LCMS Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 1971, Page 191

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RESOLUTIONS 191

is virtually unprecedented in intensity (it is estimated
that the number will soon reach ten million); and

Wuereas, Currently as a result of widespread ex-
posure by the public media of the misery of these refu-
gees, the sympathies of the American people have been
aroused, creating a desire to help them; and

Wuereas, Our Board of Social Ministry and World
Relief has already shared in the efforts of Lutheran
World Relief by providing blankets and funds for med-
ical supplies at the time of the cyclone, and since then
we have shared in the assistance given at several refu-
gee camps (Cooch Behar, which has grown from 15,000
to 300,000 and through the Christian Agency for Social
Action of India which reaches camps strung out over
1,350 miles). The total of our Synod’s share has already
been in excess of $45,000, and the problem is becoming
more complex; and

Wuereas, Many of our-members have inquired con-
cerning our assistance in meeting this gigantic need and
have offered to provide additional financial help; there-
fore be it

Resolved, That the Board of Social Ministry and
World Relief alert our congregations immediately to the
serious refugee situation that prevails in India at this
time and to offer them an opportunity to respond to this
refugee problem, mindful that our annual appeal for
World Relief funds which will come in the fall will
give us another opportunity for our Synod to provide
a powerful witness of our Christian concern for the
plight of what might be history’s largest refugee prob-
lem.

Action: Adopted (11).

Social Ministry Affirmations
RESOLUTION 9-07

Affirmations 9-02; Overtures 7-04, 9-08, 9-22, 9-38,
9-39 (CW, pp. 368, 383—384, 389, 393—394, 398)

To express concern for God’s creation.

To identify with all human suffering.

To pursue a benevolent course for social improvement.
To concentrate on functions unbelievers cannot perform.

As Christians of the Lutheran tradition, we believe
that the mission and ministry of Jesus Christ, as made
known by the church, needs to be brought to all men
in, with, and under our words and deeds. The goal of
Christ’s ministry is nothing less than the salvation of
mankind; that is, the restoration of all people to that
kind of life, both here and hereafter, for which they
were created. To remind ourselves of this ministry and
to make its nature and scope clear to one another and
to the world, we subscribe to the following affirmations
and pledge ourselves to implement them.

I. We affirm our commitment to this ministry.

Each Christian is committed to this ministry by vir-
tue of his baptism into Jesus Christ and by the power

of the indwelling Spirit of Jesus Christ. Matt. 28: 18-20;
Rom. 9; Eph. 4; 1 Cor, 15:20 ff.; 2 Cor. 5.

Il. We affirm that the world is God’s creation.

The world came from the hand of God. “In the be-
ginning God created the heavens and the earth.” The
earth with its vast resources and riches is the Lord's,
intended by Him for man’s use and enjoyment.

Through his fall into sin, man introduced into the
world those evil forces that work to impoverish and
deface this creation, and man himself has become the
primary agent of its corruption. We therefore call on
all people to be alert to the destructive nature of evil
in the endless variety of forms in which it emerges.

At the same time, we pledge ourselves to work so
as to restore and to preserve the life-sustaining quali-
ties of the air, the earth, and the water, as a way of
responsibly manifesting our creation in God’s image.
Similarly, we give thanks for every effort on man’s
part to exercise wise stewardship over the things that
God has made. Gen. 1:1; Ps. 103 and 118; Col. 1: 16-17.

Ill. We affirm that human life is God’s gift.

By reason of the Father’s creation and the Son’s
redemption of man, God has exalted him above all
other creatures and has given to him the privilege of
becoming His child. Therefore, human life must be
treasured, supported, and protected,

We support efforts to achieve these goals, such as
working for the elimination of those’ forces and factors
that cause wars, violence in our communities, and de-
struction on our highways.

We encourage all people to avoid perverting God’s
will by resorting to indiscriminate termination of life,
either directly through such acts as abortion or eutha-
nasia, or indirectly through the improper use of drugs,
tobacco, and alcohol, or any of God’s means for sus-
taining life.

We support a system of values that places impor-
tance on people rather than on things, on persons rather
than on programs, and on men rather than on means.
Gen. 1:26; Matt. 5:21-26; Matt. 9:25; Matt. 16:26; Phil.
1:21.

IV. We affirm that God created people for fullness
of life.

The love with which God redeemed people through
the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus
Christ indicates that God desires that in His Son men
might share in the completeness of His blessings that
bring the quality of full life to His children. Jesus’
words, “I am come that you might have life and that
you might have it more abundantly,” include the needs
of the whole man.

We therefore pledge ourselves to work for the elim-
ination of poverty and hunger which may rob God’s
people of joy and peace. We also realize that wealth
and abundant food do not by themselves assure the
abundant life.

We also dedicate ourselves to the task of combating