Collection › LCMS Convention Workbook (St. Louis, Missouri) › 1969 · 48th Convention › Page 33
LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 1969, Page 33

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

MISSIONS 33

- the Metro Mission Movement in metropolitan Saint
Louis, described in the previous section;

- the Columbia Cooperative Ministry, in a new
planned city between Baltimore and Washing-
ton, D.C.;

- the Lutheran Inner City Center in Jacksonville, Fla.,
a profound interparish movement and ministry to
the needs of people in the city.

2) In town-and-country areas —

- a broadened and strengthened ministry to the
Finns of southwestern Ontario and northeast Min-
nesota: special language broadcasts, literature,
youth ministry, chaplaincy services, and basic forms
of Word and satrament;

- an intensive study and reflection process designed
to renew and strengthen the mission of the church
in nonmetropolitan America under the auspices
of the South Dakota District;

- lay-led ministries (LLTI graduates) in rural areas
of the Great Plains states which have scattered,
low-density populations;

- experimental recreation ministries, like the Land-
Between-the-Lakes ministry to campers in Kentucky.
3) In other countries —

- an exploratory ministry to and among the English-
speaking colonies in Guadalajara, Mexico;

- a youth ministry in Fort McMurray, Alta., a Cana-
dian frontier boom town, to people caught up in
cultural clash and accelerated change;

* ministries of Word, sacraments, and service among
the Chinese refugees from Hong Kong in Van-
couver, B.C. (as well as in a number of American
cities);

- and during this summer a number of vicarages in
Central America and on the Mexico-U. S. border to
further equip future pastors for their mission among
Spanish-speaking people in Latin America and
the U.S.

4) and in other speical contexts —

- clergy consultation projects in the states of Wash-
ington and Oregon, in South Dakota, and metro-
politan Detroit to further the development of pas-
toral care skills and to provide preventative and
remedial ministry to emotionally disturbed church
workers and their families;

- aportchaplaincy, or ministry to seamen, in Houston,
Tex., third-largest port in the nation;

- the Commission on the Mission and Ministry of the
People of God of the English District, whose mis-
sion it is to equip and actualize the ministry of the
laity to and through the vocational and other struc-
tures and movements into which God has purpose-
fully placed them;

- ministries among American Indians in South
Dakota, Arizona, Colorado, Montana, California,
and elsewhere.

This is just a “surface” overview. We would now like to
go a little deeper into Church and Community Minis-
tries: into the kind of communication and communica-
tions problems with which it is concerned, the new areas
of communication it is entering, and the risks involved in
communication within the world and within the church.

b. The Heart of the Problem. Picture, if you will, a
window, a clear pane of glass. On one side the word
“church” is lettered. On the other side the word ‘“‘com-
munity” is spelled out. Look at the window from one
side. One word stands out clearly, but the other cannot
be understood. Then go to the other side of the window.
Now the second word can be seen at a glance, but the
first word is no longer comprehensible.

And so it is in life itself. The church, the people of
God, often strive to communicate with the world on the
same terms and in the same ways in which we speak the
Gospel to one another. Similarly the world and the peo-
ple of that world have real difficulty in seeing the church
as it really is. To them the church is at best just one of
a number of organizations that offer their members a
sense of belonging and also make some kind of contribu-
tion to the solution of social problems or to the moral
fiber of a nation. And at worst the church is seen as
a self-seeking institution that cares little or nothing for
people — except as it can extract from them such things
as obedience, money, or status.

If the world could see the church for what she is
called to be —God’s chosen instrument for announcing
and demonstrating His good news of forgiveness and
reconciliation in Christ Jesus to all men—then all would
be well. And similarly, if the church could perform its
mission in a fully intelligible way to the world, then all
would be well. But each views the other through a glass
darkly.

To some degree that darkness will always be with us.
The condition of sin and its fruits is an impediment to
vision that afflicts all and burdens all. But the people
of God always strive by the Spirit’s power to overcome
whatever gets in the way of their mission as His people;
not that seeing more clearly is an end in itself but so
that the mission—His mission— might be more perfectly
fulfilled. This is what Church and Community Minis-
tries are all about— overcoming the barriers, the con-
stantly changing and moving barriers, to the announce-
ment and demonstration of the Good News.

c. St. Paul, the Glass Cleaner. Early in his ministry
St. Paul was called by the Spirit to Athens. Up to this
point he had preached the Gospel chiefly to the Jews,
God’s historic chosen people. Paul was no stranger to
Jewish religion and culture. Out of this understanding
and experience he was able to speak the Gospel with
power and clarity. Paul not only knew whereof he spoke
—the Gospel—but he knew those to whom he was
speaking.

Athens was different. Scripture reveals that Paul
found it necessary to first come to know the anxieties
of the Greeks before preaching to them. Through disci-