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LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 2019, Page 46

Scan: The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod

Transcription machine transcription, uncorrected

OFFICER, BOARD, AND COMMISSION REPORTS

one priority. Our LCMS college students need substantive opportunities to grow in their faith, address issues they face on
campus, receive further catechetical training, and enjoy one another’s company. Many of them have an LCMS campus ministry at their school, but most do not. Preparing our young people
for life during college requires our full attention as we seek to
support these students and their parents, congregations, and
campus ministries.
Apologetics in the Academic Square—The university campus has always been a place designed to facilitate learning, formation, and the pursuit of truth. Our college campuses are great
incubators of societal ideas, both good and bad. The church
cannot surrender its place in the academic square without dire
results. We also need to support our LCMS faculty and staff
who work in these communities. As confessional Lutherans, we
have something to say to everyone on campus—in the kingdom
of the left and the right.
Reaching Out to Those Who Are Lost—College campuses are quickly becoming one of our primary national mission
fields. In addition to the task of continuing to care for our own
LCMS college-age youth, God has opened doors for outreach
to international students (now over 1 million study on American soil), as well as those who have either lost the faith or are
searching for truth. The opportunity for evangelism and mission is breathtaking.
Engaging a Dying Culture with Christ—This generation of
young people is becoming increasingly lost in a world of gray,
where false idealism and misplaced priorities rule. Idols are everywhere. Where truth is being set aside, cultural decay soon
follows. However, the Word of God is powerful and effective.
Christ alone is the answer, even as He reminds us that “you will
know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:32).
As we celebrate the centennial of LCMS campus ministry
next year, we thank God for the tremendous opportunities to
confess the faith and witness to the lost that exist on our nation’s campuses. The need is greater than ever, and LCMS U is
continuing to help provide the structure and resources for congregations and campus ministries engaged in this effort. Many
new horizons await us, including urban campus ministry and
outreach on community college campuses. The challenges are
increasing, but the opportunities are far outpacing them.
May God continue to bless all the young people of the
church, our collective efforts at the Synod, district, circuit, and
congregational levels to support them, and the opportunities
that we have to witness in the academic square and reach the
lost for the sake of the Gospel.

Black Ministry—Rev. Dr. Roosevelt Gray, Director
LCMS Black Ministry is a specialized ministry of encouragement and assistance to the more than 300 congregations and
schools within the LCMS that provide for large black populations, reaching out with the Gospel in mercy and compassion
for their neighbor. It advocates and influences Lutheran mission
and LCMS districts, congregations, schools, and service organizations that serve indigenous black and African populations in
promoting faithfulness to the theology of the LCMS and cultural sensitivity to communities we serve.
Black Ministry began the 2016–2019 triennium with the
2016 Convention charge to work on starting new Rosa J. Young
2019 Convention Workbook

Academies, an emphasis and result of The First Rosa documentary of 2015. The process of starting the first academy is underway through the Alabama Public Charter School Commission.
An application for the first Rosa J. Young Academy for Selma,
Alabama, has been submitted and is presently waiting for approval. In 2017, Black Ministry celebrated the 140th anniversary of the LCMS in Black Ministry with a Family Convocation
in historic Birmingham, Alabama, with 500 participants in remembrance of the 500th anniversary celebration of the Reformation, under the theme of All For Jesus: Know Him, Confess
Him, Serve Him (Philippians 3:7–11). The TimeLine quarterly
newsletter is emailed to help encourage, equip, and empower
congregations in black ministry with articles of congregation
awareness, best ministry practices, and witness and outreach resources. We facilitate the continued support of the black and
African immigrant clergy caucus and leadership training. The
preparation, planning, and location of the 2020 Family Convocation is in process for July 2020. Congregations are encouraged
with resources in witness, outreach, and church planting. Resources have been developed and provided in person and online
at the Synod’s website for congregations in black ministry.

Worship—Rev. Will Weedon, Director
The Synod’s Worship program ministry nurtures a culture
of confessional faithfulness, artistic excellence, and integrity in
the presentation, distribution, and reception of God’s life-giving gifts in Word and Sacraments.
Worship is more than an aspect of congregational or Christian life. It is, in fact, the very purpose of our existence, that
“we might be to the praise of His glory” (Ephesians 1:12). In
the past triennium, we have sought out and been blessed to find
numerous ways to foster in LCMS congregations and workers
the great joy and awesome privilege that is ours as we live from
the good gifts that our loving heavenly Father never ceases to
bestow on us in Christ through His Holy Word and the blessed
Sacraments.

Daily Catechesis in the Word of God
Through the Monday to Friday KFUO radio show/podcast Thy Strong Word, we provide an in-depth look at the Sacred Scriptures, chapter by chapter, from a Lutheran perspective. A guest pastor (they are drawn from all over the Synod),
joins Pastor Weedon for each show. As of the end of December
2018, Thy Strong Word had been downloaded well over a million times since its inception in August of 2014. The show has
seen a steady growth of downloads, with the most downloads
occurring thus far in 2018 (over 400,000). A recent listener to
the show wrote us:
I want to thank you for your study of Revelation. It is an answer to my prayers and it is a
book that requires guidance. I am an American
citizen, living in Portugal so far from home and
family, but so blessed to take part in the various
shows available to me through KFUO. I particularly enjoy Thy Strong Word and your animated
way of reading Scripture, sharing your insights
and making sure that we understand the main
points in what the Lord is saying to us.