Collection › LCMS Convention Workbook (St. Louis, Missouri) › 1969 · 48th Convention › Page 382
LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 1969, Page 382

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

382 SOCIAL ACTION AND WELFARE

volved in urban renewal and redevelopment; and they
can use their manpower resources to deal with a host
of the related problems of the poor and the disadvan-
taged — health care, day care, employment, and all of
the problems related to discrimination. Churches can
lead the way in emphasizing justice and can plead for
equal opportunity for all men, regardless of their race
or color. Housing, one of many social problems, pre-
sents a realistic opportunity for the church to put into
practice what is preached on Sunday, to carry the Gos-
pel out of the pew into the streets of the city, where
need can be measured in realistic terms, where it is
no longer a remote and abstract objective, but where
roofs leak, where people are crowded together in heat-
less rooms, where filth and danger are companions,
where men have lost hope and self-respect.

While the focus of the appeal for funds in this effort
has been directed to the congregations of the church,
a special attempt was made to involve young people
on college campuses around the country in the fund
drive. The response has been heartwarming. Individu-
ally, and as members of student bodies, young Lu-
therans have been quick to react favorably. On one
college campus a special day of fasting was set aside.
Funds saved at the dining hall were donated to the
cause. Special chapel services, seminars, contacts with
congregations, and publicity were the result. On an-
other campus three students designed unique Christmas
cards emphasizing a Christian’s social obligation to his
fellowmen and donated the proceeds from the sale of
the cards to the Housing Fund. From another campus,
under direction of student body leaders, students were
sent into communities to discuss the problems of race
and housing needs with their parents, their families,
with community leaders, with bankers and farmers and
businessmen. Education and action began to emerge
because a fund-raising effort created the opportunity
for discussion and response to a significant contempo-
rary problem. Said one young student, a history major,
“My confidence is restored in my church in that it is
addressing itself to an issue that really matters.” It was
apparent that students were ready for responsible social
action.

Specific housing projects were also under way.
Many of these developed simply because our people
saw needs and decided to do something that would help.
In Jacksonville, Fla. the Florida Inner City Mission in
conjunction with the Board of Social Ministry of the
Florida-Georgia District began a series of meetings with
the local FHA office in midsummer. By December 1968
they had a commitment for a housing project that would
take care of 200 families in the low-income group. What
the church provided to the District was the guarantee
that the initial funds, borrowed in Florida, would be
replaced as soon as the Housing Fund Drive was com-
pleted. In Leavenworth, Kans., with St. Paul’s Lutheran
Church as sponsor, a low- and moderate-income hous-
ing project for 150 families was under way by late fall.
In Chicago studies were under way in the form of an

area study on the south side of that city for housing
for poor families in the vicinity of Redeemer Lutheran
Church. Home Buyers, Inc., Washington, D. C., work-
ing partly with church funds, had moved its 13th family
into decent housing by Christmas 1968. In Milwaukee
the Lutheran Social Action Conference had already
provided shelter for its 23d family. From Cleveland,
Ohio, from St. Louis, Mo., from Detroit, Mich., from
Brooklyn, N. Y., from Baltimore, Md., have come re-
quests for assistance, counsel, and resources in open-
housing projects. All this even before funds had been
gathered to carry out projects such as these. By
March 10, 1969, 24 projects contemplated and under
way had requested assistance in loans and grants total-
ing $410,200.

One cannot predict that all projects are wisely con-
ceived and will succeed or that they will meet the cri-
teria developed by our committee and approved by the
board. The key role rests with the District Board of
Social Ministry. No project will be undertaken which
has not first been carefully screened and approved by
District boards. The Housing Fund is to be largely
a revolving fund, to provide “seed money” so that local
initiative and financing can be underwritten, so that the
resources, once collected, can return to the central fund
to be used again and again. In developing the details
of administrative procedure the committee has been
deeply involved as part of its obligation to those who
supported the “Keys for Christ” effort with their gifts.

One of the problems facing the Board of Social Min-
istry is the information gap among our people. All too
little is known about the opportunities facing the church
in contemporary society, what the church can do to
relieve misery, to promote dignity and _ self-respect,
through housing. The Board of Social Ministry and its
Committee on Housing Concerns have been mindful
from the very beginning that many people, simply be-
cause of their race and national origin, have been de-
prived of the freedom to live in communities which
they can afford and which they desire. The possibility
of people of different racial or ethnic groups living in
their community has been viewed as a threat to many
people. Through educational programs as well as proj-
ects which will foster the practice of openness in hous-
ing patterns, we believe that the church can make a
mighty contribution toward providing justice and equal
opportunities for minority groups. The “Keys for Christ”
project had as one of its goals the concern of many in
our church that open housing might become a reality.
A number of Districts and key people were given coun-
sel. A special Bible Study entitled “Who Should Be My
Neighbor?” prepared by the Board of Social Ministry of
the Iowa District East addressed itself to this need.
More than half a million buttons calling attention to
“Open Housing” were distributed and worn by our
members.

Since the church’s involvement in housing programs
will be needed for several years, the board is currently
studying a 5-year plan that will include long-term and