Collection › LCMS Convention Workbook (St. Louis, Missouri) › 1969 · 48th Convention › Page 383
LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 1969, Page 383

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

SOCIAL ACTION AND WELFARE 383

short-term goals. These will include regional or District
workshops on housing legislation, conferences of real-
tors, contractors, lawyers, and pastors, the development
of educational tools that will further open housing prac-
tices, and the determination to increase the supply of
low-income housing units through the support of such
projects that collectively will total 500 units per year.

The church’s involvement in housing matters, and
prevailing attitudes toward race and service to our fel-
lowmen, are not problems that can be overcome with
one campaign for funds or in a span of 2 years between
conventions. It will remain a long-term goal, one that
will be achieved gradually through effective responses
to need. Housing, as a national need, gives every prom-
ise that those who devote themselves to solutions to the
need will find their efforts richly rewarding and deeply
satisfying, in keeping with our Lord’s injunctions to
serve our fellowmen.

In this area we believe that the Word will always
lead to action which is properly motivated and appro-
priately carried through.

The Word That Sustains

If we can translate into action the directive given
by our Lord in John 13:34: “A new commandment
I give to you, that you love one another; even as I have
loved you, that you also love one another,” we would
most assuredly include the Christian services performed
by our more than 85 health and welfare agencies. Their
request for service has been more than they can fulfill;
their personnel needs and budgetary needs have ex-
ceeded the resources available to them. Yet in God's
name these agencies continue to serve the physically
sick, the emotionally disturbed, the troubled and de-
spairing victims who seek their help.

Presently there are 34 direct-service agencies oper-
ated by associations or jurisdictional units of The Lu-
theran Church — Missouri Synod. These include a wide
gamut of services. Eighteen agencies serve the aged.
Six agencies have combined service programs which
include family casework services and a residential
treatment program for emotionally disturbed young-
sters. Four agencies have only family casework service
programs. Two agencies serve the mentally retarded
and their families. There is one residential treatment
center for adolescent girls and one for adolescent boys.
One agency has a combination of a family casework
service and residence for ambulatory aged. Another
agency provides both residential care for children and
residential care for the ambulatory aged.

In addition to our 34 welfare agencies that are owned
and operated by congregations or Districts, there are
23 agencies in which we are in partnership with one
or more of the other Lutheran bodies. The pattern of
agency services previously described in the services
offered by The Lutheran Church — Missouri Synod
agencies would be a fair appraisal of the types of ser-
vices offered under joint sponsorship. The one group

of agencies which is an exception is the three councils
or federations. These are planning and coordinating
councils which operate on a statewide basis.

Our latest statistical information reveals some rather
striking concerns. In the 52 service agencies included
in the Lutheran Annual, 12, or slightly more than one
fourth, did not report their staff, costs, or number of
people served. These agencies for various reasons were
not able to provide this information in time to meet the
printing deadline. However, the 40 reporting agencies
showed that they served nearly 180,000 people who
were either aged or emotionally disturbed or confused,
in marital conflict or involved in parent-child problems,
or mentally retarded, or any combination of similar
social ills.

The total annual operating cost to deliver these ser-
vices is nearly $14 million. Slightly more than one fifth
($24% million) is provided by congregations or juris-
dictional units of The Lutheran Church — Missouri
Synod. The balance of these operating costs, nearly
four fifths, is met by direct payments of clients for
services, United or Community Funds, Social Security
benefits, Medicare, medical payments, contributions by
other Lutherans, and many other public and private
resources.

The health and welfare agencies are one phase of
the work of the church. Yet they are but one of the
many areas in which the Word is translated into action
for service to those who are in need. Through these
supportive and sustaining services many people have
found real solutions to their problems and difficulties.

The Word for the Future

As our Synod prepares for a second century of car-
ing, we are convinced that many adjustments in pro-
grams and new approaches to society’s problems must
be made. The Board of Social Ministry sees its function
not only as enabling the unable and disabled to ex-
perience the fullness of life which comes from the love
of God but also as participating in preventive programs
that will treat causes and not only symptoms. Social
action, which may be defined as “deliberate intervention
into the structures of the social order to bring about
changes within that order” that are corrective of the
abuses and injustices that have existed, may no longer
be considered as an option for the church. It is a part
of social ministry which we have tended to ignore be-
cause of its frequent controversial nature. It may well
be that these efforts, which must involve also the very
users of the church’s services. will contribute toward
the healing of society’s ills as well as the ills of indi-
vidual people to a greater degree and in a wider area
than have our programs of the past century.

As we face the future, we see the following principles
as vital for the church’s function in the area of social
ministry.

Ten Guilding Principles

1. Christians as individuals and corporately as a

church must always give expression of their faith in