Collection › LCMS Convention Workbook (St. Louis, Missouri) › 1969 · 48th Convention › Page 420
LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 1969, Page 420

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

420 CHURCH LITERATURE AND PUBLICATIONS; PUBLIC RELATIONS AND COMMUNICATIONS

clude continued sharing of ideas and resources for effec-
tive parish life, serving as a channel of communications
among congregations and synodical departments, carry-~
ing appropriate advertisements, upgrading the maga-
zine’s appearance, utilization, acceptance, and distribu-
tion, and holding annual evaluation conferences. The
Synod's Board of Directors approved these directives
in 1966.

At the same time the board transferred the magazine
from the Division of Parish Education and Services to
the Division of Communications and Public Relations,

In September 1967 Rev. Omar Stuenkel's excellent
3-year service as acting editor (replacing the first editor,
Rev. Dr. Elmer Kettner, who died in 1964) came to a
close with the appointment of layman Melvin H. Doer-
ing as new editor,

In March 1968 the board dismissed with thanks the
editorial board of Rev. Reuben Schmidt, chairman, Mr.
Harold Leimer, secretary, Rev. Duane Brunette, Rev,
Marcus T. Zill. Mr. John Goodbrake. and Dr. Arthur L.
Miller, who had rendered the valued services briefly
described above. The Coordinating Committee for Par-
ish Services, an existing committee of the Council of
Administrators, was asked to double as the new Advance
editorial commission. Members are Rev. Dr. William
H. Kohn, chairman, Rev. Dr. Oscar Feucht, staff officer,
Rev. Leslie F. Weber, Dr. Miller. and Mr. Doering.

Under this managerial setup, Advance is moving
toward meeting its goals. Paid subscriptions and sales
of single copies last year totaled $8,965. Various de-
partments of the Synod purchased $6,279 worth of extra
pages in Advance to convey special messages to congre-
gational leaders (at a saving in cost and number of
synodical mailings). Advertising proceeds were $1,722.
This combined income of $16,966 covered virtually all
operating costs — salaries, office supplies, etc. — except
production and mailing.

This year, with a synodical subsidy of not more than
$54,150 -- that’s less than it was 5 years ago because of
stringent economies despite rising costs — Advance has
increased its total circulation to more than 90,000. Lay
workers, deaconesses, directors of education, and chair-
men of beards of elders have been added to its free
distribution list.

In other ways too Advance is trying to improve its
services to parishes. Special monthly emphases high-
light important parish concerns. “Feedback from the
‘Field’ “ is a new service which more and more readers
are using provocatively. A new “direct-line checkup”
for elders has been introduced. And in cooperation with
the missions department, “special ministries case stud-
ies” will be added six times a year beginning this fall.

Met Doenrtnc, Editor
(10-07)
Report of Committee on Editing
Theological Journals

In accordance with Resolution 12-09, 1967 conven-
tion Proceedings. that a committee be appointed by the

President to consider “the entire question of the editing
of theological journals issued by our seminaries,” the
undersigned were appointed and met three times.

The committee met with representatives of the edi-
torial committees of the Concordia Theological Monthly
and of The Springfielder and with the general manager
of Concordia Publishing House. They had correspon-
dence with the editors of our South American theologi-
cal journals, Igreja Luterana of our seminary in Brazil
and Revista Teologica of our seminary in Argentina,
as well as with the editor of Lutherischer Rundblick
of the Lutheran Free Church in Oberursel, Germany.

Concordia Publishing House also conducted a survey
on behalf of the committee to discover how the Concor-
dia Theological Monthly is being accepted and used by
the clergy of the Missouri Synod.

In studying synodical Proceedings and the journals
themselves, the committee discovered that the Concor-
dia Theological Monthly and its predecessors, beginning
with Lehre und Wehre in 1854, were authorized by the
Synod with editorial responsibility assigned to the
faculty of Concordia Seminary, St. Louis.

The committee also learned that in 1959 the faculty
of Concordia Theological Seminary in Springfield al-
tered The Springfielder from a student publication into
a theological voice of the seminary.

As a result of these studies, the committee concluded
that theological journals are necessary and that their
function is to stimulate and strengthen the professional
growth of our clergy. To accomplish this purpose, they
may publish Biblical and exegetical studies: interpret
and develop an appreciation of the heritage of the
church, particularly the Lutheran Church; interpret
and evaluate current theology; supply reliable informa-
tion and interpretation of current developments in
Christendom, particularly in the Lutheran Church and
in the ecumenical movement: articulate the theological
basis of the practical ministry; supply sermonic helps:
and bear specifically Lutheran witness to readers of
other communions. Theological journals in The Lu-
theran Church — Missouri Synod have not ordinarily
served as manuals for practical churchwork since such
helps are provided by other periodicals, e.g, Advance
and Interaction.

Article II of the Synod’s Constitution furnishes the
guidelines by which the doctrinal content of these
journals is to be governed,

The published statements of the Concordia Theologi-
cal Monthly and of The Springfielder reflect both the
norms and the purposes stated in the preceding para-
graphs. Vol.I, No.1, January 1930, of the Concordia
Theological Monthly in an article entitled “By Way of
Introduction” states:

Its name —Concorpia THEOLOGICAL Monruiy — not only

identifies it with the doctrinal position of the Missouri

Synod, but proclaims that it intends to adhere with full

allegiance to all the Confessions of the Lutheran Church

as collected in the Book of Concord of 1580. What Lehre
und Wehre taught and defended for seventy-five years,