LCMS Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 1969, Page 49

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PRESIDENT’S REPORT 49

operations. Frankly, I am optimistic about the poten-
tial for the work of the church if we take God and
our people at their word.

It is not my intention to report extensively on the
implementation of all resolutions adopted by the Synod
or all work assigned to the President’s office. A listing
is appended to this report. Without minimizing the im-
portance of other resolutions and the efforts put forth
to carry them out, I will report now in greater detail
on the implementation of the one resolution which has
been the major concern of the Synod during the last
two years. I refer, of course, to Resolution 3-23 con-
cerning altar and pulpit fellowship with The American
Lutheran Church.

In adopting Resolution 3-23 the Synod undertook
a new course in church relations. Previously the Synod
handled such matters at delegate conventions. While
Resolution 3-23 does not say this explicitly, it does
imply that the delegates two years ago felt that church
fellowship had dimensions beyond those that we have
dealt with in the past. It was the hope of the 1967
convention that all members of the Synod should have
an opportunity to discover agreement in the doctrine
of the Gospel as our representatives and commissioners

had previously done. It was the hope of the delegates
that all members of the Synod would through their
participation come to the conviction that they would
want to assume the privileges and responsibilities of
living in fellowship with members of The American
Lutheran Church.

Within weeks after the convention had closed, my
office launched the first steps in carrying out the re-
sponsibilities assigned to it by the convention. A spe-
cial committee set up arrangements for such imple-
mentation. By November of 1967 plans had been
completed for materials and representatives to carry
the word of the convention to the congregations by
way of the District conventions. Late in that November
I presented the materials later entitled “Toward Fel-
lowship” to a meeting of District Presidents to which
also members of the Board of Directors and Council
of Administrators had been invited as guests. At that
time the District Presidents requested that “Toward
Fellowship” be published and distributed through their
offices to all pastors and congregations almost immedi-
ately and certainly in advance of almost all District
conventions. Through the cooperation of the District
Presidents, a minimum of one-half day of convention

Two treasured servants of the Synod —
Dr. Oliver Harms and Dr. John Herrmann