LCMS Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 1992, Page 65

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Inter-Christian Relationships. How can our contacts
with other Christians help or hinder our task of bringing
the Gospel to the nations? And how can we develop and
aggressively expand our confessional efforts and contacts
worldwide in ways that are completely faithful to our scrip-
tural and confessional principles? Let me emphasize at this
point that the doctrinal faithfulness of our entire church
body is an absolute given in everything we do or say at the
convention, including the important area of church rela-
tionships. Committee 3 will be wrestling with this area,
and many other sensitive doctrinal questions, including
Women’s Service in the Church. Note the comment,

which needs to be underscored again and again: “The dif- .

ficult and sensitive questions in this area will not disap-
pear either through silence or through shrill debate.
Increasingly, we are called on to recognize what it means
to be a church of sola scriptura in this and every other
area, faithfully accepting and following everything the
Scriptures teach, but at the same time recognizing that
when Scripture is silent we must recognize and tolerate
differences of opinion within our fellowship.” This means
retaining our solid confessional position against the ordi-
nation of women to the pastoral office, while at the same
time inviting and encouraging women, as part of the uni-
versal priesthood of all believers, to share the gifts God
has given them to edify the entire body of Christ.

New Family Initiatives are needed throughout the
Synod. All committees are challenged to keep families and
their needs uppermost in their thinking as they formulate
resolutions and proposals to strengthen the ministry of
congregations in this vital area. |

Strengthening Higher Education is a major goal of
the Synod, not only because of the difficulties posed for, all
of our institutions of higher learning in a time of economic
difficulty and a declining student population, but also be-
cause these excellent institutions prepare our pastors,
teachers, and other professional church workers, and they
equip our laity for a wide variety of vocations in service to
our Lord. Committee 6 has an important challenge as it
reviews proposals for a new university system, as well as
a number of other considerations affecting the future of
our educational institutions.

Funding the Mission remains an absolutely critical
dimension of our work together, not only to increase the
revenue available to us at every level—can’t we begin to
do something about the 20/80 ratio in our parishes?—but
also to enable us to send more missionaries and to support
our colleges, universities, and seminaries the way we want
to. The exciting Expanding the Circle effort will receive
serious attention, particularly by committee 4, as it weighs
the results of pilot projects throughout the Synod to Bee
whether free-choice funding options really assist God’s peo-
ple in carrying out their mission. This committee, too, will
have an opportunity to help the Synod respond to some of
the questions and concerns about the Synod’s fiscal
management.

Organizational Effectiveness will receive consider-
able attention in this convention, too, as proposals to “fine-
tune” and streamline our organizational structure will be
considered. We all need to ask how we can structure our
life and work together in the most effective and efficient

REPORT OF THE PRESIDENT 65

ways, retaining our traditional and cherished represen-
tative principle, avoiding centralization in any one office
or board, but understanding that integrative efforts are
extremely important for our life together, too. Working
together more effectively to maintain and strengthen our
solidarity and wholeness in confession and mission has
nothing to do with centralization, control, or authority, as
some mistakenly suggest. But it has everything to do with
carrying out the Lord’s mission in the best possible
manner.

- Human Care concerns, too, are very strong in the life
and work of our church. Even though no special topic is
devoted to this area, it is a given of the Christian life and
the people-oriented dimension of our synodical vision that
we will respond generously to human need wherever we
find it, and committee 7 will have a special responsibility
ito help us do just that.

Peace in the Church is a matter ‘of vital importance
for the mission of the church. The Synod will depend on
‘the leadership of this convention to help it resolve some of
the most serious internal issues the Synod has faced in
many years. Among the proposals that the leadership of
'the Synod strongly endorses is the recommendation for a
‘new approach to conflict resolution among us, emanating
‘from a special task force appointed two years ago to con-
sider that issue. Beyond those proposals, we must also
recognize a number of special problems that need our
prayers, deliberation, and churchmanship. These include
a review of the cases involving Dr. Robert Preus, former
president of the Fort Wayne seminary, as well as the cur-
rent impasse between the Board of Regents of the Fort
‘Wayne seminary and the Commission on Appeals. There
is a woeful lack of factual information on these cases in
the Synod, caused in part by the understandable Bylaw
restriction on the publicity of issues while cases are in
appeal, but compounded by the misinformation and poor
judgments expressed in unofficial publications and in var-
ious rallies and “rumor mills” throughout the Synod. As
soon as it is possible to do so, the Vice-Presidents and I
intend to give a full report to the Synod on these cases (if
possible, such reports will be included as appendices to my
convention report).

A special committee consisting of the elected officers of
‘the Synod’s two highest entities, the Board of Directors
and the Council of Presidents, has been appointed to help
us resolve the present impasse between the Board of Re-
gents and the Commission on Appeals. The Special Com-
mittee has urged the two groups to meet as soon as
-possible, an action supported by the Board of Directors
earlier this week. Somewhat related to this issue is the
need for the Synod to clearly answer a number of questions
that have been raised about the authority and procedure
of the Synod’s Commission on Appeals, as well as totally
unfounded allegations that the president of the Synod has

_ inappropriately involved himself in the adjudicatory pro-

cesses of the Synod (note my comments on page 9 and my
recommendations on page 10 of the Convention Workbook).
Please note that this Special Committee is also constituted
‘as a convention floor committee and may bring a report
and recommendation directly to the convention.
Because peace in the church is so fundamental, not only