LCMS Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 1971, Page 79

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THE CONVENTION ESSAY 79

country. In Africa the Christians were 3 percent of
the population in 1900. They are 28 percent today and
at the present rates will be 46 percent at the end of the
century. ... In the city of Seoul, Korea, there are 1,000
Christian churches. . .. New Guinea is rapidly becom-
ing a Christian land.” 2°

But how about our church at home, our Synod, the
2,875,000-plus Christians that call themselves The Lu-
theran Church — Missouri Synod? Let us take a quick
look at the record of members gained from without
the Synod during the last 20 years. Our progress today
is not impressive. You might, in fact, call it dismal.
In 1950 we gained one member from outside the Synod
(including reclaimed members and transfers from other
Lutheran bodies) for every 25.9 members now in our
church. Put differently, it took 25.9 members one year
to gain one member for the Synod. Things improved to
the point where in 1958 it took 22.1 members to gain
one. However, since 1958 the record has steadily de-
teriorated to the point where in 1970 the ratio was
34.9 to 1.

Things look even worse if you look at the record of
adults baptized or confirmed. In 1950 it took 46.1 Mis-
souri Synod Lutherans one year to gain one adult con-
vert. By 1970 we slipped to the point where it now takes
75.9 members one year to gain one member.

Do you realize that if the twelve apostles had pro-
duced at the rate we are baptizing adults, it would
have taken all 12 of them 6 years and 3 months to pro-
duce one disciple for Christ?

[Our trouble is not that we have too much pure doc-
trine, as if that were possible. The troubles of the
liberal churches are even greater. For example, a recent
survey reported by U.S. News and World Report indi-
cated that 25 percent of “liberal” church members said
they attended church weekly. However, 68 percent of
“eonservative” church members reported that they at-
tended church weekly.?7]

It isn’t that God’s Holy Spirit is letting us down.
Christ hasn’t left us. He promised to be with us until
the end of the age.

No, the problem lies within us. Can it be true of us
as it was of the church at Ephesus of whom Christ said
in Rev. 2:4, “I have this against you, that you have
abandoned the love you had at first,” or of the church
at Laodicea, “the lukewarm church that was neither hot
nor cold” (Rev. 3:15-16) ?

It need not be so. I have before me the record of
a congregation who under their pastor’s leadership have
come alive and realized their personal responsibility to
their non-Christian neighbors.

The congregation has just 300 communicants and 500
baptized souls. Yet 100 souls are being added to their
number each year since they started their evangelism
program. Sixty percent of the adults are involved in at
least one of the eight Bible classes they operate. Over
the past 3 years congregational giving has increased by
60 percent.

I am sure statistics of other congregations like this

across the Synod could be cited. But what a record!
How different would our whole synodical picture look
if we all would really take our Lord’s words seriously,
if we would really speak to men of the reason of the
hope that is within us, if we would really get out and
eagerly share the message of reconciliation.

We are ambassadors for Christ, and the whole vast
complex machinery of this convention has the purpose
of serving that function. Our concern over theology,
our planning of programs for the operating arms of the
church, our promotion of mission, evangelism, parish
education, stewardship, our deep resolve to support
ministerial education — all these and many others serve
the purpose of the ministry of reconciliation.

Paul, in 2 Corinthians 6:2, tells us, “Now is the ac-
ceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.”
July 1971 is indeed the time of God’s grace. God has
brought you and me and our Synod to this point and
time in history to do His work.

Let us lay aside our own little goals, our ambitions,
our personal frictions and controversies, and all else
that may impede us. Let us look to the cross where
Jesus Christ paid the price, to the empty tomb that pro-
claimed the victory, to the day of Pentecost that pro-
claimed the power of the Spirit. We are reconciled with
God. Let us truly believe this, then become new again,
be reconciled with ourselves and the world. Let us
take up the mantle of the ambassadors, the delegates
of heaven, the ministers of reconciliation. Now is the
time!

In 1972 our Synod will celebrate its 125th birthday.
This convention has resolved that we ask our people
to gather a great thankoffering to express our gratitude
for God’s rich blessings on our beloved Synod. We will
surely want to show that with God’s energizing grace
we are not old and feeble, but rather young and dy-
namic. For the fields are indeed white unto harvest,
and we are indeed new creations in Jesus Christ.

Yes, today is the day of salvation! The privilege, the
honor, and the glory of the ambassadorship is ours.
Let us by God’s power in this convention hall write
a great chapter in the history of His people. For we
remember, “God was in Christ reconciling the world
unto Himself, not counting their trespasses against
them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.
So we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his ap-
peal through us.” (2 Cor. 5: 19-20)

In His name,
Amen.
Pau. A. ZIMMERMAN

References

1. Gerald Clarke, Time, May 3, 1971, p. 77.

2. Sol M. Linowitz, “Campus Tensions: Analysis and Rec-
ommendations,” American Psychologist, 25, 8 (August 1970),
700.

3. Margaret Mead, Culture and Commitment (Garden
City, N. Y.: Natural History Press, Doubleday and Company,
1970).

4. Ibid., p. 74.

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