LCMS Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 1992, Page 64

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64 , REPORT OF THE PRESIDENT

to reach the lost with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Within
those parameters, each leadership position requires the
very best in terms of understanding, experience, the ability
to work with others in a collegial fashion, and the capacity
to make a difference in addressing needs and opportunities
in our ever-changing and difficult world. What the Synod
emphatically does not need is people in leadership posi-
tions with close ties to special interest groups and publi-
cations which undermine the trust and confidence of our
life together through the use of untruthful, malicious, and
irresponsible attacks on fellow members of the Synod. Ex-
perience demonstrates that it is extremely difficult for such
persons to exercise the kind of leadership the Synod needs
and deserves. No matter how lofty our resolutions may
sound, their effect will be minimal if those elected to im-

plement them are linked to groups with their own agendas. '

In addition to good evangelical leaders who represent
all of the people of this church and who have a strong vision
for the future that honors the past and engages us in the
present, we also need strong leadership directions and ac-
tions. To that end, I challenge you, the floor committees
of the convention, to develop proposals for convention ac-
tion and congregational implementation that are not only
faithful to Holy Scripture, but—precisely because they are
faithful—actions which challenge and assist every congre-
gation in every District, in every part of this Synod, to-be
bold in telling everyone what HE has done. And once you
have adopted proposals for action, I challenge you—ail of
you—to exercise leadership among other delegates and on
the floor of the convention for the course of action you
recommend.

Visions, Goals, and Priorities

Given the need for the convention to choose evangelical
leaders and to receive wise and strong leadership from you
who serve on floor committees, which areas, you may ask,

should receive the primary attention in our life and work ©

together, and therefore in the coming convention? With so
many overtures and reports filling so many pages on so
many issues, what, practically speaking, does leadership

mean? I believe that committees (and the convention, too) -

can be helped greatly by building upon the visions, goals,
and priorities of our past convention and the implemen-
tation of its policies and resolutions since that time. These
are summarized in Part I of my report (please turn now
to pages 5-10 in the Convention’ Workbook for this
summary). .

As requested by our last convention as a result of many
years of listening to our people and reflecting on their de-
sires and needs as they seek to carry out our Lord’s Great
Commission, four concepts have emerged as the key com-
ponents of our synodical vision and have guided the work
of the Synod during these years. We have deliberately fo-
cused on being Gospel-based in all we do, in becoming in-
creasingly a mission-driven Synod, in understanding our
life together as one in which the congregation is at the
center and all other components serve it and assist it, and
by being people-oriented in every dimension of our work,
rather than thinking of ourselves primarily in institutional
or organizational terms. I challenge you and all convention
delegates to keep those four components alive in your

thinking and resolving and encouraging our Synod to be
everything we can be, and to do everything we can do under
the blessing of our good and gracious Lord.

Three years ago, we asked the convention to respond to
two questions:

1. What would the LCMS be like in 1995 if the Synod
as a whole, and each of its congregations, would carry
out the Great Commission as faithfully and effec-
tively, as we can? .

2. What steps do we need'to take now and during the
next triennium to help that to happen?

Let’s ask those same questions in our work this week-

” end go that the convention as a whole can ask them, too,

as we decide together what our Synod needs to do in order
to faithfully and boldly tell everyone what HE has done.
During the past three years, our boards and other com-
ponents of the Synod have tried to flesh out the responses
of our Synod to these questions and to develop goals and
action steps that reflect the highest priorities in our life
together. The 10 top priorities that emerge from this pro-
cess as we plan for the future are the following: spiritual
growth, witness and outreach, pastoral ministry, inter-
Christian relationships, women’s service in the church, new
family initiatives, strenthening higher education, funding
the mission, organizational effectiveness, and peace in the
church. As you review these broad areas, please pay at-
tention to the two or three goal statements that follow each
heading. Note, also, the commentary that follows, for in
each priority area you will read summary remarks that
remind us of the progress we have made, and how far we
still have to go to reach the goals that we have set for
ourselves as we have listened to the word of God and its
direction for our mission in these last years of the century.

Let’s take a moment to do that now.

Spiritual Growth. What can we do as floor commit-
tees, and subsequently as a convention, to help the Gospel
and Sacraments be and remain central in the life and work
of every dimension of our life together? For it is the Gospel
that is the power of God unto salvation, and not only unto
salvation, but for all good works and efforts that we do in
our Savior’s name. Church attendance, Communion atten-
dance, the study of God’s word—all of this is fundamental,
basic, the one thing needful in our life and work together.

Witness and Outreach. Part of the assignment of ev-
ery committee at the convention is to review the Mission
Blueprint for the Nineties, printed, in surnmary form, at
the back of the Convention Workbook. Although committee

. L has the primary responsibility of helping us apply the

goals of the blueprint to our congregational life in its res-
olutions, every committee should ask much the same ques-
tion, namely, what do the goals established in this mission ©
blueprint mean for the area of work addressed by our
committee?

Pastoral Ministry. How can our convention actions
support and undergird the work of the pastoral ministry
in our midst, beginning with recruitment, continuing
through seminary education, and thereafter in the contin-
ued growth and support of our professional church workers
whose effectiveness in ministry is absolutely critical to our
mission?