LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 2016, Page 16

Transcription machine transcription, uncorrected

⤓ Download .txt · copy text

16

OFFICER, BOARD, AND COMMISSION REPORTS

throughout the world, members of the LCMS are engaged directly
with mission work in ways that our forbearers could not have imagined, much less considered.
Addressing the Challenge Together
With this blessing, increased mission activity across the Synod is
a challenge. It is a challenge that I have addressed before the Council
of Presidents, the Board of Directors, the Board for International
Mission, the LCEF Leadership Conference, the Mega Church
Conference, the Association of Lutheran Mission Agencies (ALMA)
Conference, as well as during individual meetings with various agencies and groups. The challenge is that we (the LCMS collectively)
often engage in various mission fields without collaboration, cooperation, coordination, or communication (the “4 C’s”). The result of
various LCMS entities and mission societies doing work without the
4 C’s is ineffective stewardship of resources provided by God through
faithful donors and causing real harm in the field by contributing to
corruption, adding to internal strife within church bodies, initiating
projects that are short-lived only to bring despair once interest wanes,
and supporting heterodox church bodies that preach a “gospel” which,
as Paul says in Galatians, is really no gospel at all.
As I have shared with the groups mentioned above, the OIM is not
seeking to “control” mission activity across the Synod. In reality, OIM
does not have the capacity to do all of the work that various groups
are doing. What I do ask of all LCMS entities, and of rostered church
workers who work for independent mission agencies—and what I ask
of our delegates—is that as the “Synod,” we genuinely walk together
in mission through collaboration, cooperation, coordination, and communication (ref. 2013 Res. 1-08, “To Work Together in Mission”).
Are there resolutions that we—“Upon This Rock,” walking together
as the Synod in convention—can prayerfully consider and adopt that
will give God thanks for the increased zeal for mission all across the
LCMS, that will help us to be more effective stewards of God’s gifts
through donors, that will enable us to do our work in a way that significantly reduces harm to church partners throughout the world, and
that will ensure that we do not support heterodox groups?
In these past months of serving the OIM, I had the opportunity to
read Dr. David Kolb’s Lutherans on the Yangtze: A Centenary Account
of the Missouri Synod in China. It is a fascinating account that traces
LCMS mission work in China, and it is particularly meaningful to
me because it was a former missionary to China and his wife, Rev.
Lorenz and Ella Buuck, who were instrumental in me becoming a
Lutheran—and then considering pastoral ministry upon leaving a
career in law enforcement. But Dr. Kolb’s work is even more significant for me as OIM Executive Director because it is very evident that
the early missionaries to China were always mindful of what they
were leaving for future generations of LCMS missionaries further to
build upon, and what they were leaving to the indigenous church. I
have reflected numerous times upon the question of what the OIM is
leaving to future generations of LCMS missionaries and to the indigenous church where we currently are working. There is value for the
LCMS in convention to ask ourselves what our decisions will leave
future generations of LCMS members and what lasting impact these
decisions will have on the church.
I am very confident that the OIM is leaving to the next generation
of LCMS missionaries a clear understanding of what it means to be
Lutheran in mission as we confess the faith given to us in the Book
of Concord. I am very confident that the OIM is leaving to the next
generation of LCMS missionaries a clear mission strategy: Lutheran
mission leads to Lutheran proclamation of the Gospel, which leads to
Lutheran congregations, which leads to training local pastors, which
leads to local Lutheran mission.
2016 Convention Workbook

A Word of Awareness for Convention Floor Committees and
Delegates
What gives me most concern when considering a legacy to the
next generation of missionaries in the LCMS is whether the Synod
has a sustainable model to ensure adequate resources for our mission work and the support of our missionaries that is realistic and
reliable. Allow me to flesh this out a bit. At our Synod’s 2013 convention, we resolved to double the number of career missionaries in
the current triennium. As I noted above, thanks be to God that we
have nearly reached that goal at the time of this writing. Those missionaries are currently being funded through the Network Support
Missionary Model (NSM), which continues to be very successful as
individuals, congregations, and groups are providing generously. And
I understand that we’ve only “scratched the surface” of LCMS congregations participating in the NSM!
What is lacking, however, is adequate financial resources for their
work in the field. In the last triennium, with the near-doubling of
career missionaries, our operating budget in the field has not increased
proportionately. As I have asked various groups, “Which business or
company would make plans to double the number of their full-time
employees in three years without also having a plan that will enable
them to do their work?” The reality is that in the last three years,
while increasing the number of missionaries, districts are sending
fewer unrestricted dollars for the Synod’s operation—and the OIM is
receiving fewer of those unrestricted dollars. That doesn’t sound like
a sustainable model for any operation. Nearly 100 percent of OIM’s
operating budget both in St. Louis and in the field must be provided
by generous donors. Giving has not kept pace with what is needed to
do the work of bringing Jesus to people around the globe.
As I shared with the Council of Presidents and the Synod’s Board
of Directors, I do understand that this is a complex matter and I offer
no easy solution. But it is a challenge that we, the LCMS together,
must address soon—or we may not have a lasting mission program
to pass on to future generations.
Those who know me also know that I am not a hand-wringer, fretting needlessly over matters. I am not an alarmist. So this is no “sky
is falling” report. Those who know me do know I find transparency
and straight-talk to be helpful as we understand together a challenge,
take ownership, and make a plan to move forward. All of this is done
in faith as we serve the mission our Lord has given to us, pray that
He will send laborers into the harvest, and pray that He will give us
this day our daily bread.
Faith and Life in Christ
The Church is built upon the Lord Jesus, the chief cornerstone.
He has redeemed poor, miserable sinners through the atoning work of
His obedient life, sacrificial death, and life-giving resurrection. God
has called us by this Gospel, adopting us as His own beloved in the
waters of Baptism, keeping us and sustaining us in this faith and life
in Christ through Word and Sacrament. Jesus has given to His Church
the command to make disciples of all nations. The Church throughout the generations has understood this to be our call. It has never
been easy. It has never been without struggles and challenges. It has
never been without ongoing satanic assault. It has never been without
redeemed sinners expressing their sinful natures in the midst of this
holy work. But thanks be to God that He is rich in mercy, forgives us
our sins, keeps us in this faith, brings forth reconciliation and faithful confession of His Word, and gives us many reasons to rejoice in
what He is accomplishing through these frail vessels.
Pray that the Lord of the harvest will bless our beloved Synod in
convention, so that we are mindful always that His Church is built
upon the Rock and it is not our own, that we repent of our sins where
needed, that we confess words of grace and Holy Absolution, that