LCMS Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 1998, Page 84

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84

CONVENTION ESSAYS AND BIBLE STUDIES
B. Catholic Responsibility

Because our ecclesiology is catholic, it offers a sense of
belonging to the one community which is the church catholic; a sense of being church in the context of the apostolic
Scriptures and of the Creeds and Confessions and the historic testimony of the church catholic. I think this can be
shown to be very meaningful to people of our times, to a
society that is essentially contextless, which lacks historical perspective and a sense of identity that transcends
parochial narrowness. A Lutheran theology of the church
provides a catholic context for all time; it gives an eternal
context.
And, again, we must keep this catholic responsibility always before our eyes. If we lose our context, we will cease to
be catholic and, thus, we will cease to be Lutheran.

Discussion Questions
1. What would a church which focuses on the Gospel
“look like” in its life and worship and what would it
look like if it lost this focus?
2. What would a church with a catholic, or universal,
context look like and what would it look like if it lost
its context?

Conclusion
Contained within the theme of the 60th regular Convention of the LCMS, “To the Ends of the Earth,” is a
twofold thrust. What do we take to the ends of the earth?
Nothing other than the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The Lutheran focus on the Gospel brings about an understanding of the church that begins with the means of grace,

takes seriously the public ministry, centers on the divine
service, gives the highest priority to outreach, and culminates in Christian vocation. This Lutheran focus on the
Gospel means that the church thrives within a context that
is trinitarian and one and catholic and universal and apostolic. This focus and this context place before The Lutheran
Church—Missouri Synod the need for evangelical faithfulness and catholic responsibility.
A church that looks like what I’ve described in this essay
will be, to be sure, a “poor and lowly thing,” as Luther put
it. But within this poor and lowly thing called the church,
within these earthen vessels, we have great treasure. What
is great about the church is the Lord, who is its Head, and
the Gospel, which lies at its heart. With this Head and this
Heart, we may confidently go to the ends of the earth and
we will surely be a Gospel-centered church in time, singing
God’s praises in eternity.

Notes
1. Mark Noll, “Ethnic, American, or Lutheran?” p. 28.
See also Mark A Noll, “The Lutheran Difference,” First
Things, 20 (February 1992): 37.
2. SD, Rule and Norm, 4. German: ein rein christlich
Symbolum.
3. Mark Noll, “Ethnic, American, or Lutheran?” p. 29.
4. Robert Bella, et al., Habits of the Heart (Berkeley:
University of California Press, 1985): 152.
5. Mark Noll, p. 28.
6. LC, II, 55.
J. A. O. Preus, President
Concordia University, Irvine, CA