LCMS Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 2004, Page 69

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REPORT OF THE PRESIDENT
Convention Theme and Biblical Basis
In the Report of the President, Part I, printed in your
Convention Workbook, I spent some time unpacking the
theme of our convention, One Mission—Ablaze! I believe it
is important briefly to review this information.
The theme of this convention is One Mission—Ablaze!
Its scriptural basis is Isaiah 49:5–6: “And now the LORD
says—He who formed me in the womb to be His servant to
bring Jacob back to Him and gather Israel to Himself, for I
am honored in the eyes of the LORD and my God has been
my strength—He says: ‘It is too small a thing for you to be
My servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back
those of Israel I have kept. I will also make you a light for
the Gentiles, that you may bring My salvation to the ends
of the earth.’ ”
The main message of this word from the Lord is that the
gifts He has given to His people are too many and too abundant for them to be used only to proclaim the truth of God’s
love to “the tribes of Jacob and . . . Israel.” Indeed, says our
God, “It is too small a thing” for His people to pay attention
only to the Old Testament people of Israel. “I will also make
you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring My salvation to the ends of the earth.”
That’s the reason for choosing the word Ablaze!It describes something or someone on fire, full of light, illuminated with the brightness, the power, and the energy produced by the fire of God’s Holy Spirit. We in The Lutheran
Church—Missouri Synod have ONE Mission—to be
ABLAZE! with the power and presence of the very Spirit of
God in our lives, on our lips and in our labors!We proclaim
ONE Message, that Jesus Christ is the only Savior of the
world! We pursue the ONE Mission and proclaim the ONE
Message as ONE People, united by God’s love in Jesus
Christ!
In the light of Christ’s love, following the lead of Jesus
Himself, we seek lost people for Christ, who said, “For the
Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost” (Luke
19:10). That is God’s mission, which is also our mission . . .
One Mission—Ablaze!
The LCMS Mission Statement says it well:
In grateful response to God’s grace and empowered
by the Holy Spirit through Word and Sacraments, the
mission of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod is
vigorously to make known the love of Christ by word
and deed within our churches, communities, and the
world.

It is my prayer to our gracious God that this mission will
be the constant focus of this 62nd Regular Convention of
The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod! It is both my counsel to you and my prayer to God that every resolution you
prepare for presentation to the convention of our Synod will
reflect this mission theme and will enhance this mission accomplishment, to the glory of God and for the salvation of
many of the people of the world who do not now confess the
name of Jesus.
A Brief Summary of the Health
and State of the Synod
Allow me at this time to share with you, in general, my
observations about the health and state of the Synod. I do
so on the basis of 34 years of experience on the clergy roster

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of the Synod—13 of those years have been spent as an ecclesiastical supervisor and member of the Council of Presidents of the LCMS, 10 years as a District President, and 3
years as President of the Synod. I pray that these observations will be received in the same spirit of love and concern
in which they are offered for our beloved Synod, its pastors,
educators, and people.
In general, my assessment is that the health and vitality
of the LCMS, comprised of the people and professional
church workers of the congregations of the Synod, are quite
good. Many individual congregations, while challenged with
fiscal and personnel issues, in general, and concerns for the
seemingly never-ending escalation of health care benefit
costs and static or declining revenues, in specific, are nevertheless experiencing varying degrees of health, vitality,
and growth. A goodly number, under God’s grace and blessing, are growing and expanding in measure beyond their
greatest expectation or anticipation.
Other congregations, faced with rapidly changing demographics, challenging multi-cultural opportunities, confusing and schismatic church and ministry issues, highly conflicted internal relationships, or a host of other immediate
concerns, are plateaued at best or rapidly declining at
worst. Pastoral leadership in such circumstances is sometimes suspect, frequently faulted, often maligned, and always challenged. To be sure, many congregations are unassumingly proud of their past, deeply concerned about their
present, and anxiously uncertain about their future.
The Districts of the Synod have not been immune to
some of these challenges. Fiscal resources, mostly received
as remittances from congregations, are limited and in many
cases declining. Worker benefit costs have escalated. Expectations and requests from congregations and professional church workers have increased significantly. Expenses that once were borne by national Synod have had to
be assumed by Districts, due to decreases in national Synod
income. As a result, undesignated remittances from Districts to national Synod, on the whole, have slowly but
steadily and surely decreased over the past two decades or
more.
Regarding the national Synod, challenges and opportunities do exist. Following are some specific perspectives and
concerns in this regard, corresponding with the areas of responsibility assigned to each of the eight floor committees
charged with crafting resolutions for convention consideration:
• Missions — I am not alone in my deep concern about the
decline in baptized membership of the congregations of
the Synod over the past thirty or more years, in spite of
the clearly stated mission of the church to seek lost people for Christ. I believe you and many others share this
concern. The formidable fiscal, spiritual, and human resources of our Synod must be aligned, catalyzed, and released as we address this regrettable and unacceptable
decline and as we faithfully face the many opportunities
for mission that exist in our country and world.
• District and Congregational Services — I am not
alone in my concern for provision of proper and adequate
resources to the congregations and professional church
workers of the Synod by the national Synod and its Dis2004 Convention Proceedings