LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 2016, Page 248

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248

VII. 2013 RES. 4-06A TASK FORCE REPORT TO THE SYNOD

their vocations. Doing this through the districts in an organized fashion can be a great blessing to both congregation and pastor.
Various districts also prepare laypeople to serve in roles that assist
the pastor in a variety of ways, particularly in evangelistic (witness)
and mercy (diaconal) work. These efforts sponsored by districts are an
important means of equipping the priesthood of the baptized for their
service in Christ’s name and are to be encouraged wherever possible.
Such courses of study on the district level can provide a foundation or an impetus for some to go on to the even more in-depth study
required of men entering an SMP program or the usual seminary
routes to the pastoral office. District study courses often are and can
continue to be the first steps to prepare men to enter an SMP program.
All this is beneficial and should be encouraged wherever districts
have the resources for it. Synod has said as much in various resolutions over the years. Most notably, 2004 Res. 5-09 affirmed “the role
of the laity in expanding the mission of the church and recognize[d]
the need further to equip laypersons for mission work.”73 More
recently, the Synod in 2013 resolved that “every pastor and congregation be encouraged to participate in the study of God’s Word and of the
Lutheran Confessions and Lutheran Apologetics in defense of their
Christian faith.”74 The same 2013 Convention also directed “the Office
of National Mission to work aggressively to increase awareness of
its services and resources for the Synod’s congregations, institutions,
schools, and professional church workers for training and equipping
all God’s people, members, and families for joyful evangelization,
sharing with confidence and courage their hope in Christ—namely,
the forgiveness of sins and eternal life in His name.”75
However, the focus of this training, if it is truly to serve the mission of the church to bring the Gospel to lost people, ought not be on
training laypeople to do pastoral work (as though that were the only
“real” ministry). Rather, a more important focus should be in helping all the baptized to evangelize—witnessing to Christ and sharing
the Christian faith within their vocation.76 Though we charge pastors in the rite of ordination to “do the work of an evangelist”(2 Tim.
4:5), the best evangelists are often laypeople gifted and hopefully
trained to tell the Good News of Jesus wherever their vocations take
them. Evangelists or witnesses77 within all walks of life are essential
for reaching the lost and for the church to grow. Pastors, of course,
need to be out in the community making connections with people,
always ready to apply God’s Word of Law and Gospel. Lay evangelists, however, are able to go far more places to bring the Word of
Jesus to far more people.
District lay leadership training efforts are a great blessing when
they help people, especially lay leaders in congregations, understand
the true mission of the church and grow as evangelists always “prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the
hope that is in you” (1 Pet. 3:15). We do not need to make laypeople
think they are doing “real” ministry only when they are doing things
the pastor does, but we do need lay evangelists, lay leaders, lay men
and women who can teach others the Word of God within their vocation, men and women who serve in appropriate leadership positions
in the congregation, but most important, baptized people of God who
speak the Good News of Jesus at every opportunity God gives them
in their vocation. This is where district programs can be most helpful
in the broader mission of the church. Equipping the baptized people
of God to fulfill their vocation as “a chosen race, a royal priesthood,
a holy nation, a people for His own possession, that [we] may proclaim the excellencies of Him who called [us] out of darkness into
His marvelous light” (1 Pet. 2:9) is an essential need that district lay
training programs can help to address.
2016 Convention Workbook

Therefore, while training for the specific role of “licensed lay
deacon” will no longer continue, the task force instead recommends
that a major emphasis in lay training programs be placed on the role
of evangelist and the task of outreach in the increasingly diverse and
challenging world of the US. Such programs need to be highlighted,
strengthened, and encouraged. The task force is not recommending that, at least at this point, a synodically recognized “office of
evangelist” be established. Rather, this recommendation intends to
emphasize the evangelistic or witnessing task within the everyday
vocations of all LCMS laity (see also Recommendation 8).78
Recommendation 8:
Identification and Training of Laity for the Role of Evangelist
In conjunction with Recommendation 7, the task force recommends that congregations and districts be encouraged to identify
individuals for special training in and attention to evangelism.
As individuals are identified, we encourage congregations and
districts to facilitate their training both through existing Synod
efforts and programs and in special, intensive training through
district lay programs.
This report has noted that three reasons have been advanced since
the mid-1980s for licensed lay deacons to serve in the LCMS. First,
there is the shortage of ordained pastors available to serve in certain
locales. Second is the reality that some congregations, particularly
those in rural and urban areas, are unable to financially support a
full-time pastor and have difficulty finding even temporary supply
pastors. And third, few LCMS pastors are equipped for mission outreach and church planting in urban settings as well as among various
ethnic, racial, and immigrant groups where there is also limited financial resources to support a full-time ordained pastor.
This portion of the report is focused on this third reason for
employing the services of licensed lay deacons and offers both an
observation and recommendation for the use of the New Testament
role of evangelists in the twenty-first century. There are growing
and significant opportunities in the United States for outreach by
Christians with the saving actions Jesus proclaimed in word and deed.
On May 12, 2015, the Pew Research Center posted its new
Religious Landscape Study, the first complete revision since an earlier 2007 study.79 The study draws on a massive sample size of more
than 35,000 Americans to offer a detailed look at the current religious composition of US adults. The following are five key findings
from that study, depicting the state of the current mission field in the
United States.
1. In 2007, 78.4% of U.S. adults identified with Christian groups, such
as Protestants and Catholics80 … ; seven years later, that percentage
has fallen to 70.6%. Accounting for overall population growth in that
period, that means there are roughly 173 million Christian adults in
the U.S. today, down from about 178 million in 2007.
2. Within Christianity, the biggest declines have been in the mainline
Protestant tradition and among Catholics. Mainline Protestants represented 14.7% of U.S. adults in 2014, down from 18.1% in 2007, while
the Catholic share of the population fell to 20.8% from 23.9% over
the same period. By comparison, evangelical Protestants have been
more stable, declining only about 1 percentage point between 2007
and 2014 (from 26.3% to 25.4%).
3. The decline of Christians in the U.S. has corresponded with the continued rise in the share of Americans with no religious affiliation
(religious “nones”). People who self-identify as atheists or agnostics
(about 7% of all U.S. adults), as well as those who say their religion
is “nothing in particular,” now account for a combined 22.8% of U.S.
adults—up from 16.1% in 2007. The growth of the “nones” has been
powered in part by religious switching. Nearly one-in-five U.S. adults