Collection › LCMS Convention Workbook (St. Louis, Missouri) › 2019 · 67th Convention, Tampa › Page 541
LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 2019, Page 541

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

CHURCH AND CULTURE
WHEREAS, Studies have shown that the legalization of PAS has
the effect of normalizing suicide and thus increasing the rate of nonPAS in the community; and
WHEREAS, We are called to love our neighbors by protecting
their physical well-being and by providing easily accessible and
effective palliative care to those who are suffering; and
WHEREAS, We are called (Phil. 2:15) to “shine as lights amidst
this crooked and twisted generation” by “holding fast to the word
of life”; therefore be it
Resolved, That the Minnesota North District in convention:
1. Declares its clear opposition to physician-assisted suicide
(PAS) and any legislative efforts on state or federal level to
legalize it;
2. Encourages the congregations of the district to make a
concerted effort to educate their members about the issue of
PAS;
3. Encourages its congregations to become more intentional in
reaching out to members and non-members who find
themselves in difficult life circumstances which have led
others in the past to consider PAS;
4. Encourages both individual members and the institutional
church (via its public policy efforts) to be politically active
in opposing PAS and advocating for better palliative care in
Minnesota; and
5. Continues to support the work of the Minnesota Alliance
for Ethical Healthcare, a coalition which is committed to
pursue these same ends;
and be it further
Resolved, That the convention memorialize this to the Synod.
Minnesota North District
Ov. 11-06

To Combine Synod Efforts to Support Marriage,
Life, and Family into a Unified Ministry
WHEREAS, The Holy Scriptures, by placing Adam’s creation in
the image of God in the immediate context of the creation of “male
and female” (Gen. 1:27), tie marriage directly to the existence of
mankind; and
WHEREAS, Human life since creation has been perpetuated
through the one-flesh union of male and female. Holy matrimony is
both the God-ordained means for conceiving life and is also
endowed by God with every necessary gift to protect, defend,
nurture, and educate those children whom God has placed within
the care of husband and wife; and
WHEREAS, Marriage, life, and family, while three distinct gifts
of God, are yet so interrelated and mutually supportive that none of
the three, taken by itself, can be fully understood nor fully
supported. They thus form an inseparable and holy unity which
itself is integral to God’s design; and
WHEREAS, Members of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod
(LCMS) (pastors, church workers, and congregations) are daily
encountering confused, ungodly and ever-changing “teachings of
demons” which deny and undermine God’s institution of marriage
(1 Tim. 4:1, 3), the sanctity of human life, and the divine origin of
the family; so that the people of God need clear, thoughtful, and
ongoing guidance which reflects deeply on God’s Word, makes

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precise and faithful use of language, and faithfully upholds these
divine institutions; and
WHEREAS, The 2016 LCMS convention resolved to “strengthen
and support the Lutheran family in living out God’s design.”
(Proceedings, 4-02A, pp. 145–6; 16-02A, pp. 253–4); therefore be
it
Resolved, That the Wyoming District in convention memorialize
the Synod’s 2019 convention that LCMS Life Ministries be
renamed LCMS Marriage, Life, and Family Ministries; and that it
be tasked with the ongoing work of supporting and strengthening
the Lutheran family, including marriage and human life from
conception to natural death; and that the LCMS Marriage, Life, and
Family Ministries be initially assigned the following topics to study
and offer guidance for all members of the LCMS, that we might
walk together in love and unity, living faithfully in a culture intent
upon contradicting God’s works of marriage, life, and family:
• the impact government schools are having on the faith and
families of Lutheran youth, with the possibility of providing
recommendations of how Christian households might
mitigate the effects of our culture’s most corrosive teachings
(parochial schools, online academies, homeschool, etc.);
• provide encouragement and resources for Lutheran parents,
especially fathers, to lead their families in the reading and
discussion of God’s Word in their homes;
• the impact that changes in marriage laws, such as no-fault
divorce, have had on the sanctity of marriage, the sanctity of
life, and the vitality of the family;
• the theological and practical impact that various forms of
birth control have had upon marriage, life and family;
• how those involved in same-sex “marriages” may faithfully
repent of the ungodly union while remaining faithful in their
financial, custodial, and legal obligations;
and that reports on the above-named tasks be prepared for
submission to the 2022 Synod convention for review, possible
ratification, and as appropriate, wide dissemination throughout the
LCMS.
Wyoming District
Ov. 11-07

To Affirm the Synod’s Position
on Marriage and Family
WHEREAS, At the July 2016 convention of The Lutheran
Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS), a number of excellent and
thoroughly Biblical resolutions were presented, discussed, and
adopted, notably, “To Confess Sanctity of Marriage” (Resolution
14-02A); “To Respond Compassionately to Challenges to Biblical
View of Marriage and Human Sexuality” (Res. 14-03A); “To
Affirm the Right of Clergy to Continue Conducting Weddings in
Accordance with Confession” (Res. 14-04); “To Commend CTCR
Document Gender Identity Disorder or Gender Dysphoria in
Christian Perspective” (Res. 14-09); and
WHEREAS, The culture of the world has crept into the Christian
church so that many churches no longer uphold the Biblical
understanding of gender (male and female), sexuality, marriage,
and family; and
WHEREAS, Many of our pastors are pressured by people within
their own congregations to follow the compromise of other church
2019 Convention Workbook