LCMS Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 1977, Page 65

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65

PRESIDENT’S REPORT
(Part I)

(This year Part I was read to the joint meeting of the floor committees. Part II was read to the convention. y)

I. Introduction

In the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, I
greet you and welcome you, members of the floor
committees of the 52nd regular convention of The
Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod. I’m grateful that
you have accepted the invitation to sacrifice these days
and have come together to assist your 2.8 million
brothers and sisters in Christ in carrying out the Lord’s
work.

At this particular time in the history of our Synod we
may well be reminded of the words of our Lord Jesus to
the angel of the church in Philadelphia:

See, I have placed before you an open door that no one can

shut. I know that you have little strength, yet you have kept
My Word and have not denied My name (Rev. 3:8).

The open door mentioned here no doubt referred to
the great mission opportunity especially among the
Jews in the Philadelphia area. Needless to say, the same
Lord ever calls His church to meet the challenge of open
doors—opportunities to enter mission fields, to minister
to the sick, the hungry, the imprisoned, to get God’s
people involved in a more intensive and extensive study
of His Word. To accomplish this, as the text says, we
have little strength. From a human point of view the
tasks before us are too great. But our God, who gave us
the challenge, will also supply our every need. By His
grace we have kept His Word. Let us show the same
eagerness also to share His Word, so that the church will
move ahead confident that He will also bless all such
efforts done and completed in the name of Jesus Christ.

Now to the business at hand.

II. Our Task

Doctor Herbert Mueller, Secretary of the Synod, will
be speaking to you shortly relative to the precise duties
of floor committees and the way in which they are to
carry out their work. I would like to speak about the
attitude with which we should approach our task, as well
as make reference to what I regard to be very important
issues.

The 300 delegates here gathered make up about 20
percent of the total number of delegates to the conven-
tion. In view of the fact that among these 300 there are
members of the Board of Directors, members of the
Praesidium, District Presidents, secretaries, members of
various boards and commissions at both synodical and
District levels, we have a high-level degree of leadership
in attendance. All of the delegates here are in positions
of leadership in that they have been elected by their
circuit, District, or synodical board to give guidance to
the convention in making wise and prudent decisions on
a host of subjects covering every aspect of the work of
our church.

Therefore we must approach our task as members of
floor committees with a deep sense of humility before our

heavenly Father, who looks to us to render an accoun-
ting of our stewardship. We are gathered here as His
children, redeemed in the blood of His Son and
commissioned to go into all the world to bring the Gospel
to every creature. We are churchmen. We are people to
whom great responsibility has been entrusted on the
part of the nearly three million Lutherans from every
state in the Union and virtually all of the provinces of
Canada.

Therefore we must approach this task with prayer,
with a deep sense of gratitude to God for giving us the
opportunity to serve Him in mission and ministry, with
a sense of concern for all parts of the church and all
aspects of the church’s work and life. We are not here as
partisans, as members of political factions, as people
with individual axes to grind, or as people who are
motivated by anything other than the highest ideals
and goals which the Holy Spirit can implant in the
hearts of the followers and brothers and sisters of our
Lord Jesus Christ.

[hope that in approaching your task you will always
ask the question of yourselves individually and of your
committee as to whether the resolution you are propos-
ing is God-pleasing, gives glory to His name, is helpful to
the whole church, is of benefit to the home congregation,
the District, and the Synod at large.

A convention of The Lutheran Church—Missouri
Synod is unique in that we are not here representing
only a District, a circuit, or even a congregation. Rather
we are chosen as representatives of a particular part of
the Synod and thus must be interested in all of the Synod
and all of its work as we pursue our duties.

I would also like to call your attention to the recent
research which was conducted by the Board of Directors.
The results have been made known far and wide
throughout the Synod and have been supplied to you.
While every page of this report is of great interest, there
are certain points that come from the so-called Charron
Report which ought to give us some cause for concern
and also to help us in our thinking.

1. The research indicates that our lay people
generally lack knowledge of the programs of the Synod.
There are many ways to interpret this. Some would
simply say our people are indifferent and apathetic.
Others might say that the synodical and District boards
and commissions have done a poor job of com-
municating. Others would say that the pastors, who the
report shows possess a great deal of information
themselves, have not been sharing it with their people. It
is also possible that the people have not been listening.
Still others might say all this indicates a high level of
trust on the part of our laity in that they are satisfied
with the way the church is run. Therefore they do not
bother to ask themselves all kinds of questions as to