LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 1998, Page 113

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SYNODICAL REPORTS 113

District of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod to consist of 75
maturing, growth-oriented, confessional Lutheran congregations
who are effectively nurturing and involving their growing mem-
berships for statewide mission outreach to all the unchurched of
every community and ethnic group.

At this convention, the delegates probably set a synodical record
by enthusiastically adopting the final bylaw changes to make the
council structure permanent in under five minutes!

We have provided opportunities and assistance for everyone of
our 59 congregations to pursue that vision. Two workshops for
small- and mid-sized congregations were attended by representa-
tives of a majority of our churches, and many have been adopting
and pursuing a new vision as a result of those workshops. Two
churches have begun nursery schools, a suburban congregation is
partnering with a neighboring church in a changing community to
provide shared pastoral staff, and other churches are addressing
their mission in new ways. A partnership with the Lutheran Church
Extension Fund and the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod Foun-
dation has enabled us to welcome a second full-time staff member
who will provide greater assistance as our churches continue to
serve their communities in new ways.

We face continual challenges as we work to reach all people,
including those of other ethnic groups which surround us. Our mis-
sionary to the Japanese has returned to the seminary for graduate
study. The Lord blessed his work with a partnership with several
congregations in Bergen County that reached over three hundred
Japanese and resulted in sending baptized Christians back to Japan
to carry on the witness to Jesus Christ there. As this is being writ-
ten, we prayerfully await an answer to our cail to a former mis-
sionary to Japan to help us establish an even broader Japanese mis-
sion field in the northwest corner of our State and across the
Hudson River into Westchester County, N.Y.

Our District “family’’ consists of an able and caring group of
professional servant workers. Most of these meet regularly to sup-
port one another in their personal and professional growth. They
all are committed to sharing the glorious Gospel of our Lord Jesus
Christ in a challenging environment. With them, the members of
our congregations as well as our District staff are happy to share
the Gospel-centered witness of our Synod | in our area of the East
Coast of our nation.

Donald W. Sandmann, President

R7-05-20
North Dakota District

Thank you! We, in the North Dakota District, indeed thank God
for all of you. You have come to help and befriend us in so many
ways. In April 1997 the sandbags refused to hold back the rising
Red River. Normally, the Red River is 75 yards wide, but now in
some places became 22 miles wide. The cities of Grand Forks (N.
Dak.) and East Grand Forks (Minn.) were completely inundated.
Over 50,000 people evacuated their homes. The fire in downtown
Grand Forks destroyed an entire block, as 4 feet of water sur-
rounded it like an island. When the floodwaters in the valley, from
the South Dakota border to the Canadian border, began to recede,
thousands of families returned to find their homes severely dam-
aged. Soon, the berm in front of every house became a monument
to that family’s history as their flood-damaged possessions began to
pile up. Their homes and their churches would have to undergo ex-
tensive repair at costs beyond their means. But you were led by our
God to come to their assistance. Your prayers, your dollars, your
labors of love poured into our state. We thank God for you and all
that you have given to help restore the lives of our people. The task
is not completed. But you continue to come to help. Thank you!

During the winter of 1997-98 our farmers and ranchers lost
well over 125,000 head of livestock. The last major three-day bliz-
zard came the weekend of April 4—6. This storm hit right in the
midst of the calving season. The loss of livestock in this single
storm was devastating. But once again, the people of God re-
sponded with gifts of money, cattle, and labor to help reduce the
material loss while at the same time, reassuring them with their

prayers. Again, we say, “Thank you! Your support is filled with
compassion and love. We thank God for you!”

In the past triennium, we have continued to strive to meet the
changing conditions in our corner of the world, as God has enabled
us. We confess that there is much we could have and should have
done which didn’t get done. We continue to search for options
which will answer the question of how to minister to God’s peo-
ple in the small, declining congregation. Martin Luther Elementary
School opened in the fall of 1995 and has grown to include grade 7.
This Bismarck-Mandan School Association numbers six on their
faculty and an enrollment of 85. They now seek facilities which
will allow for their rapid growth.

The LWML continues to respond to their auxiliary role of sup-
porting the work of missions both within and without our District.
The Orphan Grain Train of the LLL was invaluable to us during
and after the floods. It not only supplied food and building materi-
als, but also the labor of many volunteers. They were also active
in the “One Good Cow” program, which seeks to help replace lost
livestock. Our LYF program is a bold example of organization, vi-
sion, and opportunities for our youth to be involved in the ministry
of our Lord.

Our District staff consists of a full-time District president, an
executive director, and one secretary. We have also entered into
partnership with the Foundation to bring aboard a full-time Gift
Planning Counselor who has a part-time secretary. Constant evalu-
ation of activities, reallocation of resources, and rethinking of pri-
orities has resulted in improved services to congregations. Many
larger Districts discuss the need to build relationships between their
District and congregations and the need to provide services to indi-
vidual congregations. It is reassuring because the North Dakota
District has conducted its ministry in this manner for many years.
Bringing God’s unchanging Word to a constantly changing world
is exciting as well as challenging.

As we work together, challenge ourselves, and continually ask
if what we are doing makes sense, we are comforted by the un-
changing love which God has for His people. We trust Him to con-
tinue His love in Christ Jesus. We indeed are committed to our
common confessions and mission. We will continue to increase our
support of His work within our District, nationally, and throughout
the world, trusting God to sustain, enrich, and guide us.

Norman C. Sincebaugh, President

R7-05-21
North Wisconsin District

Great is Thy faithfulness! Great is Thy faithfulness!
Morning by morning new mercies I see;

All [have needed Thy hand hath provided —
Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!

Our God is a faithful God. He has been and continues to be
faithful to the family of believers that comprise the North Wiscon-
sin District, gathered in 223 congregations and planted in 50 coun-
ties across northern Wisconsin and the upper peninsula of Michi-
gan. Our family gathered to celebrate His faithfulness at the 1997
District convention under the theme “Faithful Lord—Faithful
Church.”

“Faithful Lord—Faithful Church”—this theme reminds us that
our life, our hope, and our work are all based on the faithfulness of
God, who makes and keeps precious promises to all His children.
These promises are made to us in Christ and are fulfilled day by
day as we experience and live by His mercy. His faithfulness fills
us with the desire to be faithful to Him in return. That was the
thought held up before the convention and the District: “We want
to be faithful to our faithful God!”

Faithfulness takes many forms. One form is to be faithful to our
Lord’s Great Commission. The convention focused on this form of
faithfulness. It considered a three-year mission strategy in depth,
worked through four separate Bible studies, and then adopted the
strategy titled “Mission 2000" without dissent. A significant por-
tion of the strategy follows: