LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 1998, Page 1

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SYNODICAL REPORTS

R1-8
The President
PART I: CONVENTION WORKBOOK REPORT

Introduction

Grace, mercy, and peace to each of you from Him who is, who
was, and who is to come, even Jesus Christ our Righteousness.
Amen.

It is a privilege once again to offer this report to the Synod as
we prepare to gather in our 1998 convention this summer in St.
Louis from July 11-17. The second part of my report will be shared
with our floor committees when they meet over the Memorial Day
weekend. The third part of my report will be delivered to the Synod
during the first day of convention business. At that time I will be
sharing with the Synod what I am calling the “3/10 Emphasis”—a
bold new plan for aggressive outreach with the Gospel into the next
century.

This first part of my report is divided into three major sections.
First, I want to offer words of encouragement to our Synod as we
move toward the end of the present century. Second, I want to dis-
cuss the chief hallmarks of a strong, vibrant Lutheran church.
Third, I want to report to you on various aspects of my work as
President of the Synod during the past triennium.

I. Past Blessings, Present Joys
and Future Opportunities for Our Synod

Our Synod’s convention theme is “To the Ends of the Earth.”
Our Lord has given His church the high calling and great duty to
take the Gospel to the very ends of the earth. As we move forward
with this great commission from our Lord, our Synod needs to re-
flect on what it means to move to the ends of the earth as a
Lutheran church body. Our Synod has embraced a fivefold vision
statement of what we want our church to be and to remain as we
move forward. By God’s grace and blessing, we will be a church
that is strongly in the Word, Christ-centered and people-sensitive,
reaching out boldly with the Gospel, faithful to the Scriptures and
the Lutheran Confessions, and finally, a church that is blessed with
peace and unity in the Lord. Our Synod faces a great opportunity to
be and remain this kind of a church body as we move boldly to the
ends of the earth. There can be no greater calling for our Synod
than the one our Lord gave to all believers so many years ago when
He told His disciples to take the eternal and ever-living Gospel to
the very ends of the earth. To the ends of the earth!

During this past triennium we have had the opportunity to
praise God for 150 years of God’s blessing. Together we have been
enabled to thank and praise God for His blessings in the past and
together we have looked ahead with hope and joy to the future. Un-
fortunately, there are those in today’s society who would want to
convince us that our history is no longer relevant and that our his-
toric commitments to Scripture and the Lutheran Confessions are
out of step with the times in which we live. Others seem to take
delight at criticizing and finding fault with our Synod. Some
ridicule our emphasis on pure doctrine and mock our devotion to
the truth of God’s Word, accusing us of being loveless when we
refuse to compromise our strong scriptural and confessional beliefs.

At times we hear voices suggesting that our Synod can no longer |

continue to be the sort of strong, active, living, witnessing, con-
fessing church that we have been in the past. Nothing—absolutely
nothing—could be farther from the truth. We have nothing to be
ashamed of, nor anything to be afraid of, when it comes to being a
genuine voice of confessing Lutheranism in our world today.

As I travel throughout our Synod, I am continually impressed
by the vitality and strength of our church. I am impressed by the
strength of our local congregations. I am also impressed by the
commitment and dedication of our pastors, teachers, directors of
Christian education, deaconesses, certified lay ministers, and di-
rectors of Christian outreach. I am further impressed by the com-
mitment and dedication of our preschools, elementary, and high
schools. We are blessed with one of the strongest parochial school
systems in this great nation, and I pray that the number of Christian
day schools continues to increase. Our pastors are men devoted to
preaching God’s Word in truth and purity, rightfully dividing Law

and Gospel, bringing the wonderful news of God’s love into the
hearts and lives of their congregations. I am particularly impressed
by an ever-increasing zeal for reaching out with the Gospel to the
lost. For all these wonderful strengths, I daily thank God.

I am also impressed by the increasing number of those through-
out world Lutheranism who look to the Missouri Synod for strong
theological leadership. We need to recognize that there are many
Lutherans throughout the world who are looking to the Missouri
Synod to continue to speak up boldly for genuine scriptural and
confessional Lutheranism. As I said six years ago when I first be-
came president of our Synod, I believe the great challenge for Mis-
souri may be summed up very simply: “Keep the message straight,
Missouri. Get the message out, Missouri.” May God bless richly
as we do!

It is often the case that critics of our Synod’s strong doctrinal
heritage do not really realize how important it is to be and remain
strongly Lutheran in our world today. The Missouri Synod I hear
described by our critics is not the Missouri Synod that I know and
love. Together let us resolve not to become victims of our critics,
nor to be intimidated by fault-finders. I do not believe any of us is
naive enough to believe that our Synod has no problems and does
not face significant challenges. Let us never permit these chal-
lenges to keep us from seeing our Synod’s wonderful strengths—
strengths which truly are great blessings from our loving heavenly
Father.

Where some people see only problems ahead of us, I see great
opportunities in the Lord! I look back on the centuries of the
Lutheran church’s history, and back through our Synod’s 150
years, and recall all the many challenges Lutheran Christians have
faced and overcome in the Lord with His blessing. Through it all
our God has blessed us and has been with us every step of the way.
It is important to recognize that He will continue to do so! The
presence of our Lord to the end of the ages is our great joy and con-
fidence as we look ahead with hope to the future.

Therefore, my encouragement to our Synod is this: Look for-
ward to the dawning of a third milleniyyn of God’s grace with a
strong, bold, courageous commitment to the truth of God’s Word
and to the Lutheran Confessions! Go forward with a renewed com-
mitment to reach out boldly with the precious Gospel of our Lord
and Savior Jesus Christ to those who do not yet know Him. Yes, go
forward—with great joy, hope, and confidence in the One who has
called us to go forth with His blessing—to the ends of the earth.

II. Hallmarks of a Strong, Vibrant Lutheran Church

As we move forward there are several important questions we
need to ask ourselves. What has made this church body of ours
great down through the years? What have been the hallmarks of
our Synod that have continued to provide great energy and life to
our Synod? What will continue to be the important characteristics
that will mark us as a Synod as we move into the years ahead? If
we are going to continue to be the kind of Lutheran church that our
Lord wants us to be as we move into the future, there are a number
of important characteristics and qualities that must continue to be
genuine hallmarks of The Lutheran Church—Missouni Synod.

Passion for Our Lord’s Word and Sacraments

The Word of God, in both Law and Gospel, is the Lutheran
church’s great foundation and strength. It alone is our source for
knowing God and knowing His will for us. The Scriptures are the
only way we know the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ and are the
sole rule and norm for teaching everything about that precious
Gospel. Our Synod will remain strong as long as we remain faithful
to the inerrant and infallible Word of God, the Holy Scriptures. |

The Lord’s sacraments, Holy Baptism and Holy Communion,
are the treasures and gifts He has given us by which He comes into
our lives, through the Word, to make us His own dear children and
continually to strengthen us in our faith. The sacraments are God’s
sure and certain means of coming to us and applying the blessings
of the Gospel to each of us individually. In a day when so many
people are looking for a real experience with God, there is nothing
more real than the gifts we receive through our Lord’s Word and
Sacraments. Praise and thanks be to God for His great gifts to us!