LCMS Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 1989, Page 63

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sage is for everyone, not just ourselves, and especially for

is the world in which three out of four of our five billion people
” do not know Jesus Christ or the mighty acts of our good

and gracious God—it is a world that begins in our own
~ communities, includes our entire nation, and extends be-
: yond our own borders into every nation on planet Earth.
What a glorious theme for our 57th regular convention,
- and for our entire church body! It’s responsive! It’s cele-
prational! It points to our mission, focuses on our message,
and reminds us that God has sent us into all the world.
What a fitting theme for the work that we do at local,
District, national, and international levels! What a clear
’ focus it provides for every action we take at our coming
convention!

The conventions of our church body, as you know, play
avery important role in our mission and ministry of telling
everyone what He‘has done. If a convention is to be truly
effective, its delegates, leaders, and committees need to
understand its primary functions. Our Bylaws state that
very well:

The national convention of the Synod shall afford an op-
portunity for worship, nurture, inspiration, fellowship, and the
communication of vital information. It is the principal legis-
lative assembly, which amends the Constitution and Bylaws,
considers and takes action on reports and overtures, and han-
dles appropriate appeals. It establishes general synodical po-
sitions and policies, provides overall program direction and
priorities, and evaluates all such positions, programs, policies,
directions, and priorities in order to provide responsible service
for and in behalf of its members. Only a national convention
of the Synod shall authorize affiliation or association of the
Synod with other church bodies, synods, or federations, and

the discontinuance of such affiliation or association (Bylaw
3.01).

The primary role of floor committees, simply stated, is
to assist the convention in taking actions that help our
entire Synod, and every individual congregation, to tell
everyone what God has done, and to do so in the most
effective way possible. To do that, we need to use our con-
vention time wisely and well.

A convention does that when it devotes the major por-
tion of its time to major issues and opportunities. As com-
mittees review the reports and overtures submitted to
them, one important goal is to identify the priority items
needing convention attention or action. If previous con-
ventions have already dealt with items in a satisfactory
manner, or if various tasks can be handled more effectively
by boards, commissions, or other agencies of the Synod
rather than by the convention itself, committees should
not hesitate to recommend the usage of resolutions A or
B, for by so doing, they can help the convention spend its
time on more pressing issues.

Although a major task of the convention is to respond
to overtures, it is important to understand that the reports
of our elected and appointed boards, commissions, and of-
ficers also merit careful attention. There are 101 reports
and 583 overtures before the convention; 352 overtures
were submitted by 183, or 3.1 percent, of our congrega-
tions, and the remaining 231 overtures came from Dis-
tricts, boards, faculties, and Circuit forums. It is essential
that floor committees be not merely reactors to overtures,
but informed and representative churchmen who address
“big picture” questions, whether they are in overtures or

REPORT OF THE PRESIDENT 63

not. This is another way of saying that with the limited
time conventions have available to them, they must give
primary attention and emphasis to the major opportuni-
ties, problems, and challenges facing the Synod as we seek
to tell everyone what God has done.

It should also be noted that a synodical convention is
not only our principal legislative assembly, but that it also
exists to provide “an opportunity for worship, nurture, in-
spiration, fellowship, and the communication of vital in-
formation” (Bylaw 3.01). In these words, our Bylaws
remind us that the passing of resolutions is not the only
way for a convention to exercise leadership.

For example, floor committees can assist the conven-
tion, and indeed the entire Synod, to learn more about the
wonderful things God is doing through our beloved Synod,
and to have a deepened sense of involvement in and
thanksgiving for such ministries. To that end, the conven-
tion provides a number of informational and inspirational
opportunities.

Committees are therefore encouraged to use the con-
vention floor time allocated to them not only to present
resolutions, but also to assist the convention in achieving
all of its objectives. To that end, committee members
should know that we will be utilizing a state-of-the-art
electronic response system in Wichita for elections, voting
on resolutions, and gathering data to assist boards, com-
mittees, and congregations. Not only will this system save
several valuable hours of convention time, but it will assist
us to conduct convention business with maximum fairness
and impartiality. To the extent that time permits, com-
mittees may choose to use this simple and efficient system
to gather data that will assist the Synod in various ways.
Moreover, the random seating of convention delegates re-
quested by the last convention will again enable us to uti-
lize small-group discussions as part of the convention
process. Combined with the electronic response system, we
have the capability of involving every delegate in the dis-
cussion of major issues or questions, and of learning del-
egate preferences in ways other than voting on resolutions.
Used sparingly and effectively, this process can also help
the convention achieve its overall objectives in a fair, par-
ticipatory, and democratic way.

But what I’ve been describing about the convention pro-
cess, important as it is, does not begin to capture the sig-
nificance of this convention for the future direction of The
Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod. As we prepare to enter
the last decade of the 20th century, we are poised like a
runner at the starting blocks, about to begin a race. Tre-
mendous opportunity and challenge awaits us, not only to
help one another to provide better, livelier, and stronger
congregations, but to link our congregations to each other
in new ways in reaching out to our communities and to all
the world as we tell everyone what God has done. After
many years of struggle and conflict in the "70s, the Lord
of the church has blessed our efforts in the ’80s to achieve
a measure of healing, as well as an improved confessional
and organizational stability. For the last five years, the
leadership of the Synod and its Districts has worked very
hard to listen to the needs and desires of our people
through surveys, focused interviews, and various other lis-
tening techniques. Many of those efforts were reflected in