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LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 2001, Page 450

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

450 ADDITIONAL THEOLOGICAL DOCUMENTS AND REPORTS—OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT

derstanding of Christian vocation (Evangelism and Church Growth,
CTCR 1987; pp. 42-43); and

Wuereas, The Church Growth Movement often promotes wor-
ship forms and practices which focus the worshipper on his feel-
ings and experiences as evidence of God’s grace rather than on the
objective and gracious work of God delivering His forgiveness of
sins for Christ’s sake through Word and Sacrament, as found, for
example, in the historic liturgy of the Lutheran Church (Evange-
lism and Church Growth, CTCR 1987; pp. 41-42); therefore be it

Resolved, That circuit and District pastoral conferences, Dis-
trict staffs, and congregations of Synod be urged to study the
CTCR report Evangelism and Church Growth, the report from The
Standing Committee for Pastoral Ministry titled Toward a Theo-
logical Basis, Understanding and Use of Chureh Growth Princi-
ples in The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, as well as other re-
sources which critically examine the Church Growth Movement,
e.g., “Church Growth” As Mission Paradigm: A Lutheran Assess-
ment by Kurt Marquart, and Dining with the Devil: The
Megachurch Movement Flirts with Modernity by Os Guiness; and
be it further

Resolved, That congregations, Districts and entities of the
Synod which are using Church Growth materials and practices ex-
amine them carefully and use them with proper discernment; and
be it further

Resolved, That The Lutheran Witness, Reporter and other pub-
lications of the Synod report on the errors in some Church Growth
materials and practices and also in fairness show how some mate-
rials and practices may be used in the service of the Gospel and the
advancement of the Kingdom; and be it further

Resolved, That the President of the Synod consider appointing a
committee to study and address how the truth of the Scriptures and
the Lutheran Confessions might be clearly proclaimed in light of
the Church Growth Movement and the influences of American cul-
ture and pluralism; and be it finally

Resolved. That the findings of this committee. if appointed, be
shared with all of the Synod as soon as possible.

2001 Convention Workbook

Notes

1. Toward a Theological Basis, Understanding and Use of
Church Growth Principles in The Lutheran Church—Missouri
Synod, Prepared by The Church Growth Strategy Task Force of the
Standing Committee for Pastoral Ministry (St. Louis: Board for
Higher Education Services, The Lutheran Church—Missouri
Synod, 1991); Evangelism and Church Growth (St. Louis: The
Commission on Theology and Church Relations of The Lutheran
Church—Missouri Synod, 1987.

2. C. Peter Wagner, Win Arn, and Elmer Towns, eds., “A Glos-
sary of Church Growth Terms,” Church Growth: State of the Art
(Wheaton, IIl.: Tyndale, 1986), p. 284.

3. Kent R. Hunter, Foundations for Church Growth (New
Haven, Mo.: Leader Publishing Company, 1983), p. 23.

4. Hunter, Fourtdations, p. 29. .

5. Ken Sidey, “Church Growth Fine Tunes Its Formulas,”
Christianity Today (June 24, 1991), p. 45.

6. Donald McGavran, Understanding Church Growth, third edi-
tion, revised and edited by C. Peter Wagner, (Grand Rapids: Eerd-
mans Publishinig Company, 1990).

7. Sidey, p. 46.

8. C. Peter Wagner, Your Church Can Grow (Ventura, Calif.:
Regal Books, 1976), p. 58.

9. Carl F. George, Prepare Your Church for the Future (Tarry-
town, NY: F. H. Revell, 1991), p. 41.

10. Kent R. Hunter and David L. Bahn, Confessions of a
Church Growth Enthusiast (Lima, Ohio: Fairway Press, | 997).

11. C.F.W. Walther, The Proper Form of an Evanglical
Lutheran Congregation Independent of the State, translated by J.T.
Mueller (St. Louis: Concordia Pulishing House, Reprinted 1987),
Thesis 65, p. 185-186.

12. Carl Gaertner, The Means of Grace in an Effective Church
Program in Volume III of The Abiding Word (St. Louis: Concordia
Publishing House, 1960), p. 415.