LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 2016, Page 14

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14

OFFICER, BOARD, AND COMMISSION REPORTS

and all convention resolutions that are supportive of or well-coordinated with these goals will serve our Synod well:
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Integrate a thorough analysis of the Synod’s worldwide mission
contexts; trends within the realms of church, state, and household; and our Synod’s emphases, mission priorities, and goals
into future projected planning scenarios and a comprehensive,
vivid, global portrait of the LCMS, two (or more) decades out.
Our Synod’s constituents/stakeholders will benefit from increasing
consensus about the long-horizon target that we’re shooting at, even
as we know that any portrait of the future is by its very nature dynamic,
not static. Our plans—even as we seek to construct them for sustainability and robust coverage of contingencies in the short term—will
thus require continual course adjustments. Moreover, we explicitly
acknowledge that it is not ours but God’s will that is done—even as
we pray “Come, Lord Jesus!” (Revelation 22:20) and His return in
glory draws near. For now we plan and labor, working the works of
God who has called us while it is day, for we know the night is coming when no one can work (John 9:4).
Increase the effectiveness of our resource stewardship through
continual improvements in planning, operations, and synchronization of program areas. For instance, our common mission will
certainly benefit from the following:
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Identification of appropriate performance metrics that reflect strategic priorities: “measure what is meaningful.”
o Benchmarking of our operating performance against objective
“best practices” external standards. (This will require intentional
conversations and comparisons with entities outside of our immediate organizational context.)
o Extension of our program areas’ strategic planning window to
promote better annual operating and capital budget decisions.
o Development and expanded use of planning and monitoring tools
(e.g., work-process mapping) to facilitate better integration of operations with strategic plan and budget).
Improve regular reporting of program areas’ goals, means, and
results to the BNM and BIM to facilitate these mission boards’
policy development and monitoring efforts. Our ONM and OIM
leadership has already started this process with the BNM and BIM
over the past months.
Encourage and establish closer working relationships within and
between program areas and Synod congregations, districts, agencies (e.g., boards, commissions, councils, educational institutions,
synodwide corporate entities), auxiliaries, and other organizations.
There is an abundant wealth of high-level expertise, core competencies, resource deployments, and complementary activities occurring
throughout our church body, all of which could be employed in the
common good of our walking together. The ongoing challenge is intentionally to identify and act on high-value partnering or coordinating
opportunities. The LCMS ideally presents a “united team” as we contend for our mission around the world!
Identify and implement an improved, sustainable funding model
that inclusively addresses not only the Synod’s cost to deploy
career missionaries and other workers into their field contexts, but
also the cost of programs and operations support for such missionaries and workers. For further discussion on this topic, please see “A
Word of Awareness for Convention Floor Committees and Delegates”
under the OIM’s Executive Summaries below. The current Network
Support Missionary Model (NSM) has been very well supported by
the Synod’s members (ref. 2013 Res. 6-02, “To (Joy)fully Fund Career
and GEO Missionaries”) and has facilitated the doubling of the number
of deployed career missionaries over the past triennium, but we also
are compelled to provide adequate financial resources for their programmatic work in the field and for commensurate OIM operational
infrastructure support that ensures ongoing care for our missionaries—and thus, their physical, spiritual, and emotional well-being.
Significantly expand the reach of our COMM channels, particularly among the households of LCMS congregation members.

2016 Convention Workbook

COMM plays a crucial role in connecting people with opportunities
to invest themselves in and provide support for ministries that yield
enormous impacts on human lives, “here in time and there in eternity”
(Small Catechism, Lord’s Prayer Second Petition).

Executive Summaries (by Program Area)
OFFICE OF NATIONAL MISSION (ONM)
Unit Executive Director, Rev. J. Bart Day
The Office of National Mission will enliven, equip, coordinate, and
engage domestic congregations, districts, and recognized service organizations in order to enhance their local and regional missions and
ministries.

While the triennium that followed the 2010 restructure of the
Synod was filled with much transition and change, this past triennium
has seen the solidifying of the work and a greater implementation of
the mission priorities of the Synod while the ONM comes alongside
districts in support of congregations, schools, and workers (3.8.2).
This has been a triennium of diligent work, new opportunities, and
strategic expansion in ONM.
The work of ONM has been drawn from the Synod’s mission priorities (see above). ONM has focused on revitalizing congregations,
schools, and workers of the Synod. That revitalization is fostered by
increasing theological education, encouraging mercy work in connection with altars, enhancing collaboration in mission, strengthening
our workers, and expanding our work among the youth of the church.
Such revitalization leads to congregations, schools, and workers who
are poised to plant new Lutheran churches.
This work takes place in individual and often unique demographic, cultural, and missiological contexts. ONM has worked to
expand Synod efforts in rural, small town, urban, inner city, and college campus contexts. These are places where opportunities abound
for mission. The world is literally coming to our door and now is the
time for the LCMS to swing the door wide open. While future demographic realities pose challenges, the Word of the Lord does not return
empty. Now is the time to be faithful. Be Lutheran. Be vigorous in
the joy of revitalizing and planting churches so that the Gospel goes
forth to the ends of the earth.
Two Key Initiatives
While the ONM’s Detailed Reports and Commentary (provided
below) are filled with program ministry updates from the work of
the past triennium, I would like to highlight two key programmatic
initiatives that are examples of the tremendous opportunities before
the church.
First, ONM has taken seriously Synod convention mandates
to plant churches (ref. 2013 Res. 1-04A, “To Encourage Church
Multiplication as Means of Making New Disciples”) and revitalize congregations. Two new initiatives are being launched: Mission
Field: USA and re:Vitality. These initiatives (outlined below) are
ONM’s response to the needs of the church to increase our work in
church planting and revitalization, and they are opening new doors
for ONM to serve and support the districts of the Synod. In the coming years, we expect these initiatives only to expand as we serve more
congregations.
A key part of revitalization is reaching our neighbor with witness
of the Gospel (ref. 2013 Res. 1-05A, “To Encourage the Congregations
and People of the LCMS in the Joy of Evangelization and the Making
of New Disciples”). A new lay, vocational evangelism program, Every
One His Witness, is being developed and implemented. We pray this
program will enliven the Synod in the work of evangelism.
Another component of revitalization is to more vigorously engage
our communities through acts of mercy in service to our neighbor. In 2017, ONM will launch the Lutheran Young Adult Corps,