LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 2016, Page 120

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120

OFFICER, BOARD, AND COMMISSION REPORTS

A confessional Lutheran church, we ought never be so ashamed as
to water down our message for the sake of being more palatable
to a self-absorbed, self-motivated culture. We are Lutheran Christians. As St. Paul tells the Corinthians: “We preach Christ crucified,
a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who
are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the
wisdom of God” 1 Corinthians 1:23–24.
4. President Wille concluded his remarks to the convention, stating,
“This is our God-given time to proclaim and confess the saving
name of Christ Jesus. This is our time to honor our vocation as the
people of God in our various life stations. This is our time to embrace our communities with the Gospel. This is our time to plant
new Lutheran congregations. This is our time to teach our children
and grandchildren who Jesus is and what He does for us. My hope
and prayer is that the simple phrase “Confessing Christ for the Next
Generation” will be the focus of everything we do over the next
three years with the following focus: this is our time to be distinctly
Lutheran, this is our time to honor our vocations, this is our time to
embrace our communities, and this is our time to plant new congregations.

Among several other items that should be noted is that for the last
four years, SWD has partnered with the North Wisconsin District
in training our circuit visitors. A year ago, Rev. Tom Eckstein from
North Dakota led the CVs in a discussion of God’s gift of marriage
as well as ministering to same-sex-oriented people. This year, Ted
Kober from Ambassadors of Reconciliation led the CVs through a
new Bible study and training in conflict resolution.
On the church-planting front, good things are happening in
SWD. Cross-culturally, a new Hispanic church plant is underway
in the Sheboygan area. Rev. Carlos Hernandez, who preached at the
installation of Vicar David Blas, stated, “If we can start a Hispanic
congregation in Sheboygan, we can start one anywhere.” There are
27 Anglo congregations in Sheboygan County. A second new plant
in Sheboygan is among the Hmong people. In the Madison area,
Bethlehem Sun Prairie is partnering with the district to restart a plant
in Waunakee, a bedroom community of Madison. Plans are evolving
for additional mission plants in SWD.
As you can see from this report, the South Wisconsin District is
quite viable. We are 214 congregations, nearly 100 elementary and
early childhood schools, 6 high schools, and 1 university. The congregations and church workers of SWD are wholeheartedly committed to
our Lutheran Confessions, to our Lutheran identity. As such, we are
also committed wholeheartedly to reaching out with the Gospel. We
are committed to planting Lutheran congregations. We are also one
of the original partners in the Dominican Republic Foro, which has
now been duplicated in other areas of South America.
I close this report with the words of Martin Luther, who takes
us to the heart of our faith when in his Preface to the Epistle to the
Galatians (St. Louis edition IX 9) he writes: “In my heart there reigns,
and shall ever reign, this one article, namely, faith in my dear Lord
Christ, which is the sole beginning, middle, and end of all spiritual and
godly thoughts which I may have at any time, day or night.”
John C. Wille, President
R49

Southeastern District
Note: 2013 Res. 7-04A requires district presidents to submit a
report of the viability of the district. Aspects of viability include visitation, mission work, adaptation to new circumstances related to
mission and ministry, congregational services, financial obligation,
size, and configuration. These aspects of viability are highlighted
throughout this report.
2016 Convention Workbook

Our SED convention. Gathered under the theme God@
Work4Each1: Standing iN Faith––Walking iN witness––Running
iN Joy, the delegates celebrated the completion of our ABLAZE goals
ahead of the Oct. 31, 2017, completion date. These goals were mandated by previous conventions:
Prayer Partners
º Goal: 3,000 prayer partners
º Actual: 3,007 prayer partners
Outreach Mission Teams Trained
º Goal: 60 outreach mission teams trained
º Actual: 76 outreach teams
Congregations Involved in Mission Outreach
º Goal: 100 congregations involved in Mission outreach
º Actual: 153 congregations reported Mission outreach activity
New Ministry Initiated
º Goal: 100 new ministries initiated
º Actual: 101 new ministries initiated
Critical events where one person shared their faith in Jesus with another
individual
º Goal: 2.5 million critical events
º Actual: 2,708,477 critical events recorded

Completion of these five goals is one way to measure the mission
and ministry viability of the SED.
Our Mission Work. The Southeastern District includes York
County, Pennsylvania; Delaware; Maryland; Virginia; District of
Columbia; North and South Carolina. Our district is divided into
three regions: Northern, Central, and Southern. In those regions we
have 212 churches, 90 schools, and 45 missions (not yet chartered).
Living in the borders of the SED are 32,225,000 people (10 percent
of the population of the United States), who live in 3,878 zip codes.
Eighty percent of our neighbors do not attend worship. We live in the
mission field. Since our ministries have a presence in only 250/3,878
zip codes, we recognize the opportunity that exists since our baptized
membership lives in most if not all of the zip codes.
Our delegates adopted the following Mission and Vision:
Mission: In grateful response to God’s grace and empowered by the
Holy Spirit, the SED connects people with Jesus.
Vision: As we work together to connect our neighbors to Jesus, lives
are transformed, and God’s kingdom grows.

Fueled by God’s Means of Grace (Word and Sacraments) we
seek to equip 10 percent of our baptized members (including those
of us who are ordained and commissioned workers) to reach God’s
precious children in the neighborhoods where we live, work, and
play with the love of Jesus––even as He called, equipped, sent, and
received back the 72 (Luke 10). In our LIFE TOGETHER we hope
to develop accountable and sustainable ministry in 500 new neighborhoods beyond our present congregations, schools, and missions
over the next six years that will be shaped through actions of MERCY
and bold WITNESS.
In addition to English-speaking new church starts, much of our
new promising mission work is being initiated by those who come
from around the world. Our first Latino and Ethiopian congregations were chartered this last year. We have outreach and worship that
are Latino, Liberian, Chinese, Korean, Hmong, Arabic, Hindi, Urdu,
Eritrean, and Ethiopian––both Amharic and Oromo. An Ethiopian
diaspora has emerged in Washington DC with an estimated 400,000
documented people. The SED added Rev. Dr. Yared Halche to our
staff to assist us in responding to the cross-cultural opportunities.
The SED’s response to the mission opportunity through iNeighborhood ministry and mission planting among ethnic groups is a mark
of the SED viability.