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LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 2019, Page 63

Scan: The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod

Transcription machine transcription, uncorrected

OFFICER, BOARD, AND COMMISSION REPORTS
mean for LCMS mission and ministry—should replace cultural
traits indicative of a money-focused (vs. people-focused) organization. The LCMS partnered with the Center for Leadership
Philanthropy to host staff workshops involving personnel from
multiple departments and teams.

Connection to and Partnership with the LCMS
Foundation (see also: R19)
After relocating certain advancement-critical functions
from the LCMS Foundation into LCMS MADV, work continues to appropriately connect people with giving opportunities
when a contributor’s goals are best served by the LCMS Foundation. LCMS MADV does not duplicate the special technical
skills and services offered to the Church by the LCMS Foundation, so a Christ-pleasing working relationship between both
teams is vital. The LCMS continues to deal with complex issues
created by the 2010 restructuring process, and periodic meetings take place between the Foundation and MADV staff to
find best-practice solutions to those issues.

Looking Forward—2019 and Beyond
Puzzles
MADV and the LCMS International Center face a number of “puzzles” affecting the Synod’s mission and ministry at
the national and international levels. We do not have good data
regarding the number of households actively worshiping each
Sunday. Reports cover baptized and confirmed members of
LCMS congregations, but the number of households actively
worshiping is a missing key piece of information. Thus, we do
not know how widespread support for mission and ministry already is, or if MADV efforts are only scratching the surface.
Similarly, among those who actively contribute to LCMS mission and ministry, we know precious little about the human
being(s) behind each donation unless a person willingly fills in
the gaps. This understanding about the person is vitally important when it comes to meeting the unique needs and expectations of each contributor and effectively stewarding limited financial resources for the sake of our Lord’s mission.
A second puzzle continues to be a deeply embedded organizational culture, especially when it comes to charitable giving
and philanthropic engagement. Synod’s philanthropic culture
transcends Convention cycles, changes in organizational structures, policies, and even administrations. Attempts to effect
positive change or to adapt to changes in the world for the sake
of the Gospel can meet stiff internal and external resistance,
and MADV work risks becoming increasingly ineffective over
time. Entrenched behaviors or perspectives develop slowly over
decades, handed from one generation to the next, and gains in
positive change won over years can rapidly snap backwards to
a previous state because of culture, not individuals. We see this
cultural phenomenon play out in unhealthy competition between entities of the church and a focus on dollars (not donors)
that constantly strives for “more” than what God supplies. We
see it when getting money out of people is more important than
meeting the needs, goals, and feelings of those asked to provide financial support. Leading positive change in a deeply entrenched organizational culture, for the sake of Christ’s mission
to save the lost, is a puzzle.

The third puzzle is how best to adequately finance mission efforts primarily focused inside the borders of the United
States, and to do so in a mutually supportive way that respects
the boundaries of congregations, districts, and all the various
RSOs and groups within the LCMS. While international mission efforts and pastoral education receive the lion’s share of
attention, national mission work seems to have to fend for itself. Attempts to put national mission work in the spotlight risk
a backfire from any of the groups or entities who perceive the
Synod corporate office going into their defined “space.” Rules
and policies and resolutions do not seem to hold the answer
to this puzzle; however, recent experience hints at the positive
influence ongoing conversation and designed collaboration can
have to refocus energy on the common mission of bearing witness to what Christ has done for sinners. When it comes to funding ONM efforts, MADV is placing a greater emphasis on the
Global Mission Fund and on giving to World Relief and Human Care accounts able to resource both OIM and ONM work.
Another puzzle is the fostering of an ever-stronger relationship of the Synod headquarters to both LCMS seminaries,
particularly when it comes to funding the preparation and sending of new pastors, deaconesses, and other leaders. A phrase
oft-repeated is that “Synod does precious little to support its
seminaries,” which might be more aptly understood to mean
that the Synod’s (e.g., the corporate entity located at the International Center) operating expenditures from unrestricted revenues do precious little in this regard. Yet THE Synod—if the
meaning of “Synod” includes the rostered workers, congregations, and the member-congregants of those congregations—is
the seminaries’ single largest source of both funding and new or
prospective seminary students. It is truly more accurate to say:
“Sunday morning worship offerings no longer supply meaningful funding to our seminaries.” Our seminaries, like nearly
every other mission (Witness, Mercy, Life Together) endeavor—including corporate Synod—depend almost exclusively
on the generosity of individuals, districts, church groups, and
other contributors. And while individuals both inside and outside the seminaries may sometimes grumble at the amount of
funds passing through the Synod corporate (i.e., “International
Center”) budget, the contributors who supply those funds are
deserving of encouragement and thanksgiving as they offer up
more than $2 million annually for the support of seminary education in the LCMS.
Synod may also be facing a growing puzzle when it comes
to worldwide KFUO. Technology changes call into question
the level of impact KFUO may have on the church and in the
world, even with Internet streaming and podcasting. How many
homes turn the living room radio to KFUO each day? How
many commuters listen on their vehicle’s AM radio today? How
many stream KFUO through their mobile phone, tablet, or laptop, or download programs for later listening? More specifically,
the contributors who traditionally champion KFUO through
their special gifts appear to be passing from this age into eternity faster than new champions are identified. KFUO received
funds in the form of worship offerings passed on from congregations to Synod’s headquarters via district budgets, a stream
that is increasingly under pressure along the entire chain. At
the same time, would people in the LCMS (and outside of it)
tolerate a decision to turn the transmitters and computers and
microphones off if for no other reason that insufficient fund2019 Convention Workbook