LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 1998, Page 66

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66 SYNODICAL REPORTS

R3-03
Commission on Organizations

Introduction

The Commission on Organizations (COO) has been assigned
responsibility for providing “information and counsel concerning
organizations, philosophies, and worldviews, about which pastors
and congregations may make inquiry relative to objectives, tenets,
programs, practices, or ceremonies” (Bylaw 3.919 a). The COO
consists of five members—one ordained minister, one commis-
sioned minister, two laypersons, and one seminary professor. The
commission meets twice a year. Under an “Operating Agreement”
adopted by both the COO and the Commission on Theology and
Church Relations, since July 1, 1993, Dr. Jerald Joersz of the
CTCR staff has been providing staff services for the COO.

Resource Center

The office of the Commission on Organizations functions as a
“resource center” to provide information to the members of the
Synod on religious entities and world-views. To this end the COO
maintains extensive files and library resources on various organi-
zations, groups, and movements in the United States. In the last
three years the COO’s office has sent resource mailings in response
to 1,670 requests for information. As it continues to monitor de-
velopments in the religious scene and to evaluate the volume of re-
quests regarding specific topics, the commission prepares reports
“from the theological perspective of the LCMS”—approximately
130 now available. For example, during the past triennium the
COO prepared an evaluation of the rapidly growing International
Churches of Christ, otherwise known as the “Boston Church of
Christ.”

The commission also continues through its office to monitor de-
velopments regarding fraternal organizations (including especially
lodges). Information about lodges remains the subject of the high-
est number of requests received by the COO’s office. These re-
quests are principally from pastors who are seeking to provide re-
sponsible pastoral care to lodge members, in keeping with the
rationale and pastoral care provisions spelled out in Bylaw X, “Fra-
ternal Organizations” in the synodical Handbook.

Staff Services

While the CTCR, under the 1993 “Operating Agreement,” is
only able to provide part time staff service for the COO, the CTCR
staff (Dr. Joersz) has been able to participate in a number of activ-
ities in behalf of the COO. During this triennium these have in-
cluded Bible class presentations, forums, special conferences, and
seminary class lectures. Of special interest were participation in an
April 1996 meeting with representatives of the Worldwide Church
of God (which has changed from a cult to a Christian denomina-
tion) and a visit to an open house of the new Mormon temple in St.
Louis in May 1997. Individual members of the COO have also
been involved in various projects and activities related to the work
of the COO.

A Growing Need

The 1997 Encyclopedia Britannica Book of the Year reports that
in mid-1996 there were over 1} million “Other Religionists” (in-
cluding spiritist religions, New Age religions, quasi-religions,
pseudo-religions, parareligions, religious or mystic systems, and
religious and semireligious brotherhoods) in North America. This
does not include religions such as Hindus, Muslims, Shintoists, and
Buddhists. In an April 1997 Time magazine article on “The Lure
of the Cult” as we approach the year 2000, Richard Lacayo wrote
that the “modern era of cultism” began in the 1970s when “out of
the rubble of countercultures” arose a myriad of movements, be-
lief systems, and extremist groups. As never before, Christians in
America are experiencing in the culture around them not only a vir-
tual explosion of cultic ideas and varied expressions of them, but
also a pervasive acceptance of the view that cults have some legit-
imate claim to religious truth. Factors such as the complexity of the
religious landscape today, the profusion of “religious” literature,
the growing need for uniquely Lutheran perspective and analysis,

and the need for updating current COO evaluations, have been top-
ics of discussion on the agenda of the COO on numerous occasions
during the past triennium.

Following a review of the current “Operating Agreement” be-
tween the COO and the CTCR, in light of the above the members
of the COO, upon the encouragement of the CTCR, unanimously
decided to recommend to the Synod that funding be made avail-
able to restore to the COO a full-time staff person. In conjunction
with this report to the Synod, therefore, the COO has submitted a
resolution to this effect. It is the prayer of the members of the COO
that the Synod will give serious consideration to this proposal, that
in the end the COO may continue and—in light of present needs—
expand the services which it provides to the members of the Synod.

Jerald C. Joersz, Staff Services

R4-01

Implementation Team
on Funding Our Work Together

The 1995 convention in Res. 4-01B resolved “that Synod’s
Board of Directors continue to develop a clear and simple system
which facilitates an orderly yes/yes concept of funding through the
Synod” and “that the Board of Directors report on progress made in
its report to the 1998 synodical convention.”

The yes/yes concept of funding emerged from the Implementa-
tion Team’s response to 1992 convention Res. 4-04A, which called
for the continued development and pilot-testing of a model of fi-
nancial support for the mission and ministry of our church body.
The convention asked that the model enable individuals and con-
gregations:

* to grow continually in biblical teachings on sharing the Gospel
and using the Lord’s blessings;

* to free more people to “own” the mission through presentations of
biblical stewardship principles;

* to personalize opportunities to support the work they do through
District and national Synod.

The Implementation Team was one of a series of working teams
that started 12 years ago when the 1986 convention called for an
in-depth review of the methods by which support is given for fund-
ing the mission and ministry of the Synod at all levels. In a report
to delegates at the 1995 convention, the Implementation Team, to-
gether with President Barry, the Synod’s Council on Mission and
Ministry, and the synodical Board of Directors, concluded that we
must be aware of changing trends toward a decline in unrestricted
giving and an increase in personalized or designated giving for a
variety of causes/needs and encouraged congregational, District,
and national leadership to say:

Yes, it’s okay for individuals to give, in response to God’s
blessings in their lives, tithes and offerings both to their local con-
gregations and to designated areas in the budgets of Districts and
national Synod;

Yes, it’s okay for congregations to support work at large in the
budgets of Districts and the national Synod through
* regular contributions from unified budgets

* regular contributions for specific personalized mission and min-
istry endeavors

* special above-budget contributions

This method, known as the “yes/yes approach of funding our
work together,” reflects a paradigm shift in funding practices that,
within biblical stewardship principles,

* recognizes changing giving patterns among God’s people today
as many donors want to be personally involved in determining
how their tithes and offerings are used and to see results from
their gifts;

* has the potential to build closer interaction and coordination
among individuals, congregations, and those directly engaging in
mission and ministry projects;

* places District and national Synod funding decisions into the
hands of God’s people, both individuals and congregations;