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LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 2001, Page 449

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

ADDITIONAL THEOLOGICAL DOCUMENTS AND REPORTS—OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT 449

¢ How can we strengthen our members as royal priests in their daily
vocations, demonstrating Christian virtue in a culture growing in-
creasingly godless and wicked?

¢ How can we build relationships between our members to assist
each person in his/her vocation and to strengthen marriage and
the family?

¢ How can our worship publicly confess the unseen reality of the
presence of the Holy Trinity among us, with all His life-giving
gifts of forgiveness, life and salvation?

There are countless ways to get the attention of people outside
of the church so that they will hear the Gospel. We can convert no
one. The Spirit of God does that. What we can do is our best to
bring the greatest numbers possible into contact with God’s Word
and Sacraments. These Means of Grace are at the heart and center
of a Lutheran understanding of the growth of Christ’s church. From
the weekly gathering around the pulpit and altar, God’s baptized
people go forth each week to serve Him in their daily lives. Re-
freshed and renewed by His Word and Supper, they bear His Word
in their hearts and on their Jips—and that Word will not return void.
All those who hear and believe also will be gathered into Christ’s
church in earth and heaven. This is our conviction in The Lutheran
Church—Missouri Synod. And so God’s mission continues among
us and through us: Tell the Good News About Jesus!

Recommendations

IN LIGHT OF THESE THEOLOGICAL AND CULTURAL considerations
of the Church Growth Movement, the following recommendations
are made:
|. That the President of the Synod share this study with other Syn-

odical entities, including doctrinal reviewers.

2. That district presidents, members of boards and commissions,
and others who supervise Synodical programs, auxiliaries and
RSOs consider the issues raised in this report as they plan pro-
grams and documents for use within the church.

3. That pastors use this report in their studies within their circuits
and districts, and as they serve their congregations in their min-
istries.

4. That congregations of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod
work towards a greater unity in their worship through the use of
Synodically-approved hymnbooks and liturgies.

5. That congregations commit themselves to the work of evange-
lism, trusting in the power of God’s Word, rather than in hu-
manly-devised systems.

Members of the Church Growth Study Committee

Pastor Phill Andresen
Immanuel Lutheran Church
Spirit Lake, Iowa

Pastor Jack Baumgarn
Trinity Lutheran Church
St. Francis, Minnesota

Pastor John Domsch
Hope Lutheran Church
Topeka, Kansas

Dr. Robert Kuhn
First Vice-President, LCMS
Saint Louis, Missouri

Dr. Charles Manske
President Emeritus
Concordia University
Irvine, California

Professor Kurt Marquart
Concordia Theological Seminary
Fort Wayne, Indiana

Dr. Dale Meyer
Lutheran Hour Speaker
St. Louis, Missouri

Pastor Harold Senkbeil
Elm Grove Lutheran Church
Elm Grove, Wisconsin

Dr. Gene Edward Veith
Concordia University
Mequon, Wisconsin

Dr. Richard Warneck
Concordia Seminary
Saint Louis, Missouri

Pastor Kenneth Wieting
Luther Memoria! Chapel
Milwaukee, Wisconsin

To Address the Church Growth Movement

RESOLUTION 3-09
Overtures 3-104-106 (CW, pp. 182-83)

Wuereas, Holy Scripture teaches, “So then faith comes by
hearing, and hearing by the Word of God” (Rom. 10:17). And
again, our God says: “As rain and snow come down from heaven .
. . 80 will My word be that I speak. It will not return to Me empty
but it will accomplish what 1 want and achieve what J had in mind”
(Is. 55: 10-11). And again, “He saved us, not because of any right-
eous works which we have done, but because of His mercy. He
saved us by the washing in which the Holy Spirit gives us a new
birth and a new life” (Titus 3:5). And of the Holy Supper our Lord
Jesus says concerning His own body and blood, “Take, eat, ... My
body given for you ... Drink ... My blood, poured out for you for
the forgiveness of sins” (Matt. 26:26-28; Mark 14:22-24; Luke
22:19-20; | Cor. 11:23~25); and

WHEREAS, Martin Luther, therefore, taught us that there is only
one way in which people are both brought to faith in Christ and
caused to grow in this faith, namely: “the Holy Spirit has called me
by the Gospel, enlightened me with His gifts, sanctified and kept
me in the true faith. In the same way He calls, gathers, enlightens,
and sanctifies the whole Christian church on earth” (SC II 6). And,
also in the Augsburg Confession we confess: “In order to obtain
such faith God instituted the office of the ministry [German: das
Predigtamt], that is, provided the Gospel and the Sacraments.
Through these, as through means, He gives the Holy Spirit, who
works faith, when and where He pleases, in those who hear the
Gospel” (V 1, emphasis added); and

WHEREAS, Some Church Growth materials and practices are a
denial of the efficacy of the Means of Grace, e.g., reliance upon
principles, programs, processes, and contemporary social and be-
havioral sciences to produce numerical growth in the church
(Evangelism and Church Growth, CTCR 1987; pp. 40-42); and

WHEREAS, Some Church Growth materials and practices sug-
gest that numerical growth in the church depends upon the proper
discovery, development, and employment of “spiritual gifts”
(Evangelism and Church Growth, CTCR 1987; pp. 43-44); and

Whereas, In much of Church Growth materials, as well as in
actual practice, there is a confusion of the Priesthood of All Be-
lievers with the Office of the Holy Ministry, e.g., the pastor as man-
ager and organizer, a misunderstanding of the Call, and a misun-

2001 Convention Workbook