LCMS Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 2001, Page 57

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REPORT OF THE PRESIDENT
Moving Together into a New Millennium … Providing
Opportunities to Express Christian Love

As we move into a new millennium, all around us we see
human suffering in so many shapes and forms: poverty, neglect, a growing disdain toward human life, loneliness, despair, and a general sense of being lost in a rapidly changing
world. We see human suffering in the poverty-stricken areas
of our cities and in the difficult realities of life in the rural
areas of our country. We see human suffering in the affluent
suburbs, where the veneer of success thinly covers the deep
spiritual longing and need that exist. We see suffering in the
impoverished parts of our communities and around the
world. We see the opportunity to express human love in a
culture of death that has permitted, and even now encourages, the destruction of unborn human life and more and
more regards the lives of those who are sick, feeble, or disabled as lives not worthy of living.
We move together into the new millennium supporting
many organizations and institutions working to relieve
human suffering. Together we join our hearts and hands
to express our Christian love to those less fortunate.
Again, the Word of God guides and directs our common
endeavor to express Christian love. In Luke 6 we read:
Love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will
be sons of the Most High; for He Himself is kind to ungrateful and evil men. And again in Galatians 6 we read:
While we have opportunity, let us do good to all men, and
especially to those who are of the household of the faith.
Our congregations join together through our World Relief efforts to provide aid and comfort to those suffering from
natural disasters, but our work of expressing Christian love
is more expansive even than this, for we recognize that we
express our Christian love in how we treat one another in
the Synod. We treat one another in love when we speak the
truth to one another, even if at times that speaking of truth
is difficult and even perhaps painful for some to hear. But
as we speak that truth, it must be spoken in love.
Moving Together into a New Millennium … Supervising,
Protecting, and Providing for Our Church Workers and
Congregations

When I annually send out a survey to our District presidents, asking them to comment on what is the most
pressing challenge they face, every year the same response is received: dealing with those unfortunate situations where congregations and pastors or other church
workers are experiencing tension and conflict. Now, statistically speaking, the total number of these situations is
relatively small, but they are troubling nonetheless and
necessarily consume so much energy and attention, distracting congregations and church workers from the ministry the Lord has for them to do.
Our Synod was formed with many purposes in mind,
one of the most important purposes being the supervision,
protection, and provision for our church workers. Included
elsewhere in this Workbook is an essay from which portions were printed in two separate inserts in the Reporter.
This paper touches on a wide variety of issues involving
the relationship between our pastors and their congregations. Here I would like to underscore a few key points.

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I think we need to realize that these issues are very
much a two-way street. On the one hand, it is absolutely
imperative that our congregations recognize that their pastors are the called servants of Jesus Christ in their midst,
and as such they are to be respected and supported in their
duties and responsibilities. A similar attitude must characterize our congregations’ attitudes toward their other
called church workers. At the same time, our pastors and
other church workers must always conduct themselves in
the exercise of their offices with the respect, love, and humility required of those who serve the Lord’s people.
Our Synod, particularly our Synod’s elected doctrinal
supervisors, the Synod’s President, Vice-Presidents, and
District Presidents, are responsible for assuring that our
pastors and other church workers are not being mistreated simply because they are attempting to be faithful
to the biblical and confessional practices of the Missouri
Synod. As long as a congregation is a member of The
Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, it is not at liberty to
pick and choose which of our biblical teachings and practices it is going to accept and which it is going to reject.
Thus, a pastor must not be put out of office or forced to
leave simply because he has worked faithfully in the
parish to teach and conduct his ministry in line with his
ordination vows to be faithful to the Bible and the
Lutheran Confessions and in accord with those promises
he makes as a member of the Synod to abide by the confessional position of our church body.
And turning the coin over again, we need also to say
that no pastor or other church worker has any right to impose what is merely a matter of his or her own personal
taste or style on the congregation and insist that all think
as he or she does about a certain matter. When a pastor or
church worker begins to lord it over the flock in this manner, this only leads to divisions and tensions. Pastors are
not free to impose new practices on congregations without
their consent, nor do they have any right to treat their
congregations as persons who are there to serve them and
to answer to their demands.
It is important for me to note that our District Presidents play a vital and important role in all of this, since
they are the individuals charged with the most immediate supervision of the doctrine and practice of the church
workers and congregations in our Synod. Such responsibility for supervision is a heavy burden on these men. Let
us keep them in our prayers as they go about this important work on behalf of us all.
Along with supervising and protecting our pastors,
church workers, and congregations comes the matter of
providing for them. Our Worker Benefit Plans here come
to mind. The WBP faces increasing national health cost
increases, but they are doing what they can to keep costs
down while continuing to provide adequate health care,
prescription medication coverage, retirement, and disability and death benefits for the members of the WBP.
It is important here for me to underscore something
that perhaps does not receive adequate attention on a
Synod or District level. It is the matter of the salaries our
congregations extend to our church workers. Let me here
say that our congregations and schools really do need to
200l Convention Proceedings