LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 2023, Page 102

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102

OFFICER, BOARD, AND COMMISSION REPORTS

2. Family Discipleship Expansion—This target includes providing trained coaches to assist congregations in developing
support for parents within congregations.
3. Community Engagement—These strategies include helping
congregations move beyond one-time events to consistent
service and witness engagement to their respective communities.
4. Shared Ministry—The opportunities for collaboration among
our congregations are many and necessary as we look at declining numbers of seminary graduates and shrinking church
membership and attendance. This target will utilize circuits
and their respective leadership to foster such cooperative
work.

C. Key Initiatives
Supporting these four critical targets, the Missouri District has
several key initiatives in the works. The first Missouri District Lutheran College Fair was held in November 2022, with representatives from six LCMS university campuses, both seminaries, and
Synod’s Set Apart to Serve. The Missouri District has launched
family discipleship coaches to assist congregations in equipping
parents for family discipleship in the home. A biennial “Tell the
Next Generation” Conference was held in 2021 and 2023 to support family discipleship.

D. Changes to Missouri District Staff
Rev. Gene Wyssmann retired from serving the Missouri District
at the end of 2019 and was succeeded by Rev. Marty Hasz. Dr. Alan
Freeman and Casey Carlson took new positions with Synod’s Office of National Mission and Concordia Plan Services, respectively.
Joshua Swartz joined the staff in 2022 as Director of Schools, and
Rev. Peter Kirby came on board in 2023 as Executive Director of
Congregational Services.
R. Lee Hagan, President
R36

Montana District
By God’s grace, the Montana District sought to organize its
work together during the 2019–2023 period under the theme from
John 1:17, “The truth came through Jesus Christ.” We focused our
thoughts and actions on the power of God’s Word, which is the
truth.

A. Presidential Activities
During this quadrennium, the president of the Montana District
visited every congregation of the district on a Sunday morning and
offered a presentation designed to teach the biblical concept of truth
under the theme verse from John 1:17. He also visited with the elders of each congregation using the same theme to teach how elders
can support their pastors. In addition, he met with the pastors of the
district individually to review their Pastor’s Information Forms in
order to encourage them in their ministries. Finally, he visited the
schools of the district making a similar presentation on truth.

B. Goals Being Met
The Montana district has made progress regarding resolutions
of the 2019 Synod convention.
2023 Convention Workbook

The congregations have been encouraged to use the evangelism
programs the Synod has developed. A few of the congregations
sponsored Everyone His Witness, Making Disciples for Life, and
Rural Small Town events.
The congregations have also exhibited growth in sharing ministry. Some 58 percent of our congregations have fewer than 50 people in church on a weekend. As a result, 72 percent of our congregations are in multicongregation parish relationships. This means
they have to learn to care for one another. In addition, we have seen
numerous occasions where congregations with budget surpluses
have shared them with needy congregations of the district.
The Montana District has a rich heritage of supporting life as
a gift of God from cradle to grave. Congregational members from
across the district attended a conference in Billings on life, and
many generously support local Lutherans For Life groups. One of
our circuits accessed the Life Grant from the Synod offices by raising $50,000 to support the local crisis pregnancy center.
Likewise, there is great support in our district for Lutheran
schools. Since most of our congregations are small, we have only
six K–8 schools in the district. We have, however, developed a program whereby congregations without schools and their members
can support those with schools through a fund offering scholarships
to elementary Lutheran school students.
The president in his visits strongly encourages the support of
Lutheran schools and Lutheran school teachers, as well as strong
catechetical instruction especially in the home. The goal is to foster
a next generation of Lutherans who know and live the faith.
The Montana District is anxiously looking forward to the rollout of the Set Apart to Serve initiative of the Synod. We have one
congregation participating in the pilot program. This initiative is
highly publicized in our district communications and in the presidential presentation to congregations. The number of full-time
church work students hailing from Montana has been markedly reduced during the last five years. One of our goals is to increase that
number, not only for ourselves but for the work of the Kingdom.
Another goal for the coming triennium is to carefully review
our four subsidized congregations. Two of those congregations are
on Native American reservations, and two are our newest mission
congregations. The district board of directors is dedicated to making sure that offerings from our congregations are put to the best
use for the proclamation of the Gospel.
This triennium, our district theme is from Psalm 119:105, “Thy
Word.” It dovetails nicely with the Synod’s theme, “We Preach
Christ Crucified.” A world that does not believe in truth desperately
needs to hear the Word of God proclaiming Christ crucified. The
Montana District looks forward to such bold proclamation.
Finally, we are looking forward to receiving our newest mission congregation into fellowship as a congregation of the Synod
sometime this summer.

C. Strengths
The Montana District is remarkably homogenous in its dedication to the truth of God’s Word and the Lutheran Confessions. The
ministerium loves and cares for one another. The people of God
are generous. Congregational offerings to the district have risen in
all but one of the last 16 years. Our schools are growing. District
conventions are looked forward to as times to study God’s Word
together and celebrate the gift He has given us in one another.