LCMS Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 1967, Page 46

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46 PRESIDENT’S REPORT

mand? Whenever we prescribe the precise outcome
which Christian discipline must produce, then we have
only demonstrated an unholy arrogance against God’s
own prerogatives and exhibited an utter lack of faith
in the power of God’s grace.

I wish it were possible to dismiss this subject now,
but it is neither possible nor right to do so. In at least
a few sentences I must plead the cause of the great
number of voiceless ones, They are the innocent vic-
tims for whom the heart of a pastor aches with pain.
They are the targets of a barrage of propaganda often
filled with accusation and slander, rumor and innuendo,
half-truth and untruth. They are bombarded with the
noise of self-appointed critics and prophets whose pur-
pose is more to tear down than to build, whose private
causes take precedence over our common cause.

The end result is that confidence, that fragile gift
which the Holy Spirit creates and nurtures, is destroyed.
The still, small voice of God is drowned by the shouting
of those who hawk their own wares, ranging from un-
biblical theology to pet programs for social reform.

Bewildered and disheartened, many of God’s chil-
dren lose hope in believing and joy in serving. The
Lord’s essential work remains untended. The church
is discredited before those whom she ought to reach.
Satan rejoices. And yet so much of this is done in
the name of authority of Jesus Christ, for the sake of
something called the truth, and ostensibly in the spirit
of brotherly love. How long will this spectacle go on?
It will go on as long as we permit it.

We are confronted with a grave situation. At a time
when life seems to have lost all purpose and certainty,
we act as if we have forgotten that God is utterly re-
liable in His Word of Christ and the promise He has
entrusted to us for the world. At a time when peoples
and nations are estranged from one another, we have
permitted our own sacred bonds of fellowship to one
another in the community of God to be strained and
sundered. At a time when a hungry world is looking
for help and hope, we seem preoccupied with new meth-
ods for squandering our overabundance.

I propose that we do something about this grave
situation and that we begin in our congregations. I
contend that we must initiate radical steps to unleash
the power of God among us, beginning with our church’s
workers. The mantle of leadership is placed on our
church’s workers by God, not the synodical structure
or my office.

This mantle of leadership can be worn only by those
who first carry the towel and the basin as symbols of
their servanthood. Our great need as disciples of the
20th century, plagued by dissension and illusions of
our own greatness, is to come together in the presence
of Christ, where He can do something about our filthy
feet and our unclean hearts.

I have no particular program to offer. Tentative
plans for something of this nature had been included
in the guided study program which we were unable
to launch in the last 2 years. It ought to have highest
priority in the months that lie ahead. All of us con-

stantly need assurance of forgiveness and the support
that is known only in this community of servant-saints,
This is the place where we can learn our place as dis-
ciples instead of masters, where frustrated church
workers can unload the guilt and burden they try to
hide until some psychiatrist or heart attack exposes it,
where the church can Jearn what it really has to offer
to a broken world. I have only the highest hope that
when our church’s workers have recovered the joy of
belonging to God and to one another our congregations
also will soon recapture from the church’s ministry the
glory of being members of the company of the re-
deemed.

It may seem that I have devoted a disproportionate
amount of my report to this first area of concern. It is
basic to everything else we do. While it is also my
responsibility to see that the resolutions of the Synod
are carried out, this can happen only when hearts and
hands are ready, when members of the Synod sense
that they are first the people of God called to serve
Him by serving all men in the way He served and
saved the world.

I

Immediately after the close of the convention my
office made its appropriate appointments to the follow-
ing boards and commissions: Board for Higher Educa-
tion, Board of Governors of Concordia Historical Insti-
tute, Commission for Services to the Mentally Retarded,
Commission on Church Literature, Commission on Con-
stitutional Matters, Commission on Fraternal Organiza-
tions, Commission on Social Action, Commission on
Worship, Liturgies, and Hymnology, Synodical Ser-
vice Commission, Armed Forces Commission, Edi-
torial Commission for Official Periodicals, Commission
on Theology and Church Relations, and Commission on
Mission and Ministry in the Church. Further, my office
appointed the membership of the three special commit-
tees created by the convention in 1965. They are as
follows: Special Committee to Review the Synod’s Edi-
torial and Periodical Policies, Study Committee on
Censorship, and the Committee to Study Full-time
District Presidents.

Though others may also do so, it is not unduly repe-
titious for me to pay tribute to these men and to all
others who serve the Synod through various boards,
commissions, and committees. They bring a treasure
of special training, broad experience, and Christian ded-
ication to their tasks. All of us are constantly amazed
at the wealth of human resources with which God has
endowed our Synod. For the first time we conducted
a brief orientation session to assist these persons in
their understanding of synodical goals and operations as
well as their specific assignments. The Secretary of the
Synod referred synodical resolutions to the appropriate
boards and commissions. With the assistance of the
Executive Director and the Vice-Presidents I have kept
in touch with the boards and commissions to insure that
the will of the Synod is being carried out.

Permit me to add a footnote. By every standard our