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LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 2019, Page 385

Scan: The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod
Transcription machine transcription, uncorrected

FLOOR COMMITTEE REPORTS AND OVERTURES ASSIGNMENTS

1. National Witness
REPORTS
R1, R1.1, R1.2, R1.3, R1.4, R7, R15, R20,
R56, R57, R59.1–13, R60, R61, R63, R65, R66
OVERTURES
Ov. 1-01

To Reaffirm and Expand the Use
of Every One His Witness
WHEREAS, Every Christian, as a member of the royal priesthood,
is called to “proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you
out of darkness and into his marvelous light” (2 Peter 2:9); and
WHEREAS, When Jesus told His disciples “You will be my
witnesses” (Acts 1:8), He was proclaiming that all members of His
Church would bear witness of Him throughout the world and
throughout the ages; and
WHEREAS, As Christ’s witnesses we participate in His mission
to seek and save the lost and we share in His joy as the elect are
gathered into His Church; and
WHEREAS, Evangelism is a critical element for the planting,
sustaining, and revitalization of Lutheran congregations; and
WHEREAS, Effective evangelism is especially important for
carrying out the work of the Great Commission in our “postchurched” culture; and
WHEREAS, One of the stated objectives for the Synod in the
Synod’s constitution is to “strengthen congregations and their
members in giving bold witness by word and deed to the love and
work of God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and extend that
Gospel witness into all the world” (Constitution Article III 2); and
WHEREAS, The Office of National Mission (ONM) is
“responsible for domestic ministries that especially serve
congregations and schools through the districts of the Synod,”
specifically including evangelism (Bylaw 3.8.2.3); and
WHEREAS, The Witness & Outreach Ministry of the ONM has
developed Every One His Witness, a theologically sound
evangelism program designed to equip Lutherans to be more active
and effective witnesses of Jesus Christ in the contexts of their
vocations by being Third Article witnesses telling the Second
Article story using their First Article gifts; and
WHEREAS, The Every One His Witness core module is readily
available through Concordia Publishing House (CPH) at a low cost
and over 10,000 workbooks (over 800 kits plus additional
workbooks) have been distributed by CPH since its introduction in
September 2017; and
WHEREAS, Supplemental materials to address specific
witnessing contests (i.e., context modules) are available to all
workshop participants at no cost through the Every One His Witness
website, including “Witnessing to Muslims,” “Witnessing to
Mormons,” “Witnessing to Jewish People,” “Witnessing to
Dechurched Adult Children,” and “Responding to Scientism”; and
WHEREAS, The ONM is developing additional context modules
addressing specific witnessing contexts under the categories of
“World Religions,” “Religious Organizations and Movements,”

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“Dechurched,” “Unchurched,” “Life Events,” and “Human Care” to
include on the Every One His Witness website; and
WHEREAS, The ONM has produced a Spanish language version
of the Every One His Witness core module and made it available at
no cost to The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS) entities;
and
WHEREAS, Youth Ministry has developed a supplement to the
Every One His Witness core module to equip high school youth for
witnessing and Campus Ministry is developing a supplement to
equip college students for witnessing; and
WHEREAS, The ONM is exploring additional methods of
delivering the content of the Every One His Witness website to
ensure that all participants have access to the materials; and
WHEREAS, The 2016 Synod convention adopted Every One His
Witness as a Synod-wide evangelism program; and
WHEREAS, The 2016 Synod convention commended the use of
the Every One His Witness evangelism program to all districts,
congregations, recognized service organizations (RSO), and
auxiliaries; and
WHEREAS, Some evangelism resources being used or promoted
by LCMS entities have not been doctrinally reviewed by the LCMS
and reflect Arminian theology or other heterodox teachings;
therefore be it
Resolved, That the Synod reaffirm Every One His Witness as the
preferred evangelism program of the LCMS; and be it further
Resolved, That the Synod once again encourage all LCMS
districts, congregations, RSOs, and auxiliaries to make use of the
Every One His Witness evangelism program; and be it further
Resolved, That the Synod discourage all LCMS entities from
using or promoting evangelism resources that have not been
doctrinally approved by the LCMS; and be it further
Resolved, That the Synod encourage all LCMS entities involved
in evangelism training and/or the development of evangelism
materials to work with the ONM to incorporate Every One His
Witness into their resources, to assist with creating needed
supplements to or translations of the Every One His Witness core
module, and to participate in the development of additional Every
One His Witness context modules; and be it further
Resolved, That the Synod support the ONM in the production of
additional Every One His Witness resources to address evangelism
needs; and be it finally
Resolved, That the Synod support the ONM in developing
additional methods of delivering Every One His Witness resources
to make them more widely available to LCMS entities.
Board for National Mission
Ov. 1-02

To Encourage Workers in Personal Evangelism
WHEREAS, Jesus sent his disciples into the world to be his
witnesses; and
WHEREAS, Jesus declared to his followers “But you will receive
power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my
witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end
of the earth.” (Acts 1:8); and
WHEREAS, St. Paul reminds us that we cannot believe in Christ
of whom we have not heard. We cannot hear unless someone is sent

2019 Convention Workbook