LCMS Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 1965, Page 11

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PRESIDENT’S TRIENNIAL REPORT

In compliance with stipulations in the Handbook of
The Lutheran Church — Missouri Synod (2.29 c) I here-
with present to the Synod the official report of the Presi-
dent. This report covers the period since the last con-
vention in 1962.

At the outset I want to express my deep gratitude to
our heavenly Father for the opportunity given me to
serve Him in this special capacity. I assure you these
have been very significant years in my life. The mem-
bers of the Synod cannot realize how completely and
constantly dependent I have been on the grace of God.
The members of the Synod should also hear my testi-
mony that God has sustained me, even in difficult cir-
cumstances, and it is His blessing that brought about
any favorable results.

This is the appropriate occasion to express my deep
gratitude for the services rendered to me personally, to
the office of the President, and to the Synod by numer-
ous servants of the church. I mention particularly the
Vice-Presidents of the Synod, Doctors Roland P. Wie-
deraenders, Theodore F. Nickel, George W. Wittmer,
and Arthur C. Nitz. Dr. Walter F. Wolbrecht, Executive
Director, should be commended publicly for his impor-
tant contributions. After more than a half century of
active service, Dr. John W. Behnken has continued to
accept official and unofficial invitations for his unique
and tireless help.

I am indebted to the boards and commissions for the
faithfulness with which they have discharged their re-
sponsibilities. Their executive secretaries have per-
formed yeoman service, often in very technical and spe-
cialized areas. They have been faithful not only to their
particular assignments but also to our historic position
under the Scriptures and the Lutheran Confessions.

Recognition should be given to many others who
have distinguished themselves by their service. In “To-
day’s Business” you will note a list of those now sainted
who served in special or official capacities. You are
invited to submit the names of others who may have
been omitted inadvertently. I trust that an appropriate
resolution will be presented to and adopted by the con-
vention.

The Synod has assigned several major responsibil-
ities to its President. One of these is the supervision of
the doctrine and life in the church. There are various
interpretations of this responsibility. Both the Scrip-
tures and the Synod’s Handbook describe this responsi-
bility as a process. The purpose of the process is to
assure that what we believe, teach, and confess is in
harmony with the Word of God and the Lutheran Con-
fessions. The purpose is to adorn the Gospel with holy
living which honors our God and Savior. In other
words, the President is to supervise the process by
which God’s name is hallowed and the church is edified
by the sharing of God’s Law and Gospel in sound doc-
trine.

The President recognizes from Scripture and from

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practical experience that God alone preserves His truth
and promotes godly living. It is God who sets the
standards and who enables His people by the Spirit to
receive the truth and to respond to His mercy in Christ.
The President is not an overlord but an undershepherd
of the Good Shepherd.

Yet God uses people in this edification process. He
knows our sinful nature. God remembers what we for-
get: that in our pride we will try to claim the preroga-
tives of God’s Word for our own notions; in our weak-
ness we will be less than what God’s grace can make us.
Precisely because our heavenly Father knows what we
are, He binds His people into a fellowship. As members
of the body of Christ we are to bear one another’s bur-
dens. We are to share the Word for the benefit of each
and of all.

The Synod has wisely and well designated who is to
carry out this process of supervision and how. Accord-
ingly I have tried to carry out personally the responsi-
bility which belongs to the President. At the same time
I have made this supervision also the delegated concern
of the Synod’s Vice-Presidents and of the District Presi-
dents. The President’s office has met regularly with the
administrators and faculties of the Synod’s colleges and
seminaries. The process of supervision has been carried
forward in private and in public, personally and cor-
porately.

Brethren, I want to remind you that this process is
not accomplished when we have written provisions into
the Handbook and then named someone to carry out
these provisions. This is the responsibility of all of us
and not merely of a few officials. If the doctrine and
life of our Synod is not what it should be, then we may
have been failing one another as Christian brethren.
I do not lay this burden on your conscience. God does.
But the burden He lays on us He enables us to bear.
The same Christ who asks us in His new commandment
to love one another even as He has loved us, also gives
us His love for use in our own living and loving.

In our concern for the process of supervising doc-
trine and life we have already made tentative plans for
retreats for the church’s workers. These retreats will
offer opportunities where our Lord’s disciples in our
time can renew their fellowship with their Lord and
with one another. And we have also made preliminary
plans for the Christians in our church to sit at Jesus’
feet by expanding the study program initiated as a re-
sult of the first thrust of Cleveland’s Forward in Faith
resolution. We have taken this action because the doc-
trine and life of the church are our highest concern.
This is what makes us the church. This is our message
and witness to the world.

Even pure doctrine and godly living require some
sort of organization and administration if they are to
accomplish what God wants. Good weather and good
harvest do little good if the grain ends up only in
granaries, far away from hungry and starving people.