LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 2004, Page 19

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SYNODICAL REPORTS 19

Our Lord’s Call to Be in Mission

“Each of us has received from God’s hand grace upon grace,
all flowing from the sacrificial service of the One who laid down His life
for us on the cross.
We cannot, therefore, leave the work of God’s mission
to ‘the church’ in general or to ‘others’
who may appear more gifted for the task or to ‘the pastor.’
What an honor it is to follow in the footsteps of God’s Servant-Son,
and to share with others the love He has so freely
and fully bestowed on us!
Each of us is a personal letter from Christ to the world (2 Cor. 3:2-3),
telling all who will listen of His grace, mercy, and power.”
(A Theological Statement of Mission, CTCR, 1991)

Our Lord calls us to be in mission: “Therefore go and make dis-
ciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and
of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey every-
thing I have commanded you” (Matt. 28:19-20). It is a commis-
sion to take the saving message to the world, and it is a commission
to preserve the truth of His Word.

We must do both.

* To be in mission is to affirm our forefathers. They came to
North America with commitment to confessional Lutheranism.
They sent pastors and missionaries to the unchurched. They estab-
lished new congregations wherever the opportunity arose.

* To be in mission is to look forward. It is to heed our Lord’s
admonishment about “putting our hands to the plow” (Luke
9:57-62). It is to see people “like sheep without a shepherd” (Matt.
9:36-38). It is to invest the talents He gives us, expecting to pro-
vide Him the increase (Matt. 25:14~30). It is to speak of salvation
in Jesus Christ, knowing that the Holy Spirit causes tongues to say,
“Jesus is Lord!” (1 Cor. 12:3). It is to understand that as “royal
priests,” we are ambassadors for Jesus Christ (2 Cor. 3:2-3,;
5:20-21).

¢ To be in mission is to be realistic. It is to recognize that our
numbers are growing smaller while the number of people without
Christ grows larger. It is to understand that almost half the children
of the 1950s left the church, and fewer of their children and grand-
children are in the church. It is to acknowledge that the culture of
our communities is now an unchurched culture. It is to recognize
that there is risk, perhaps great risk, to venture out from the sanc-
tuary of our churches to invite others to come in. It is to realize that
many people no longer speak our language, whether English or the
words of the church. It is to admit that things are different and may
not be what we would like them to be.

* To be in mission is to use the precious gifts that God has
given us. God’s Word is, and will remain, the precious gift that al-
ways points us to His unfailing love in Jesus Christ. It is to be
mindful that we, not only as Christians, but as missionaries, also
need His love and forgiveness. It is to live washed in the water of
our own Baptism and celebrating Christ’s body and blood by which
He creates and nourishes our faith.

¢ To be in mission is to recognize the urgency. Do Lutherans
believe the Lord is coming back anytime soon? In 1992 the Synod
in convention approved The Mission Blueprint for the Nineties.
Citing demographic and sociological changes, the drafters of the
document emphasized that the context for mission was changing.
The Blueprint called on the congregations of the Synod to view the
United States as a world mission field. More than a decade later,
the people and congregations and District and national staff have
grasped the understanding that the world is coming to our door, es-
pecially immigrants who bring a foreign mission field to our own
communities. Yet we have been slower to understand that the mis-
sion field extends to the very people who were once part of our
churches, but are not now.

¢ To be in mission is to involve all members. The Mission 21st
Century Task Force calls on the people and congregations of the
Synod to build on this Blueprint. Heed again the call to use the
home as a center for mission activity, for more significant involve-
ment of laity in the work of mission, for partnerships that reach
across traditional geographic boundaries. Most of all, this Task
Force renews the Blueprint call to congregations and pastors to mea-
sure the size of their congregation not by the number of members in
attendance, but by the number of members active in mission.

¢ To be in mission is to evaluate all that we do. The Mission
21st Century Task Force calls on all entities of the Synod—con-
gregations, Districts, national offices, boards and commissions,
schools, colleges, universities, seminaries, mission societies, Rec-
ognized Service Organizations—to reevaluate everything they are
doing in light of being mission outposts in a mission field.

For the baptized people of God

The Mission 21st Century Task Force affirms that the Great
Commission was given to all the baptized people of God. It is a
call to each one of us—ministers ordained and ministers commis-
sioned, laity, young and old—to consider ourselves as Christian
missionaries, not just Christians. With the guidance of the Holy
Spirit, we can see ourselves with a renewed sense of Christian vo-
cation as God’s ambassadors to the world around us.

¢ To be in mission is to draw from the Word and our Con-
fessions. The Task Force encourages study of the CTCR document
A Theological Statement of Mission as a tool to build deeper un-
derstanding of this call. Let the basic points of this document serve
as our guide: “Mission begins in the heart of God. ... God’s mis-
sion is necessary because of sin. ... God’s mission centers in Jesus
Christ. ... God’s mission is empowered by the Holy Spirit. ...
God’s mission is to and for everyone. ... God’s mission is our mis-
sion. ... God’s mission is my mission. ... God’s mission is urgent.”
We are called by God to be faithful, and as we agree to face the fu-
ture together, we draw from the Word and our Confessions for
strength and direction for the Lord’s mission.

¢ To be in mission is to confess our shortcomings. We can-
not deny or ignore the decline of membership in our church body. It
behooves us to examine ourselves individually and corporately as
to our own faithfulness to our Lord’s Great Commission. As we
confess “the things we have left undone,” we can ask God to em-
power us in new ways to recognize and reach out to those around
us who are not part of the fellowship of saints.

* To be in mission is to celebrate growth. The Mission 21st
Century Task Force calls on the congregations of the Synod to
thank God for giving the mission vision to work in foreign fields
and, now, among those peoples who have come to us from other
lands. Thousands of people have been reached with the Gospel of
Jesus Christ. Leaders have been trained. Congregations have
grown. As partner churches grow stronger, they extend their mis-
sion by cooperating with the Synod to reach people who have em-
igrated to the United States. This is a blessing to be tapped for
greater mission.

* To be in mission is to take individual responsibility. By
virtue of our Baptism, each of us has a call—whether laity, or-
dained minister, or commissioned minister—to “ambassadorship”
for the kingdom of God. In the Great Commission, our Lord calls
us to faithfulness and to duty.

¢ To be in mission is to recognize diversity. As God brings
people to the United States, He gives us reason to celebrate and af-
firm traditions, cultures, and languages that will enrich our own.
As we recognize that mission is given to the baptized people of
God, we also recognize that the multiethnic church is comprised of
multiethnic ambassadors.

2004 Convention Workbook