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LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 2019, Page 139

Scan: The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod

Transcription machine transcription, uncorrected

OFFICER, BOARD, AND COMMISSION REPORTS
R30

Kansas District
Our work in the Kansas District is aptly reflected in the
theme of our 2018 convention: “Life Together in Mission.” We
chose that theme to draw attention to the all-important “partnership in the Gospel” that Paul talks about in Phil. 1:3–5. We
certainly “thank God with joy” for the privilege of supporting
and encouraging the members of the district—160 congregations, 14 elementary schools, 44 preschools, and nearly 400
workers—in carrying out the mission Christ has given His
Church. We’re thankful, as well, for opportunities we’ve had to
maintain and enhance our work with other valued partners, including the Synod, RSOs, auxiliaries, and related agencies.

Goals
If you click on “About Us” on the homepage of our website, you’ll see the phrase “Synod in this Place,” a nod to Bylaw
4.1.1.1. Our “common work” in the Kansas District—captured
in our mission statement, goals, and priorities—strongly aligns
with the Synod’s constitutional objectives, bylaw purpose, and
convention priorities while also taking into account directives
from our district convention.
Following is a brief summary of progress on the major directives and priorities that have guided our work since the last
Synod convention.

District Resolutions
2015 Res. 15-01-02: Reaffirm Mission Support for Guinea.
Since 1997, the Kansas District has been the sole district supporter of mission work in Guinea. During the past triennium,
we’ve worked with the LCMS Office of International Mission (OIM) to identify promising ways to continue supporting
Guinea while aligning our efforts with new Synod strategies for
French-speaking West Africa, which include a strong emphasis
on theological education. As such, we’ve now designated our
annual Pentecost Offering to the Center for Lutheran Theological Studies (CLET) in Dapaong, Togo, which provides pastoral
training to African students. In the past two years, the offering
has raised enough to cover full tuition for three Guinean students at the CLET.
2015 Res. 15-01-03A: Encourage the Kansas District to
Work Together in Mission. This resolution encouraged involvement in the Synod’s Planting Gospel Seeds program, which has
since been subsumed under the re:Vitality program. The Kansas
District has actively encouraged congregations to participate in
both re:Vitality and Every One His Witness (thereby also addressing 2016 Synod Res. 1-01 and 1-03). Our missions executive continues to receive training as a re:Vitality facilitator, and
the district offers grants to congregations interested in conducting workshops.
2015 Res. 15-06-04A: Improve the Call Process. One of
our highest priorities has been to improve the call process, particularly with respect to efficiency and communication. We’ve
looked for ways to reduce bottlenecks and keep the process
moving smoothly, and we’ve made significant progress. I make
it my practice to lead every pre-call meeting to get the process
off to a good start. We’ve developed ways to keep the process
moving forward, even when I’m out of the office for extended
periods of time. I keep detailed records on every call and communicate any significant developments to both the lay point

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person and the CV, which helps promote accountability. During
a recent two-year period, the ball was in the court of the district
president only 10 percent of the total time of those vacancies.
2015 Res. 15-06-01 (also LCMS 2016 4-05A): Koinonia
Project. Another high priority has been implementing the Koinonia Project throughout the district. In the 2015–2018 triennium (and for several years prior), we had three of our 16 circuits engaged in the Koinonia Project. Now Koinonia is an even
higher priority in the new triennium. We discussed the concept
under the theme “Life Together in Ministry” at our 2018 pastors’ conference, and we’ve just established a District Koinonia
Task Force, which will develop a plan for expanding the project
throughout the district.

Synod Priorities
LCMS Bylaw 4.4.4: Visitation. We conducted 48 “official”
visitations (of 139 parishes/160 congregations) in the Kansas
District during the district triennium (2015–2018); 45 of those
were during the Synod triennium (2016 to the present). In addition to the formal visits, CVs, VPs, and the DP were involved
in numerous other situations where an unusually great amount
of time was spent with a congregation and resulted in wideranging, two-way communication about the ministry of those
congregations. The first round of visitations was largely a “get
to know you” visit and a general survey of congregational ministry, since the custom of such visits had been absent for many
years. The second round will be based very intentionally on the
description for visitations listed in the Synod bylaws.
2016 Res. 4-04A: Common Order for the Lord’s Supper.
We’ve made intentional efforts to model this practice at our district convention and conferences. We also expect that the Koinonia Project will provide opportunities for the “full and open
discussion” of unity and freedom that districts have been asked
to undertake.
2016 Resolution 4-05A: Koinonia Project. See discussion of
2015 Kansas Res. 15-06-01 above.
2016 Res. 12-02: Workers on Candidate Status. We currently have two pastors on candidate status and 54 commissioned
ministers on candidate status. During the last triennium, I focused primarily on the pastors, ensuring that they have pastoral care and annually reporting their situations to the Council
of Presidents, our circuit visitor conference, and in our district
newsletter.
2016 Resolution 8-01A: Lutheran Ethos of Our Schools.
The 2018 Kansas District delegates in convention adopted
Res. 18-04-07, “To Encourage Colloquy or Other Educational
Tracks for Non-Rostered Teachers to Be Inculcated into Lutheran Theology,” by a vote of 175–17. Some of our schools
have now acted on this resolution. We also have a district NLSA
(National Lutheran Schools Accreditation) commissioner who
works closely with our schools on the accreditation process.
2016 Resolution 13-02A: Licensed Lay Deacons (LLDs).
In October 2016 (shortly after the Synod convention), the Kansas District had 58 LLDs, but most were not serving in regular
Word and Sacrament ministry as de facto pastors. Of these 58,
41 were current in submitting their annual reports and requesting annual credentialing. Since that time, we identified deacons
who seemed to meet the criteria for SMP colloquy; one has
completed SMP colloquy and has been ordained. Today the
district has 32 LLDs, all of whom are current with their annual
reports, with three LLDs still in the final stages of their applica2019 Convention Workbook