LCMS Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 1992, Page 68

Transcription machine transcription, uncorrected

⤓ Download .txt · copy text

68 , REPORT OF THE PRESIDENT

Church relations matters are discussed on page 4, in-
cluding our relationships with the other large Lutheran
church in this country, the one that’s twice our size, the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, whose bishop
will bring greetings to us later in the convention, as well
as our other friends in other synods, including the Wis-
consin Synod.

Mention is made of auxiliaries, the Commission on
Women, and discussions with RIM leaders on page 5. The
following pages focus on some of the synodical goals of the
whole leadership team that was introduced to you a mo-
ment ago, and ‘the many, many others who should have
been included in it. Our work during this triennium has
been guided by the concept of our being a Gospel-based,
Mission-driven, congregational-centered, people-oriented
church. You will find those concepts reflected, in the re-
ports and resolutions which are coming before the
convention.

The 10 top priorities of the church during this past
triennium, together with a number of goals in each area,
are summarized here. I want to underscore that this is not
just the President’s work, but the work of a team of leaders
that works together in a very collegial, consensual sort of
way. Many of those items, too, will be reflected in reso-
lutions coming before the convention.

There are also special projecta and reports included in
the rest of Part I. In Part II, which is in Today’s Business,
we came back to the visions and goals and priorities of the
Synod (page 22ff. of the Convention Workbook). We asked
the convention two questions three years ago. They're
pretty good questions for this one, too:

1. What would The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod be
like in 1995 if the Synod as a whole and each of its
congregations would carry out the Great Commission
as faithfully and effectively as we can?

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

Toa large extent it’s the vision of a church that’s Telling
Everyone What HE Has Done with Great Boldness, with
emphasis on Gospel and mission and congregation and peo-
ple, that drives our response to these questions. One newer
item in Part II, on page 24, deals largely with the desire
for peace in the church. I mentioned there some of the
issues that are coming before this convention, and gave
three words of advice in our seeking of peace for the church,
which is fundamental to our carrying out the mission of
the church. First, we need to commit ourselves to the New
Testament words of St. Paul to make every effort to main-
tain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace; second, a
commitment to doing all things decently and in order; and
thirdly, an atmosphere of trust and mutual regard that
happens only when we really do it. Already this morning
many speakers have prayed for peace among us—a prayer
that we all join in. We are not going to achieve peace in
The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod simply by voting
or by any kind of power or authority in this convention.
We will need to work at it when we go home. We must
work at peace as we do all other problems and challenges
in the church, by laying them at the foot of the cross of
our Lord Jesus Christ, by confession and: absolution, by

the pledge to listen, to confess, to absolve, to heal. And we
will also be looking at some structural changes that might
help us to resolve conflicts among us in a better way.
While we are emphasizing the subject of peace in the
church, let me mention a little story from a book by Max
LeCotto called In the Eye of the Storm. As he tells the story,
when he was a boy in high school, his family used to fish
every year during spring break. One year he and his
brother and their father and a friend went fishing. They
could hardly wait until they could camp out and go on this
wonderful trip. But, as they sat there in their camper with
their little Coleman stove and all of that, it was windy, it
rained the whole time, they couldn’t go outside. And, pre-
dictably, they got into each other’s hair, and found fault
with each other throughout a long day and a long, cold
night. Then the next morning when they awoke to the
sound of sleet slapping the canvas, “We didn’t even pretend
to be cheerful,” he says, “we just were flat out grumpy.”
He tells how his brother “became more of a jerk” with each
passing moment, and how Dad couldn’t do anything right.
When the next day was even colder, the first thing Dad
said was, “We're going home.” And no one objected! May
I just tell you briefly how he concludes the story? “I learned
a hard lesson that week. Not about fishing, but about peo-
ple. When those who are called to fish don’t fish, they fight.
When energy intended to be used outside is used inside,
the result is explosive. Instead of casting nets, we cast
stones. Instead of extending helping hands, we point ac-
cusing fingers. Instead of being fishers of the lost, we be-
come critics of the saved. Rather than helping the hurting,
we hurt the helpers. The result,” says Max LeCotto, “is
‘church Scrooges.’ Bah! Humbug, spirituality! Beady eyes,
searching for warts on others while ignoring the warts on :
the nose below. Crooked fingers that bypass strengths and
point out weaknesses. Split churches, poor testimonies,
broken hearts, legalistic wars, and sadly, the poor go unfed,
the confused go uncounseled, and the lost go unreached.
When those who are called to fish don’t fish, they fight.”
We are called to fish. That’s why we did the lead-in from
the opening part of the blueprint for missions for The Lu-
theran Church—Missouri Synod. Again, you have the es-
sentials of that report before you. Many congregations,
District boards, and virtually all the boards of the Synod
have spent some time looking at the blueprint and its im-
plications for us as we move through the ’90s and into the
next century. It’s a wonderful document, in my judgment.
The people who worked on this included almost every mis-
sionary in The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, at least
by mail. It reflects a great number of reports, comments,
studies of demographics, visits by experts,-and attempts
to take a good, hard look at where we are as a fishing
church, a church that tells everyone what HE has done.
The blueprint reminds us of the context in which we
live—in a world of 5.4 billion people living in 225 countries
separated into 12,500 people groups, reminding us of the
hard work we have to do. Our mission blueprint calls for
work, for building, for construction, for building the body
of Christ. Eighty percent of the world’s population lives
outside of North America and Europe. And over 90 percent
of the projected population growth of our world in the next
30 years will take place in these same regions. By the year °