LCMS Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 2010, Page 60

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60

REPORT OF THE PRESIDENT

gain a foothold in working with people who don’t relate to our historic,
traditional ways of worship . Some of them may be our grandchildren
who have already abandoned our LCMS congregations! For many
in our Synod, including some in this assembly today, the attrition of
children and grandchildren from the church is not some possible,
future scenario, but rather a present, living reality .
The church we leave for our descendants must be many things: a
church that provides safety and security in troubled times; a church
where wholesome relationships can be established as a balance to the
anonymity and sterility of a high-tech/low-touch world; a missionfocused community where people can live out their passion for
mission personally and corporately; a church that invites people to
use their God-given gifts in tangible and creative ways; but most of
all, a church where the authority of God’s Word is honored and taught
and where forgiveness in Christ is freely offered through Word and
Sacraments .
Without changing the theology and doctrine we leave for our
children and grandchildren, we must recognize that many other things
have changed and are quite different from what our grandparents
experienced . These changes make ministry today much more difficult
in many ways than that of our grandparents’ church:
Experts say that more than 40 percent of American children, by
the age of 6, have no father living at home, no traditional spiritual
head of the house . What would our grandparents think of that?
Today, in the privacy of his or her own home, a person can turn
on a computer—something many of our grandparents never heard
of—and look at pornography in every form . I don’t have to imagine
what my grandfathers would say about that .
In recent years, many people have been drawn to the “Church
of Oprah .” I can only imagine our grandparents saying, “Oprah?
Who’s he?”
Today, little children in rough neighborhoods, some with their
mothers on drugs in the next room, go to bed hoping they won’t be
killed by a bullet from a drive-by shooting .
These are different days, indeed, from those of our grandparents .
If it can be said, in some sense, that “This is not your grandfather’s
church,” then whose church is it? I’ll tell you whose . It’s your church .
It’s my church . It’s our church . Most importantly, it’s Christ’s church .
It’s the church about which our grandparents dreamed, and it’s the
church of which our grandchildren are and hopefully will continue
to be a part .
One day, not so long from now, we will see our grandparents in
heaven . If we could grant, for the sake of this report, that they would
have knowledge of what we did in their absence, what would they say
to us? I know what I would want them to say . I would want them to
say: “Thank you . Thank you for preserving everything we entrusted
to your care—the precious Word of God, our theology and doctrine—
and thank you for handing it down so carefully, guided by the Holy
Spirit, to your own children and grandchildren .
“At the same time, thank you for realizing, in the complicated
times in which you lived and worked, that certain traditions—
not doctrine, but traditions, for they are not the same—had to be
expanded to meet the opportunities God gave you . Thank you for not
simply looking back on what was, but, honoring and appreciating all

2010 Convention Proceedings

that was, going forward with new ideas to win the hearts of sinners
for Christ .
“Thank you for knowing that the situation you faced was not an
either/or proposition . It’s not a choice between defending the purity
of the Gospel on the one hand and finding creative ways to share it
on the other . These are not mutually exclusive . You can do both, and
you did . And in so doing, you showed what makes our Synod unique .
“Thank you for seeing the harvest fields—some more complex
than most we ever knew, but fields ripe for the harvest—and not
shrinking from the task and challenge they presented .
“Thank you for knowing that the thing to do with your
grandfather’s church was neither to disregard it nor to keep it exactly
the same . The thing to do was to build on it . That’s how you carry on
the dream—by planning and praying and building . That’s how you
set a course, a vision, for the future .
“Finally, thank you for making the Missouri Synod mountaintop
a place where the light of Christ was not kept under guard, as if you
were afraid to lose it, but rather was put on a stand and allowed to
shine its guiding beam to people living in the darkness of sin . It lit
the path for your feet to go into many valleys and provided a beacon
of hope for those in despair . In the words of the parable, ‘Then the
master said to the slave, “Go into the roads and lanes, and compel
people to come in, so that my house may be filled” ’(Luke 14:23) .”
I believe with all my heart that this is what our grandparents
would say . I hope and pray the dreams we envision, the decisions
we make, the things we do, are pleasing to them . I hope and pray,
when they see us in heaven, the first words out of their mouths are
 .  .  . “Thank you for your commitment to the Gospel!” Above all,
I pray that what we do is pleasing in the eyes of God, from whose
mouth we long to hear the words, “Well done, good and faithful
servants!”
This 64th regular convention is a pivotal event in the life of The
Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod . Voting delegates, you have many
important decisions to make . Officers will be elected and decisions
will be made that will determine the direction of the LCMS in the
years ahead . I pray that all that is said and done will reflect the will
of our gracious God and that the Spirit of God will lead, guide, and
direct you in making these very important decisions .
I also pray that we will answer the call to rededicate ourselves
as ONE People— Forgiven . I pray that the Spirit will move us to be
about the ONE Mission of God, our hearts on fire with love for the
lost . Time is short and hell is hot! I pray that we will recommit to
proclaiming the ONE Message of Christ and Him alone . And I pray
that we will strengthen our resolve to keep uppermost on our minds
and in our hearts the wonderful blessings with which our God has
blessed us: “One Faith! One Hope! One Lord—who knows and cares,
who loves and forgives!”
Thank you and God bless each and every one of you .
Sources:
1 . “Progress Report of the Task Force on Synodical Harmony,”
Convention Workbook, 2010, p . 75 .
2 . Adams, James E ., Preus of Missouri and the Great Lutheran
Civil War, New York: Harper & Row, 1977, dust-jacket blurb
and pp . ix-x .