LCMS Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 1992, Page 67

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REPORT OF THE PRESIDENT 67
Part III

I am delighted to welcome all of you, the delegates, ad-
visors, representatives, and friends of The Lutheran
Church—-Missouri Synod who are here to transact the
business of our beloved Synod in this 58th regular con-
vention. The Constitution of The Lutheran Church—Mis-
souri Synod requires the President to give an accurate
report to the Synod “at all sessions of the Synod.” In keep-
ing with that constitutional requirement, which is further
explicated in Bylaw 3.25, I call to your attention that I
have already provided you with two parts of that Presi-
dent’s report. Part I is in the Convention’ Workbook, pp! 1—
14, In that portion of the report, I called to your attention
some of the major areas of activity that have engaged the
President, the Vice-Presidents, and the different agencies,
boards, and committees touched by the Office of the Pres-
ident during the last three years. The second part of my
report is also before you in writing. It was shared at the
meeting of the convention floor committees held in St.
Louis on May 28 and is found in Today’s Business, pp. 19—
26. .

Since that time, the President has also prepared & sup-
plemental report entitled A Supplemental Report on the
Responsibilities of the Commission on Appeals, which will

be presented to you in writing in Today's Business. I don't
intend to spend any time talking about it at this point, but
it provides supplemental information on some of the state-
ments, concerns, and recommendations that appear in the
President’s Report, Part I.

There are many things in Parts I and II that I would
love to highlight for you, but there isn’t time for that. I
would like to, however, underscore what the pastoral office
of the President really entails. I quote from Article XI of
the Constitution, which states that the President has the
“supervision regarding the doctrine and administration”
of all officers of the Synod, all such as are employed by the
Synod, the individual Districts of the Synod, and all Dis-
trict Presidents. According to the Constitution, it’s the task
of the President, and I quote again, “to see to it that! all
the aforementioned act in accordance with the Synod’s con-

" stitution.” What power does the President have as he does
that? A lot of people ask questions about that from time
to time, and again the Constitution responds by saying he
shall have the power “to advise, admonish, and reprove.”
It says, “He shall conscientiously use all the means at{his
command to promote and maintain unity of doctrine and
practice in all the districts of the Synod” and “shall see to
it that the resolutions of the Synod are carried out.” Many
of you know those responsibilities are sketched out in
greater detail in.the Bylaws of the Synod. I simply want
you to understand as best you can (and I still stand in awe
of those words) that these important responsibilities] as-
signed to the person you call to be the President of our
church body have not just been put there in the last few
years, but have been a part of our way of life together since
the Constitution of the Synod was first adopted. There is
nothing in that Constitution or in those Bylaws that would
suggest for one moment that the Office of the President 18
authoritarian or dictatorial or hierarchical in its concept.
It simply is not, and its incumbents have understood that

t

very well. The responsibilities assigned to the office, and
its accountability, in many respects far exceed the actual

’ authority that the President exercises, if you define au-

thority in terms of decision.

Why am I underscoring this? Because I think it’s im-
portant for the Synod to understand that this office, which
humbles anyone who wears it, is really'a pastoral and
spiritual office. It’s a specialized ministry that you call your
servant to in this position. That’s true of the Vice-Presi-

_dents, as well. People, to be sure, are in a different rela-
tionship to the President of the Synod and of their own
Districts than they are to their own pastors, but I believe
we should see our synodical President also as a pastor; in
an office that’s exercised at the call of God’s people with
the blessing and guidance of the Spirit, and that he’s a
_pastor trying to serve the Synod on behalf of its member ~
congregations like all other pastors of the church. That
means that much of its authority and responsibility lie-in
the Word of God. That’s the ultimate authority that any
‘pastor has—an authority exercised by preaching and
teaching and directing our hearts and minds into the be-
_loved Word of God. . : :
_ Itsan authority exercised once in ‘a while by encour-
aging and holding up the arms of people, and once ina
' while by discipline and reminding and teaching about this
,or that course of action. I want to tell you again, today, as
I have in every convention, how humbled I have been to
Serve in this office, and how much in awe of it I am. I want
to thank you for the high honor and trust that you have
demonstrated again and again. I think I know better than ~
‘anyone, unless it would be perhaps my wife or my secre-
tary, or the people who work with me day, in and day out,
that I have not been perfect in the performance of my re-
sponsibilities: 1 have made mistakes, ] have weaknesses
and limitations just like everyone else. | hope that you'll
be forgiving toward me and all others who serve you. And
I hope and pray that we can always be people’ who ac-
knowledge with great charity, just as our Lord does as He
‘looks with charity upon our sins, that those who serve us
_are frail, human, sinful beings who live by the grace of God
‘in Jesus Christ, too.

If you have the opportunity and haven't done so yet, it
might be useful at some point to do a quick flip through
the written President’s report. Some of the items in Part
. I] speak to some of the questions that people often have
‘ about the direction of the Synod. There is, for example, a

treatment of ecclesiastical supervision and how the syn-
 odical and District Presidents carry out the office of su-
_ pervision among us. You will also find materials in Part I
’ about our contacts with the United States government on
page 3. (I’m always amazed and grateful that when we
have opportunity to speak to officials in the United States
government, and once in a while in its state governments,
about our positions on abortion or education or other key
issues, that we are received so graciously.)
‘* Opportunities in Eastern Europe are described on page
| 3. (A word or two about that later, but they have been just
wonderful; this has been a triennium in which God has
opened new doors for us in Eastern Europe.)

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