LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 1983, Page 304

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304 OTHER REPORTS

puzzles, bulletin inserts, and program guides; the 1982 edition
of the quinquennial “Lutheran Church Directory for the
United States”; and issues of the standing periodicals Inter-
change, LIRS Bulletin, LIRS Bulletin Board, SPC, SPC
Journal, Focus on Governmental Affairs, Lutherans in Step.
Volunteer, and LC People. A special four-issue periodical,
Jubilee, is focusing on all aspects of Luther’s 500th birthday
celebration.

The many events, meetings. and personalities covered by
the OCI News Bureau during the past two years dealt with
subjects such as in-vitro fertilization, Polish refugees arriving
in the United States, the root causes of social and economic
injustice, parental kidnapping, Lutheran-Baptist dialogue,
Christian-Jewish relations, the forced deportation from the
United States of Salvadoran refugees, Lutheran unity talks,
independence for Namibia, the shape of Lutheran social
ministry in the years ahead, the rights of mentally retarded
persons, and ‘“‘dorm blitzing” on campuses.

Each year OCI arranges an average of 300 radio, television,
cable, and press interviews with Lutheran newsmakers. One
with many placements the past two years has been Coor-
dinator Marv Solberg of the Central American Concerns
Program of the LCUSA Department of Immigration and
Refugee Services. She needed to present the church's concerns
regarding E] Salvador as quickly as possible to as many as
possible because of the emergency nature of the cause and the
limited resources she has to accomplish her work.

Office for Governmental Affairs

The Lutheran Council joined the National Council of
Churches, U.S. Catholic Conference. Svnagogue Council of
America, National Association of Evangelicals, and Southern
Baptist Convention to sponsor in February 1981 in Washing-
ton, D.C., a conference on government intervention in religious
affairs. Archbishop John I.. May of Saint Louis, chairman of
the Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Church and State. indi-
cated that Lutherans deserved the major share of credit for the
gathering of 350 delegates representing 90 percent of the
nation’s religious bodies.

As reported by the Christian Science Monitor. the basic
message of the conference was “that what diminishes the
freedom of one diminishes the freedom of all, that all religions
havea common interest in ensuring the rights of each religion.
that they ought to keep in touch to understand and resist the
pressures on religious liberty.” The report indicated “that
government is narrowing the definition of religious liberty ....
It is not a simple situation. Often more can be achieved in
protecting religion through thoughtful case-by-case progress
than through confrontation on the whole matter of religious
liberty. If such progress is spurred by the recent conference. the
hikelihood of confrontation ought to be reduced.”

Monitoring the impact on the poor and powerless of the
Reagan administration's budget proposals for the 1983 and
now the 1984 federal fiscal vears has been the focus of special
advocacy efforts by OGA. Other timely issues to which the
office has given attention include tax deductions for charitable
contributions, tax-exempt status of organizations which in fact
have a policy or practice of racial discrimination. prayer in
public school classrooms, extension of the Voting Rights Act.
hunger, arms control, immigration reform, and freedom for
Namibia.

A monthly breakfast is one of the ways OGA makes
“ministry contacts” with federal employees. One recent break-
fast speaker was Rep. Tom Lantos of California, who described
the special Swedish passports issued by Raoul Wallenberg to
Hungarian Jews facing extermination by the Nazis during
World War II. Lantos. one of those saved by Wallenberg’s
heroic intervention, shepherded through Congress a bill mak-
ing the Swedish Lutheran an honorary U-S. citizen—only the
second in recent history. The first was Winston Churchill.

Division of Campus Ministry and Educational Services

The vear 1982 was a time of celebration and remembrance
for the division. Seventy-five vears ago. on July 5, 1907, the
first full-time campus ministry was begun at the University of
Wisconsin by a new seminary graduate, Howard R. Gold, and
60 years ago on May 9—11, 1922. in Toledo, Ohio. 39 students

from 26 campuses organized the Lutheran Student Association
of America, now the Lutheran Student Movement.

In 1907, 200.000 students were enrolled in U.S. colleges and
universities. Today the number is 12 million. including 300.000
international students who offer a ministry dynamic akin to
world mission responsibility. The earliest work was located
almost exclusively on residential campuses. The advent of
community colleges and those serving large commuter student
populations has meant assigning staff members to multiple
campuses. However, the basics of campus ministry have
remained largely unchanged. with the staffleading in worship.
teaching courses in theology. conducting Bible studies. pro-
viding pastoral care. organizing opportunities for service
involvement in the community, holding retreats, identifying
and developing student leaders, and cooperating with ecu-
menical partners in professing the Gospel in campus settings.

For the first time Catholic Campus Ministry shared with
the division in sponsoring the 1981 continuing education
conference for all full-time Lutheran campus ministers. A
group of 161 Lutherans and 41 Catholics shared perspectives
on “Our Ministry in Higher Education” and examining “our
growing convergence in theology and practice.’ The next
summer's conference saw total attendance of 240. It had an
international emphasis, “Hope for the World Community.”

Campus ministers are regularly offered summer seminars.
regional conferences, and “‘over-the-shoulder” and “‘visit-to-
Valpo” programs by the Center for the Study of Campus
Ministry at Valparaiso University in Indiana. The center
receives staff services from the division.

After three vears of activity, a divisional “working group”
concerned with how to increase in quality and quantity the
community college ministry of Lutheran congregations
throughout thecountry completed its assignment in September
1981 by issuing a book, Ministry with the Community College:
A Lutheran Perspective. “A Guide for Host Families of Inter-
national Students” is one of the projects of the world com-
munity “working group,” as is sponsorship this summer of a
trip by 20 students to Zimbabwe. The students will exchange
their skills and ideas with the residents of a 650-acre agri-
cultural community called “Oasis Farm.” A third “working
group.” concerned with faith and science. has held a series of
five regional conferences on the subject.

Support services provided by the division to the inde-
pendent LSM have included arranging its 12th national
assembly in August 1981 in Colorado Springs and its 13th in
August 1982 in Edinboro, Pa. Both attracted approximately
400 students, record numbers for the movement. Holding
leadership development workshops is current LSM priority.
Jean McCreery, an LCMS student at Auburn University in
Alabama, is the movement's president for 1982—83.

Cessation of LCMS support for the division’s Campus
Ministry Communications program by vote of the last synodi-
cal convention took effect July 1, 1982. CMC began in 1969 and
has published everything from calendars and Bible studies to
postcards and resource packets. It has become an ALC-LCA-
AELC endeavor under National Lutheran Campus Ministry,
which is administered by the division.

DCMES support services to Lutheran colleges and uni-
versities have centered on continuing to be the “eves and ears”’
of Lutheran higher education in Washington, D.C., especially
monitoring legislation regarding tuition tax credits and fed-
eral education budget cuts; preparing a ‘Legal Deskbook for
Administrators of Independent Colleges and Universities”’:
planning and directing the annual meetings of the Lutheran
Educational Conference of North America, publishing the
“Papers and Proceedings” resulting from these meetings, and
staffing LECNA’s curriculum consultation project, its history
project, and its public policy advisory committee; and coordi-
nating the annual series of Lutheran College Nights held in 35
centers throughout the nation to provide recruitment oppor-
tunities for Lutheran college admissions offices and highlight
the scope and quality of Lutheran higher education.

Support services in theological education have centered on
arranging annual conferences of Lutheran seminary presi-
dents and deans and of directors of field education-internship
and coordinating in 60 clusters approximately 550 interns and
their supervisors for discussion and educational programs
related to parish ministry.