which could be used in workshops and by
congregations when confronted with the question. The board
has deferred action until the CTCR finishes its study of how to

deal with the question. and until this convention deals with the
issue through the overtures submitted on the subject.

The board sees Luther's statement as part of the problem of
anti-Semitism. The last convention (Res. 1-13A) instructed the
task force “to expand its work and to prayerfully study new
avenues for defusing the new increasing anti-Semitism in our
land and in the world.” The task force has been exploring with
the Board for Parish Services the publication of an adult study
guide on the subject.

10. Ongoing Ambassadors for Christ

On May 22. 1981. the Board of Directors of the Synod
yranted to the organization known as Ongoing Ambassadors
for Christ the status of a Listed Service Organization, described
in Bylaw 17.03 (since changed to 13.03), designating the Board
for Evangelism Services as the “board to handle all communi-
cation between the OAFC and theSynod." TheOAFC regularly
submits reports to the Board for Evangelism Services and
annually submits an audited financial statement.

Ongoing Ambassadors for Christ is a youth evangelistic
movement. It began in 1970 with 24 people and since has
trained thousands of youth and adults in witnessing for their
Savior and their church. Ongoing Ambassadors for Christ
uses six ways to share faith: singing. drama. door-to-door
witnessing. small-group Bible studies, puppets, and testi-
monials. They also have developed 10 witnessing methods. As
it works in the local parish it discovers prospects, strengthens
youth in faith, and helps to motivate them for professional
church work as well as for being lay leaders.

OAFC challenges vouth to develop and use their witnessing
skills daily in life and monthly in OAFC weekends. They also
havea week of intensified summer training, summer traveling
teams, college-age couples teams that spend a summer in a
congregation, college-age teams that spend a semester or two
starting and strengthening OAFC programs.

Jesus is their hero and the only way to heaven. Recently
progress has been made on how to stop the confirmation
dropout and turn negative peer pressure into positive.

For information write Rev. Fred C. Darkow, 1302 E. Seventh
St.. Winfield, Kans. 67156. Telephone: 316 2216473.

11. Other Activities of the Board for Evangelism Ser-
vices
a. The Board for Evangelism Services continues to work
with Concordia Publishing House in the development of a
series of books on evangelism, which were recommended in a
consultation which was held in August of 1980. The two basic
books are:

A Theology for Evangelism, by Dr. Robert Kolb
A History of Evangelism, by Dr. Milton Rudnick

Four other small volumes on practical subjects are in the
process of being written and edited. Subjects to be covered are
backdoor losses, motivation, various evangelism methods,
church growth.

b. The Executive Secretary of the Board for Evangelism
Services, Dr. Erwin J. Kolb. serves as liaison between the
Board of Directors of the Synod and the Portals of Prayer
Telephone Ministry. an independent organization which oper-
ates a telephone ministry in the St. Louis area. About 65
trained volunteers handle an average of 200 calls a month.

c. The Associate Secretary of Evangelism, Rev. W. Leroy
Biesenthal, works with the Lutheran Laymen’s League in their
Lutheran Hour Rallies which feature the “Added Dimension”
of evangelism training and calling.

d. The Executive Secretary. Dr. Erwin J. Kolb. serves on the
Evangelism Subcommittee of the Coordinating Committee for
Cooperative Projects in Congregational Life. made up of the
evangelism executives of the four church bodies compnising
the CCCPCL, the Lutheran Churchin America. The American
Lutheran Church. The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod.
and the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Canada.

e. The board sponsored a Pre-Lenten Retreat for pastors
and their wives inJanuary of 1982 at Yahara Center, Madison,
Wis., and at Scottsdale, Ariz. Speakers at the retreats were the
Rev. Richard Kapfer, Ames, Iowa. and Prof. Dale Mever. St.