LCMS Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 2004, Page 66

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66

REPORT OF THE PRESIDENT
Spirit. This is also why every baptized believer in Jesus is
called to bear witness to Jesus Christ and the fact that there
is salvation in no one else. We want as many people as possible to know Him and to have life in Him. “For this is good
and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires
all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the
truth” (1 Timothy 2:3–4). The truth is that Scripture reveals
no other way to eternal life than through faith in Jesus.

“In summary, we in the LCMS believe that:
• There is only one true God, Father, Son, and Holy
Spirit.
• The Scriptures clearly teach that there is forgiveness, life, and salvation solely through faith in
Jesus Christ, the only Savior of the world.
• Christians can therefore never pray to or worship
another god under any circumstances, at any
event.”
Those are the two points I want to share with you
in this memo. I trust they will be received in the same
spirit of love, care, and concern for our Synod with
which they have been written. Ultimately, I myself bear
full responsibility for the counsel and advice I give to
District Presidents in the conduct of their office, in accord with my constitutional duty to supervise the doctrine and administration of all District Presidents.

There is one more matter that needs to be addressed.
Communications already have been and undoubtedly will
continue to be sent to members and congregations of the
Synod, particularly in these months just prior to our synodical convention July 10–15. In one format or another,
these communications will offer differing perspectives on
this and many other issues. Voting delegates to the convention have in the past been deluged with such communications.
With no intention of questioning the motivation of such
communications or those responsible for sending them, I
encourage you, dear friends in Christ, to consider all matters of concern and difference among us prayerfully and to
treat those who hold positions different from your own with
the highest degree of integrity, respect, and Christian charity.
Like any leader of a group of people, especially a large
group of people, I, too, am called upon to make many decisions, some of which affect only a few, most of which affect
and are scrutinized by many. As those who know me personally will testify, I lay no claims to perfection. Like you, I
am a sinful human being. And also like you, I cherish the
forgiving love of Jesus Christ, God’s Son, our Savior.
At this summer’s convention, delegates will have both
the opportunity and the responsibility to address many
matters of importance for the future of our walking together as a Synod. With great sincerity and humility, I encourage the congregations and individual members of our
Synod to bring to the throne of our Heavenly Father fervent petitions and sincere supplications for The Lutheran
Church—Missouri Synod.
In a recent letter to the pastors of the LCMS, I wrote the
following paragraphs:
A call to prayer, repentance and spiritual renewal
A matter of importance among us is our recognition of the
depth of sin in the world, in the church and in our own personal lives. Sin manifests itself in many ways. Sin is a necessary ingredient in separation, sectarianism, and schism, as
well as in a widespread lack of faithfulness to God’s Word as
revealed in Holy Scripture.

2004 Convention Proceedings

To say the least, we are a church body experiencing significant tensions regarding numerous doctrinal issues, and regarding ways of carrying out the mission and ministry of the
church. Left unresolved, these differences will continue to provide a foothold for Satan. His influence and subtle manipulations catalyze our individual and corporate sinful thoughts,
words and deeds. Divisiveness and a spirit of contention are
the result.
Accordingly, I believe it is time for a widespread call to
prayer, repentance and spiritual renewal among us. I say this
with deep sincerity and conviction. I have no reason to doubt
or question the current level of spirituality of the pastors, educators and members of congregations of our Synod. At the
same time, I am mindful of Paul’s words in Galatians 5:
You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use
your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve
one another in love. The entire law is summed up in a single command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” If you keep
on biting and devouring each other, watch out or you will
be destroyed by each other.
So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the
desires of the sinful nature. For the sinful nature desires
what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each
other, so that you do not do what you want. But if you are
led by the Spirit, you are not under law.
The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies,
and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who
live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience,
kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong
to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its
passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us
keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited,
provoking and envying each other.
Critical aspects of spiritual renewal include humility, selfexamination, confession, repentance and absolution, results of
which cannot exclude a deepening personal relationship with
Jesus Christ, fervent prayer and humble commitment to our
part in Christ’s mission on earth. In my travels across the
Synod and around the world, I see many encouraging signs of
a renewal of commitment to mission. What I have not seen
nearly as clearly is a commitment to the other elements listed
above, particularly prayer, as an integral part of spiritual renewal.
Church historians point out that renewal movements always are accompanied by fervent prayer. Here is where we in
the LCMS need a lot of work, especially if we are serious about
setting hearts on fire—a work that only the presence and
power of the Holy Spirit can accomplish in our midst. As
Luther teaches us, “We must, after all, achieve everything
through prayer.”
Therefore, my dear friends and brothers in Christ, in a
spirit of genuine humility, regularly and painfully aware of
my own sinful nature, failures and imperfections, I respectfully and fervently encourage you to continue to commit yourself to
• regular and fervent prayer for our church and its courageous, uncompromising, unapologetic witness to the
world;
• private and public repentance for sins of omission, commission, and no mission;
• spiritual renewal through personal and group Bible
study, devotion, Christian witness and service.

In addition, I respectfully encourage you also to urge your
people to join their hands and their hearts in similar commitment. I truly believe that doing so will produce the kind
of results reflected in the last verse from Acts 4: