LCMS Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 1965, Page 79

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RESOLUTIONS

Nore: Reports and overtures treated in the resolutions are referred to according to the following code:
Convention Workbook, mailed to all pastors, teachers, and lay delegates 8 weeks before the convention.

URO Unpublished Reports and Overtures, 64-page printed supplement to the Convention Workbook, distributed at
the convention and reprinted in these PRocEEDINGS, pp. 199—250. But page references are to the original printing.

TB “Today’s Business,” mimeographed material distributed every day of the convention.
Un “Unpublished,” designates reports and overtures in URO.

M “Mimeographed,”

designates mimeographed overtures distributed at the convention as the first 36 pages of “Today’s

Business,” also printed in these PROCEEDINGS, pp. 251—261. But page references are to TB.

COMMITTEE 1 — Missions

Prayer Read at the Beginning of the Report
of the Floor Committee on Missions

O God the Father, who didst send Thy Son into the
world to redeem the world, which Thou didst create for
Thy glory;

O God the Son, who hast redeemed the whole world
to God by Thy blood, who art Lord over all things and
Head of Thy body, the church;

O God the Holy Spirit, who art the Comforter sent
by the Father and the Son to lead us us into all truth
and to send and guide us on Thy saving mission to a lost
world;

We beseech Thee, O holy triune God, to pardon us
for our sins of disobedience against Thy Law and for
our littleness of faith in Thy Gospel. Do not cast us
aside because of our unfaithfulness, but for Thy mercy’s
sake be faithful to Thy promise of full pardon to all
who fully confess their sins to Thee.

Lord, we have nothing to bring to Thee but our sins
and our emptiness. Forgive us for Jesus’ sake, and fill
us with Thy grace. We praise Thee and Thee only for
the fruits of the Holy Spirit manifest in the life and
work of Thy church. We are not worthy of the least of
all Thy mercies, but Thou art worthy to receive blessing
and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and
might.

Help us to see ourselves as Thy mission to men in
their every need, to society in all its tensions, to the
church in all its tribulation, and to the whole world in
all its futile struggles to find its peace without Thee.
Give us, who are Thy sent ones, Thy compassion for Thy
lost ones.

Teach us to remember that we are but the dust into
which Thy Spirit breathes the breath of life, the earthen
vessels Thou hast selected to be the treasures of Thy
grace, and ambassadors of Thy kingdom, which Thou
alone canst establish in the hearts of men.

Keep us as a Synod from becoming so preoccupied
with ourselves that we lose our sense and purpose of
being Thy mission. Preserve us from that pride which
thanks Thee that we are not as other men are, lest we
leave this place proud of our heritage but unmindful of
that heritage to which we have been begotten by the
resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

Help us to glory in nothing save in the Cross of our
Lord Jesus, by whom the world is crucified unto us and
we unto the world. Let Thy Word be a lamp unto our

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feet and a light unto our path. Preserve us from the
paralysis of fear. Grant instead Thy promised gifts of
power and love and a sound mind. Cause us all to walk
together as saints of God who know they are yet sin-
ners; who deal with one another not as the good or the
bad but as the forgiven, who love much because they
are forgiven much by Thee.

Hear our prayer for the sake of Him who ever liveth
to make intercession for us, Jesus Christ, our Savior
and Lord. Amen.

The following six resolutions (1-01 A to 1-01 F) re-
fer to “Report of Mission Self-Study and Survey, I.
Theological Basis of the Mission of the Church” (CW,
pp. 113—123).

The Church Is God’s Mission
RESOLUTION 1-01A

Wuereas, The Father sent forth His Word to create
and preserve the world; and

Wuereas, Upon man’s revolt the Father sent His Son
into the world to redeem the world; and

Wuereas, The Son in obedience to His Father’s com-
mission laid aside His glory, became a man to serve
men, and died on the cross to reconcile all things unto
God; and

Wuereas, The risen and victorious Lord sent forth
His church on His mission when He appeared to His
disciples on the day of resurrection, declaring: “Peace
be unto you; as My Father hath sent Me, even so send
I you”; and

Wuereas, The Father and the Son together sent the
Holy Spirit into the world as the great Missionary until
our Lord’s return; therefore be it

Resolved, That we affirm in faith, humility, and joy
that the mission is the Lord’s; He is the great Doer
and Sender; and be it further

Resolved, That we affirm that the mission is not an
optional activity in the church, but the church is caught
up in the manifold and dynamic mission of God; and be
it further

Resolved, That we thank the Lord of the church for
all the ways in which He has graciously used us and
our church body in His mission, blessing us and making
us a blessing unto many; and be it further

Resolved, That we repent of our individual and cor-
porate self-centeredness and disobedience, whenever it
has caused us to regard our local congregations or our