Collection › LCMS Convention Workbook (St. Louis, Missouri) › 2019 · 67th Convention, Tampa › Page 147

LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 2019, Page 147

Scan: The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod

Transcription machine transcription, uncorrected

OFFICER, BOARD, AND COMMISSION REPORTS
The convention re-elected Rev. Dr. R. Lee Hagan to his
second term as district president. Also elected were Rev. William
Marler as first-vice president, Rev. Dr. Kevin Golden as second
vice-president, Rev. Brian Thieme as third vice-president, and
Rev. Kristopher Morris as fourth vice-president.
The vision for this triennium, “Faithful Witnesses,” has five
areas of emphasis.
••

Healthy Servants—Building on the progress of the
last triennium, district leadership will provide support for professional church workers through the
Church Worker Care Team, health and wellness components at professional conferences, and orientation
for new workers.

••

Healthy Congregations—District leadership will support congregations to be faithful to the Word of God
as they love one another and seek the lost through
leadership development and teaching a biblical approach to conflict.

••

Healthy Schools—Lutheran early childhood centers
and schools will be supported through professional
conferences, consultation, and mentoring programs
for principals and new teachers.

••

Strengthening Families—District leadership will provide resources and equip congregations to strengthen
the faith formation in the home. Key events in this
area will include Tell the Next Generation Family
Ministry Conferences in 2019 and 2021.

••

Engaging Communities—Finally, district leadership
will encourage and equip congregations to engage
their communities as faithful witnesses of the Gospel
through Plus One and other efforts to reach the lost.
More than thirty coaches have been trained to assist
congregations and small grants of up to $1,500 have
been made available as part of Plus One. The key
event in this triennium will be a second district-wide
mission summit in 2020.

The district praesidium is addressing 2016 Convention Resolution 4-04A “To Appeal to the LCMS Congregations, Workers and Institutions within Christian Freedom and for Love’s
Sake to Retain a Common Order of Service for the Lord’s Supper,” by a series of articles that emphasize the “spirit of unity
and freedom … in our walk together.” The hope of the Missouri
District praesidium is that the congregations and workers would
hold freedom and order in tension as modeled by Dr. Luther’s
own liturgical reforms in the early years of the Reformation.
While there are many challenges facing congregations and
schools in Missouri, the opportunities are growing and great.
We give thanks to God as we witness growth among ethnic
groups in our congregations. For example, congregations are
connecting with growing numbers of Asian and African immigrants. Our prayer is that all of the congregations of Missouri
would be active in engaging their communities and equipping
families to teach the faith in the home. Our focus is that the
Gospel would be proclaimed in all our daily callings as we live
as “Faithful Witnesses.” In the words of the Psalmist, “we will
tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord.”
(Psalm 78:4)
R. Lee Hagan, President

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Montana District
The Montana District consists of 69 congregations of
God’s people gathered around Word and Sacrament comprising
some 14,000 souls. The district has two congregations outside
the borders of the state of Montana (Williston, North Dakota,
and Salmon, Idaho). Congregations of the Montana District
support six day-schools and fifteen pre-schools or day cares.
They also support missions to the Crow and Cheyenne Indian
reservations.
The theme for the District’s 2018–2021 triennium is from
John 1:17 “Truth Came Through Jesus Christ.” At our district
convention, we read aloud the entire Gospel of John and discussed and confessed God’s faithfulness in delivering to us the
truth that we so desperately need.
This gift is immensely important for our day. With so much
confusion regarding the reliability of some of our sources of
information (e.g. Facebook), we need a source of truth. With
so many voices contradicting the core of the Christian faith,
we need to be confirmed in the truth of our teaching. With so
many lost people surrounding us, we need a truth we can give
to the world.
We know the Truth in Jesus. He calls Himself the Truth.
We know the Truth in His Word. Jesus calls the Scriptures the
Truth. Other sources of truth are of dubious nature because
they are dependent on abilities of men. But Jesus, the very Word
of God, is the Truth that sets us free from the problems of sin
and death.
This truth is not just for us. It is for the whole world. The
people of God have been given the truth not to hide away, but
to speak it and live it in the world so that others may know it
and live.
God has blessed the Montana District. In the past triennium we have been blessed to once again begin new work by calling a district supported missionary to revitalize a tiny congregation in Anaconda. One of the larger communities in Montana,
Anaconda is a strategic location for the Gospel to be heard. Our
congregations are happy to be supporting Anaconda as well as
our previous new start in Big Timber and Livingston.
In addition, we launched another location of serving remote areas through the use of technology. The congregations in
Stanford, Denton, and Lewistown are served by one pastor who
each Sunday visits one of the congregations and live-streams
his Bible class and worship service to the other two congregations. Proclaiming the Gospel in sparsely populated areas brings
challenges. The district is determined not to close the doors of
even tiny congregations. In fact, the goal is to find ways to open
even more.
God has also blessed us with faithful servants ordained and
commissioned. These dedicated men and women give of themselves so that the Gospel is proclaimed in its truth and purity
and the Sacraments administered according to it. The Montana
District is remarkably unified in doctrine and practice. While
the practice of worship (Res. 4-40A) is discussed regularly at
Winkels and pastors’ conferences, we have not seen the divisions
that other districts suffer. Due to our unity, the Koinonia project (Res. 4-05A) has not been introduced. The Winkels function
quite well in this duty.
2019 Convention Workbook