LCMS Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 1989, Page 60

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60 REPORT OF THE PRESIDENT

ticularly when we consider that of the 5.1 billion people
now living on this earth, only 1.4 billion can be identified
as Christians. If we are to remain strong in our own confes-
sion of the faith and our service to the Lord, while evan-
gelizing the world, synodical congregations need to make
our own spiritual growth and nurture our highest priority.

Throughout the past triennium, I have used four words
to depict the major emphases or foci of our life and work
together: doctrine, growth, relationships, and ministry (see
the October 1988 Lutheran Witness where these emphases
are described in an article entitled “Reach for the Future”).
But I have always tried to make it very clear that the top
priority for the Synod, and basic to all other efforts and
emphases, is our spiritual growth in relationship to our
Lord Jesus Christ engendered through the Word and Sac-
raments. I am therefore delighted that a number of special
projects in this area have been developed, including Bible
class and Sunday School materials, to help us put first
things first as we move ahead with our various efforts.

Congregational ministries. For both theological and or-
ganizational reasons, the Synod has emphasized from its
very beginning that congregations are at the center of our
life and work. The synodical structure at both the national
and District levels is a creature of the congregations and
exists in order to provide support services for congrega-
tions or to carry out work on behalf of congregations. Syn-
odical programs and activities are not an end in
themselves, but are carried out in order to enhance and
support the mission and ministry of God’s people in their
congregations and through the congregations to all the
world.

During the past triennium these accents have received
renewed emphasis and clarity, chiefly through activities
and studies carried out under the supervision of the Plan-
ning Council. Our church body is one of the few major
denominations that has given such strong attention to un-
derstanding and meeting the needs of congregations in our
changing society. The 1989 Planning Conference and
Council endorsed efforts to develop a common vision of our
life and work together as we carry out the Great Com-
mission of our Lord and encouraged the development of
new ways of relating to each other as we share resources
and tools for congregational ministry and other dimensions
of our mission together. The Planning Council report to
the convention, supplemented by subsequent materials
and reports, will receive special emphasis at the conven-
tion because it offers great promise for “recovenanting” our
life and work together in the Synod.

I am convinced that many of these new directions need
to be implemented immediately and strongly in order to
help our congregations remain active and involved in work-
ing together as the confessional, mission-minded church
body we want to be.

Mission zeal. The people of the Synod continue to make
it clear in countless ways that they want to be alive and
active in carrying out the Lord’s Great Commission to
make disciples of the nations. Nowhere was this in better
evidence than during the Great Commission Convocation
held in St. Louis in November 1988, when several thou-
sand people from all across the Synod celebrated, dis-
cussed, and learned new ways of being active in

evangelism, witness, and outreach.

Many congregations and pastors throughout the Synod
have developed new and exciting programs of reaching out
to their communities and to all the world. At the same
time, however, there are indications that we are not doing
all that we can, and that perhaps our traditional zeal for
mission outreach has diminished. To a large extent, this
appears to be related to the financial difficulties we ex-
perience in virtually every area of our life and work to-
gether, but other factors may also be involved. The
synodical administration continues to highlight mission
outreach as basic to everything we do, and to urge the
congregations of the Synod to make mission understand-
ing, inspiration, and activity one of their highest priorities.

Financial difficulties. Reported elsewhere in the con-
vention Workbook, as well as in our official periodicals from
time to time, the Synod’s financial affairs continue to de-
mand our close scrutiny and attention. In severa] impor-
tant areas, we are doing very well. Congregational receipts
for all purposes continue to climb, and are in fact among
the highest of major Protestant bodies in the United
States. Likewise, giving for several synodical programs,
such as planned giving and church extension programs,
continues to amaze us. Various capital appeals and other
causes continue to receive the generous support of many
of our people throughout the Synod.

However, money available for the operational needs of
the Synod at virtually all levels—congregational, District,
and national—continues to be less than we need to move
forward in meeting our many challenges and needs. On
the national level, this is most clearly seen in our inade-
quate support of colleges, seminaries, world missions, and
parish services. At the District level, it is evidenced by our
inadequate resources to undertake all of the new mission
and ministry starts that are available to us. Synodical lead-
ers therefore continue to give high priority to finding better
ways of allocating our resources, as well as the develop-
ment of spiritual resources that will help congregations
develop a stronger stewardship consciousness.

An unresolved problem. At the 1986 convention, an oral
resolution was made and seconded which called for the
censure of Affirm and another magazine. Because of legal
concerns identified by the synodical Board of Directors and
the Synod’s legal counsel, the resolution was not officially
presented to the convention for action (see “Minutes of the
Convention,” 1986 Proceedings, p. 33). For the same rea-
son, I later in the convention declined a request from the
lay delegate who had offered the resolution to make a state-
ment of apology which would be followed by a statement
from an Affirm editor.

In October 1986 Affirm magazine, in an article signed
by its editorial group, accused me of unethical conduct for
my handling of this matter at the convention. At my re-
quest, the editors met with me in January 1987 to discuss
their accusations. While acknowledging in retrospect that
the incident could have been handled in other ways, had
there been more time and opportunity to do so, I told the
editors, both orally and in an extensively documented writ-
ten report, that their article bears false witness against
me, and I asked for an appropriate correction.

An effort to develop a mutually acceptable statement to

CE NARS Sat onisae Se sc