LCMS Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 1986, Page 77

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I

REPORT OF THE PRESIDENT 77

as war and famine; inhumanity and injustice; fear; oppres-
sion; and bloodshed, including the blood of even our unborn
children—how tragic it is that three out of every four peo-
ple exist without faith in Jesus Christ and the forgiveness
of sins, life, salvation, and eternal hope that He brings!
You and I and the churches we represent can do much to
change that! Our evangelistic task has never been greater!

But that task, in turn, entails our strong and clear
confession of Jesus Christ and His precious Gospel, in all
its fullness, its comfort, and its power. No other Gospel
offers genuine hope for the world. The Gospel of Jesus
Christ, let it be emphasized, is not good advice, but Good
News! For His Gospel tells of what He has already done,
graciously and freely, for all—of His life, death, and res-
urrection as our Substitute—and it promises life and hope,
eternal and full, to all who believe in His name. To us, His
church, His faithful community of both memory and hope,
He gives the task of confessing Him to each other and to
the nations, proclaiming by word and deed what He has
done and what He will do for our salvation. And He prom-
ises to build His church by His Holy Spirit and through
our confession!

To guide and direct our confession, He has given us the
Holy Scriptures as the very Word of God. And as faithful
and true expositions of the Scriptures, the ecumenical
creeds and Lutheran confessional writings of the 16th cen-
tury continue to be our creeds and confessions as we con-
fess and evangelize today.

With them, Lutherans today “believe, teach, and con-
fess” the Gospel in all its fullness, and with them, Lu-
therans today reject every falsification of that Gospel. Such
confessionalism, as that acceptance and use of the Scrip-
tures and Confessions is sometimes called, is not legalistic
and authoritarian, as some assert, but rather evangelical
and liberating—for it stands in the service of Christ and
His Gospel, and assists the church in its essential mission
of bringing Christ to the nations, hope to the world.

In early November of this year, The Lutheran Church—
Missouri Synod will be one of more than 20 Lutheran
church bodies from all over the world represented at the
11th meeting of the International Lutheran Conference in
Obot Idim, Nigeria. There we will consider how our
churches can be more faithful and effective in carrying out
the confessional and evangelistic task the Lord has given
us. We in The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod are ea-
ger to continue to participate in discussions and activities
of that kind with all other Lutherans, and indeed with
other Christians, whenever and wherever possible. We
have much to learn from the Word of God, and from each
other.

We have therefore appreciated the hospitality and
friendship of this assembly, even as we have enjoyed our
contacts with Dr. Carl Mau and his fine staff over the
years, including visits at our invitation by Dr. Yoshiro Ish-
ida to meetings of our Council of Presidents and our Com-
mission on Theology and Church Relations this past
February. We look forward to continuing and expanding
such contacts in the future, for we want to know you as
you really are, and we want to be known by you as we
really are, rather than on the basis of images sometimes
formed by misinformation and even caricature.

As you now continue your deliberations on important
issues, and especially as we all return to our homes and
churches throughout the world, it is my prayer that God
will bless all of us with a rich measure of His Holy Spirit,
so that our faithful witness to Jesus Christ will indeed
bring eternal hope to the world!

Thank you very much.

Ralph A. Bohlmann
August 2, 1984

Appendix B

Office of Government Information
Summary of Activities

Since April 1985, the Office of Government Information
(OGI) has been developing a presence in Washington, D.C.,
through introductory meetings and the development of on-
going relationships with governmental, Congressional,
and organizational resources. During this period, the con-
sultant to the Office of Government Information has also
developed a working relationship with the President and
other key synodical staff concerned about certain govern-
mental policies and other issues. Through monthly reports
and other correspondence to Dr. Bohimann, preparation
of reports and articles for other staffs’ use, and reports to
the Board of Directors, the activities of the Office of Gov-
ernment Information have been shared on a regular basis.
This report provides an opportunity to summarize some of
the major activities of the Office of Government Infor-
mation.

Contacts with Governmental Sources. Through meet-
ings with the Office of Public Liaison at the White House,
The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod and the new OGI
effort are much better known to the White House. Dr. Bohl-
mann, Dr. Jean Garton, and I met with Mr. J. Douglas
Holladay, assistant for liaison with religious groups. Since
that time, LCMS representatives participated in a White
House briefing on refugee concerns, and a White House
briefing on the president’s tax reform proposals for fami-
lies. President Bohlmann was one of 18 national religious
leaders invited to a luncheon meeting with President Rea-
gan and other members of the administration in prepa-
ration for the Geneva summit meeting. We met also with
Attorney General Edwin Meese (a Lutheran layman) and
have been kept informed of activities in the Department
of Justice on pornography and other social issues. The
LCMS was one of the church bodies invited by the State
Department to participate in a two-day conference on re-
ligious liberty issues held in April 1985. Dr. Bohimann and
I have met with Senator Paul Simon (an LCMS layman)
and further discussions with him on his various human
care efforts, as well as his current stance on abortion, are
planned. There are three other LCMS members of Con-
gress: Rep. William Dannemeyer (R-CA), Rep. Dave
McCurdy (D-OK), and Rep. Gene Snyder (R-KY). All are
aware of the existence of OGI, but on-going contacts have
not yet been established. Contacts with various Congres-
sional committees, including the Senate Labor and Human
Resource Committee and the House Select Committee on