Collection › LCMS Convention Workbook (St. Louis, Missouri) › 1969 · 48th Convention › Page 37
LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 1969, Page 37

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

MISSIONS 37

cause we deserve such status. His trust stems from what
He has made of us in Christ Jesus. And this is to be the
same perspective — trust in the faithfulness of the brother,
deserved simply because he is a brother, not earned —
which we are called to manifest one to another in Christ’s
body. Not that we aren’t called to ask questions if we
don’t understand; not that we don’t have a ministry one
to another. For indeed by His grace we do.

What kind of response of faith does this situation call
for? It means that the window cleaner must ever be
mindful that he has been called to his ministry so that
the fruits of his listening and exposure are shared in
such a way that all the saints are equipped and stirred
up and so better prepared for the work of ministry. It
means that he does not become cynical or disparaging
about the “slowness” with which the people of God may
respond to what he shares, because he realizes that, save
for his special listening post, he too would respond no
more rapidly than his brethren.

What kind of response of faith does this situation call
for on the part of those of us who are not on “the cutting
edge”? It means that such a person must always try to
understand, to put himself in the place of the other,
always, in the words of Luther, “putting the best con-
struction on everything.” It means being open and eager
to new understandings and approaches by which he
may be in mission more effectively for his Lord.

Natural man says, “I trust only—and even then with
certain reservations — persons whom I meet face to face.”
But the Christian man, to extend the words of the apostle
Paul, responds in a radically different way: “I trust in the
brethren, even as I trust in the Lord, not with physical
sight but with the eyes of faith. I will meet them —even as
I will meet Him in heaven—after, not before, I trust in
them and Him. Now I know in part; but then shall I know
even as also I am known.”

V. THE LAST WORD

We purposely placed the Church and Community
Ministries section at the end of our convention report;
for while it deals specifically with examples from its own
section, many of the principles articulated there apply
“aeross the board” in all areas of the church’s work, in
our attempts to carry out Christ’s mission today. The
Church and Community Ministries section therefore
provides us with a good opportunity for a summary, with
an opportunity to get in a “last word.”

It talks about communication of the Gospel and about
communication barriers.

It reminds us of the variety of subgroups, or “worlds,”
to which we're called and of the need to listen to the
burdens and problems of each distinct group.

It reminds us that the Good News of Jesus Christ is
communicated in different ways in different situations.
Each needs to hear in his own tongue because it’s a
post-Babel world.

It highlights the need today for a ministry with, not
just to people of color. And this is no surprise. We had
previously seen a corresponding change overseas: a

ministry with the national church in each country, no
longer a one-way ministry to a foreign land. Today’s
situation demands this new style. But it’s more than that:
our understanding of the oneness and interdependence
of the church leads us to see our “coministry.” We are
one in Jesus Christ; we are called now to edify one an-
other, giving to and learning from one another, so that
the whole church is built up for mission.

It reiterates that the people of God on the local level
carry the primary freedom and initiative for determining
the shape of the witness and ministry in their area—and
that the Board for Missions exists as an enabler. This
too we had seen overseas.

It suggests that part of the role of the Board for Mis-
sions is to share and sensitize the whole church to Christ’s
mission: the Missouri Synod’s participation as part of the
mission of the whole body of Christ; changes and new
directions in that mission; the calling and freeing of every
Christian for that mission. Recruitment material for
overseas work, for example, should reflect the changing
role of the missionary, that he is a partner in mission with
national Christians, that all kinds of missionaries are
needed ~— agriculturalists, anthropologists, dentists, etc.

For many years the Board for Missions has annually
published Brethren, Pray for Us, a small booklet giving
a month-by-month listing of missionaries’ birthdays, in
order to encourage the whole church to “communicate
with God” on behalf of these men and women and their
work. The 1969 issue of Brethren, Pray for Us attempts to
be a more extensive devotional guide and educational
tool, sensitizing the people of God to the fullness of His
mission. Relationships are drawn between the themes of
major seasons in the festival part of the church year
(Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Easter, Pentecost)
and mission. Each of the months in the Trinity season is
centered ona Mission Affirmation. The Board for Missions
is conscious of the need to seek additional means to
equip and sensitize all of God’s people for mission.

The Church and Community Ministries section also
reminds us that faithfulness to Christ’s mission involves
risks. We have to risk it “out there” for the sake of min-
istry, perhaps involving ourselves in joint projects with
other Christians or with secular organizations. And we
have to trust one another in the church —for the sake of
Christ’s ministry.

Not so much in this last section but in the report on
the Metro Mission Movement one other important em-
phasis is highlighted: that the people of God are the
main resource for Christ’s mission, that they have been
equipped by the Spirit, through Word and sacrament,
for witness and ministry in each place.

A. Kenneth Cragg in a paper entitled “The Evan-
gelistic Task of the Missionary” declared:

_.. God Himself engages in speech. That is the glory of
the Gospel. It is what God has said. And His Word is Christ.
“The Word was made flesh . . . and we beheld His glory.”
The something we already knew was human life. Using that
bridge, God uttered Himself among us, brought Himself
lovingly within our ken, stated Himself, His will, His grace
in our terms. Christ, that living Word, came into all revealing
situations, most wonderful of all the cross on the hill. Here