LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 2004, Page 3

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SYNODICAL REPORTS 3

- Almost 50 percent of the infants baptized in our congregations
are not confirmed in them.

- Almost 50 percent of the children confirmed in our congrega-
tions are not active in them at age 21.

* We are currently experiencing critical shortages of professional
church workers, including both pastors and educators. Many of
our workers are stressed. Some are depressed and on the verge of
burnout. Others are contemplating resignation due to family
and/or financial pressures.

* Since 1988, the LCMS has lost approximately 1,750 more or-
dained ministers, and more than 3,000 more commissioned min-
isters, than we have gained.

* A vitally significant challenge faces our Synod as we address the
issue of caring for and retaining these special gifts of God, while
recruiting and training new workers to lead us into the future.

Some Reflections and Insights to Address
These Present Realities

1. God’s church, to be living, vibrant, and productive must rely
on the power source of the church’s vitality, namely, God’s
means of grace. In the same way that we are saved by grace
through faith and our works flow from that God-given faith, so
also our powerful God provides vitality in the church through
the proclamation of His Word and the administration of His
Sacraments—The result in the New Testament was rapid
growth of the church! The marginal vitality in our Synod
challenges us to address a genuinely spiritual problem. What
resides in our heads must also find a prominent place in our
hearts!

2. God has chosen to use people, His imperfect instruments, to
distribute the Word and Sacraments in order to accomplish His
will that all might be saved and come to the knowledge of the
truth. In the past several decades, American and global culture
has changed from “churched” to “unchurched,” making
communication of the Gospel message much more difficult. At
this moment in time, the Lutheran church has no meaningful
presence in the minds of most Americans, especially non-
white, non-upper-middle-class Americans. We have much
work to accomplish in faithfully and fruitfully communicating
the Gospel of Christ to unbelieving people in America in this
twenty-first century!

. A national church body such as the LCMS is dependent upon
the spiritual and organizational health and vitality of individual
congregations for its own corporate health and vitality.
Achieving holistic congregational health and vitality with a
passion for mission requires significant effort, including
concern for the holistic health of its members and its workers,
as well as a proper concern for both doctrine and practice.
Congregational health and vitality with a passion for mission
must be the focus of our national Synod and its 35 Districts.

. Denominational finances are mostly dependent upon the health
and vitality of individual congregations. Both the source and
system of giving has significantly changed in Synod’s funding
over the last decade. For example, 30 years ago, the national
Synod received $25 million from congregations through the
Districts of the Synod. This year these gifts amount to $22.5
million, not including special and designated gifts from
individuals and congregations in the Districts. We must address
the question of whether we still want the national Synod, on
behalf of the 6,148 congregations of the Synod, to conduct
worldwide and national ministries such as missions, higher
education, congregational services, human care, and so forth. If
so, from where will come the funding? The bottom line is that
no program of funding or development will revitalize the
LCMS. The issue is not a funding or allocation problem.
Funding follows mission.

From the past, in the present, and into the future comes The
Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, blessed by God in so many
ways, yet significantly challenged by the realities of a rapidly
changing world!

Specific Initiatives During the Past Triennium
Designed to Address Synodical Decline

In a concentrated and comprehensive effort to address the 30-

year decline in our Synod outlined above, the President’s office has
undertaken a number of specific initiatives. Following are sum-
maries of these initiatives.

Mission 21st Century Task Force—Tasked with assessing the
reasons for the 30-year decline in LCMS baptized membership
and making recommendations to the President of the Synod for
reversing that trend. Convention delegates will hear much about
this report, which is included in this Convention Workbook. Del-
egates will be considering specific recommendations of the task
force, which will be presented by the floor committee(s) to which
this report has been assigned.

Ablaze!—An endeavor to reach 100 million people around the
world with the Gospel of Jesus Christ by 2017, the 500th an-
niversary of the Reformation. Humanly. speaking, this is an am-
bitious goal, initiated by and under the supervision of LCMS
World Mission. It can be accomplished only by God’s Spirit,
working in the hearts, lives, and lips of the pastors, educators, and
people of the LCMS in a partnership of congregations, Districts,
boards, commissions, agencies, institutions, auxiliaries, Recog-
nized Service Organizations, and partner churches of the LCMS.
The 2004 LCMS Convention theme is designed to highlight the
significance of the Ablaze! endeavor by encouraging congrega-
tions and professional church workers to focus on igniting the
world with Christ’s love. Great attention will be given to assisting
delegates and their congregations to develop an even greater ap-
preciation for the work we are doing together as a Synod in ignit-
ing a worldwide mission movement, ONE Mission—Ablaze!
ONE Mission—Ablaze! Igniting Congregations—This signifi-
cant effort is designed to encourage all LCMS congregations in
the accomplishment of the Synod’s mission, “vigorously to make
known the love of Christ by word and deed within our churches,
communities, and the world.”

Groups of 30 congregations from throughout the Synod, objec-
tively identified on the basis of statistical data in different cate-
gories of ministry during the past five years, are invited to send a
senior pastor and key lay leader to each event. At congregational
or personal expense, they gather on-site at the host congregatian,
typically one of the leading congregations in the specific ministry
category receiving attention at the event. Thanksgiving to God is
offered, appreciation and encouragement to congregational lead-
ers are expressed, and ideas, plans, and strategies are shared. With
funding provided by Thrivent Financial for Lutherans, special
projects designed to encourage congregations throughout the
Synod to sharpen their focus in this specific ministry area are ini-
tiated by the congregational leaders present, who also pledge to
be available to assist other congregations of the Synod in their
mission efforts. The information learned from these events is
posted on the Web site of The Office of the President, The
Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, at www.lcms.org/president.

Events have already been held that focus on:

Adult confirmations—Pilot Event—Sept.12-13, 2003—St.
John’s, Ellisville, Missouri.

Recruitment and retention of professional church workers—Oct.
24-25, 2003—St. James, Lafayette, Indiana.

Worship attendance—Nov. 14~15, 2003—King of Kings, Oma-
ha, Nebraska.

Adult confirmations—Feb. 13-14, 2004—Concordia, San Anto-
nio, Texas.

Future events, with tentative scheduled dates:

Ratio of confirmed members to adult confirmations—Oct. 1-2,
2004.

Rural or small town ministries—Oct. 15-16, 2004.
Cross-cultural ministries—Nov. 12-13, 2004.

Development and expansion of new missions—Feb. 4-5, 2005.
Alternate dates—April 29-30, 2005.

2004 Convention Workbook