Collection › LCMS Convention Workbook (St. Louis, Missouri) › 1969 · 48th Convention › Page 31
LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 1969, Page 31

Scan: The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod
Transcription machine transcription, uncorrected

MISSIONS 31

d. What's Happened To and Through People

1) The experiences of the first year of MMM seem
to already validate at least three of the basic assump-
tions on which the project is built: that our greatest
resource is the people of God; that God has readied
people for mission; and that people will respond to
specific, meaningful mission and ministry opportunities
that match their God-given gifts and interests.

a) The Communications Task Force. Two or three
individuals were able to identify 75 Lutherans in the
field of communications in the St. Louis metropolitan
area. The eight individuals finally selected for a com-
munications task force expressed their willingness and
interest in serving—once assured that they were free
to really delve deeply into the whole area of communi-
cations and come up with creative ideas and recommen-
dations. And they really did delve in! They sent a survey
to 200 members of the St. Louis Press Club to discover
the image of Lutheranism that the city’s principal com-
municators had. It was a revelation. Best known Lu-
theran? Dr. William Heyne, director of the Bach Choir.
Lutheranism’s greatest contribution to the city? Music.
What other denominations did these men associate with
Missouri Synod Lutheran? Southern Baptist and Episco-
pal. On the basis of this survey and additional research,
the task force came up with some excellent suggestions
for Lutheran communication in St. Louis, including a
communications center.

b) The Eyes-and-Ears Seeing-and-Listening Task
Forces. Very few “turn downs” were received in asking
people to serve on “eyes and ears” task forces. Many
people responded with some phrase like: “I’ve just been
waiting for an opportunity like this.” One group donned
old clothes one evening to participate in a community
“alley clean’’; task-force members bicycled through their
area, went to shopping centers, laundromats, and bars;
one East St. Louis member spent a day on his own in
the Pruitt-Igoe housing project in order to have a basis
of comparison in looking at the ghetto on the east side
of the river.

c) Individual Christian Volunteers. In speaking be-
fore church groups about Metro Mission Movement,
steering body members have also found individuals who
are ready and anxious to become involved in some mean-
ingful ministry. Three women, for example, volunteered
their services after a speech on MMM at an LWML work-
shop. One wanted to do something in the area of com-
munications because she saw that as the key problem
of the church in the city. Another had been trained in
the Laubach literacy method and was interested in doing
something in tutoring adults. The third woman had heard
that the suburban eyes-and-ears force had found a need
for alcoholic counseling. The woman identified herself
as a member of Alcoholics Anonymous and offered her
assistance in whatever way possible in that suburban
community.

2) Something particularly wonderful happened
through the people of God who were involved in the

eyes-and-ears seeing-and-listening ministry. Through
them and through the involvement-reflection approach
in which they were engaged, both needs and creative
solutions were uncovered.

a) These are some of the needs of people uncovered:
Fragmentation of the family in the suburbs.
Need for counseling of alcoholics (suburbs).

Neglect of community youth (residents complain
about kids hot-rodding around, yet recreation
facilities are almost nonexistent in the suburban
areas examined).

Isolation of parishes in this suburban area (each
church thought another church had a good youth
program).

Lack of coordination and cooperation between
adjoining communities in suburban areas.

Good theological and doctrinal preaching in Lu-
theran churches but not enough implications for
daily life (in suburban congregations).

Churches in the “same boat” in the north St. Louis
mid-city area (membership largely coming from
outside the neighborhood, lack of young leader-
ship in the congregation, facilities largely unused).
Young children often left alone without adequate
supervision in community homes; a high number
of elderly people in the community (north Saint
Louis).

Polarization of white and black in East St. Louis.

b) One of the basic assumptions that MMM is testing
affirms that “the creative ideas needed to solve problems
and uncover approaches will emerge by the Spirit from
concerned Christians engaged in a process of personal
corporate involvement (world) and reflection (Word).”
Here are a few of the creative ideas or approaches that
have emerged:

The suburban group suggested setting up a family
counseling center in a “neutral” place (like a shop-
ping center) for counseling, alcoholism, drug ad-
diction. People could come of their own volition
or be referred by pastors.

The north St. Louis eyes-and-ears task force, see-
ing that all the congregations they visited in their
area had the same problems, called a meeting of
community pastors. (Except for the two Missouri
Synod pastors there, none of the pastors had ever
talked to one another before—even though two
of the churches were only a block apart!) The
pastors discovered that their congregations had
the same problems as others in the community;
they talked about the possibility of a community-
wide evangelism survey; and they talked about
the need for more meetings like this in the future.

One member of the north St. Louis task force is an
instructor at Lutheran Hospital and in charge of
a maternity project using Lutheran Hospital stu-
dent nurses at Homer G. Phillips and City Hos-