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LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 2001, Page 441

Scan: The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod
Transcription machine transcription, uncorrected

ADDITIONAL THEOLOGICAL DOCUMENTS AND REPORTS—OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT 44]

charged with developing this plan for ministry. What follows is the
result of that group’s work.

2. These terms conform to usage in Human Sexuality: A Theo-
logical Perspective. Report of the Commission on Theology and
Church Relations of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, as
prepared by its Social Concerns Committee (September 1981.

3. Ibid.p 6.

4. Ibid. p. 34

5. Luther's Small Catechism with Explanation (St. Louis: Con-
cordia Publishing House, 1991), p. 10.

6. A communication from a homosexual Christian to the task
force.

7. Luther’s Small Catechism with Explanation (St. Louis: Con-
cordia Publishing House, 1991), p. 10.

8. The Large Catechism of Dr. Martin Luther, translated by
Robert H. Fischer, in The Book of Concord, translated and edited
by Theodore G. Tappert (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1959), p.
392.

9. Bruce Foster, “Confronting Homophobia in a Confessional
Church,” Lutheran Forum (Reformation, 1993), p. 54.

10. Large Catechism, “Lord’s Prayer: the Sixth Petition,” Tap-
pert, p. 434f.

1]. In asking that a plan be developed for ministering to homo-
sexuals and their families, the Synod in convention in 1992 asked
that certain goals be pursued (see Appendix, Resolution 3-12A,
“To Develop a Plan for Ministry to Homosexuals and Their Fami-
lies”). According to the Synod’s resolution, eight goals were sug-
gested. In the part of this present document that follows, five of
those goals have been addressed (goals 2 and 4 through 7). The
substance of Goal 1 of the Synod’s resolution (in short, “to offer
biblically alternative models of friendship”) is addressed in Goals

Four and Five of this document. Goal] 3 of the Synod’s resolution
(“to help the individual recognize that God can rescue individuals
from homosexual orientation and practice”) is dealt with at various
points in this document (see particularly, however, the preceding
paragraph). Goal 8 of the synodical statement (“to do all this pa-
tiently, persistently,” etc.) is also addressed throughout this docu-
ment (see particularly also the section entitled “Law and Gospel
Application”). Finally, one new goal is addressed in this document
that was not included in the resolution of the Synod, namely, Goal
Four: “To assure him or her of the acceptance of the church.” It
was felt that it was important to discuss also this goal, since the at-
titude of the church is often the most important initial factor in de-
termining whether a person feels that he or she can approach the
church for help, or a person avoids the church because he or she
feels unwelcome and unwanted.

12. See also Herbert C. Mueller, Jr., The Service of Women in
the Church (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1995). pp.
18-19. Again, an equality is conferred in Holy Baptism, but this
equality does not obliterate the distinctive roles of male and female.
In the one-flesh union God designed for man and woman, “the man
gives and in giving receives. The woman receives and in receiving
gives.”

13. The Large Catechism, The Book of Concord, translated and
edited by Theodore G. Tappert (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1959),
pp. 399 and 400.

14. “If we were stronger, we might be less tenderly treated. If
we were braver, we might be sent with far less help to defend far
more desperate posts in the great battle.” C.S. Lewis, “The Effi-
cacy of Prayer,” in The World’s Last Night (Santiago: Harcourt
and Brace, 1987), p. 10.

2001 Convention Workbook