LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 2007, Page 3

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SYNOD REPORTS 3

cedure, a very important part of how we work together as a Synod
in convention. Please plan now to attend this orientation session
Saturday afternoon, whether or not this is your first time as a
delegate.

Additional information will be provided to delegates in the
months and weeks prior to the convention. All delegates are evan-
gelically advised and encouraged to read carefully all official
materials received from the Synod.

In addition, delegates are no doubt already aware that unoffi-
cial and unsolicited materials will be received in abundance. It is
my fervent prayer that God will provide wisdom and discernment
to each delegate, enabling each of you to evaluate objectively and
prudently the many opinions and perspectives that may literally fill
your respective mailboxes.

In this regard, it grieves me to inform you that some of the ma-
terial you will receive may not be accurate, charitable, or even
truthful. Accordingly, it would behoove you as a delegate to inves-
tigate fully any matters about which you receive questionable in-
formation in order that you may be assured of knowing the truth.
You may do so, for example, by researching the actual facts or by
asking your district president about these matters. This is particu-
larly important should you receive communications that do
not honor the Eighth Commandment’s injunction that we defend
and speak well of our neighbor and “put the best construction on
everything.”

May the blessing of Almighty God grant you the ability to dis-
cover the facts and discern the truth as you endeavor faithfully to
prepare yourself for the significant task and responsibility given to
you by virtue of your election as a voting delegate, advisory dele-
gate or advisory representative to this 63rd regular convention of
The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod.

The State of the Synod...Defining Reality

That was the title of one section of my written report to the
2004 convention of the Synod. After recently reading and reflecting
on this report, I have decided to share it once more with the dele-
gates to the 2007 convention.

PTT TTT oLeTTre ioe LeCTCCCCerLerrrrrrrtrert torr rere ree ter

On Sunday, July 15, 2001, in an acceptance speech following
my election as President of the Synod, I offered the following
prayer:

Our Gracious Heavenly Father, your ocean is so big and our boat is
so small. You have chosen to place my hand with yours on the rudder of
this ship we call The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod. At times my
hand will probably be tempted to turn that ship toward the safety of the
harbor, for ships are safe in a harbor. But that’s not what ships are for.
So, fill the sails of our ship with the sometimes steady, sometimes
strong, and sometimes seemingly still breeze blown by your Holy Spirit,
who is the breath of life. And as our ship sails through weather, stormy
or smooth, enable us to cast the life preserver of your precious Gospel to
those drowning in the depths of sin, that they may also, by your grace,
be saved eternally, through Christ our Lord. Amen.

In that speech, I identified a number of matters of importance
facing our Synod in the years ahead:

1. The fulfillment of the Great Commission.

2. The recruitment, training, and support of pastors, educators,
evangelists, musicians, and other professional church workers.

3. The importance of the priesthood of all believers, especially
the full support and creative involvement of lay leaders.

4. The importance of relationships between the Synod, its
districts, and its congregations.

5. The place of the grace of God among us.

6. Synod solidarity.

On Saturday, September 8, 2001, moments after my installation
in the Chapel of Saints Timothy and Titus on the campus of Con-
cordia Seminary in St. Louis as the 12th President of The Lutheran
Church—Missouri Synod, I prayed this prayer:

Dear Father in Heaven, look upon your people gathered in this beau-
tiful and holy place, filled with the presence of your Spirit. Focus our
eyes and our hearts upon Jesus, given by you, in your majestic and uni-
versal love, for the salvation of the world. Prepare our hearts and hands
this day to love and to serve you and you alone. Build our commitment
to be faithful and strengthen our resolve to be courageous, that through
your power we might “Shake the Earth” with the great news of for-
giveness, life, and salvation through Christ, the Savior of the world and
the Lord of the universe. We pray this in His most holy and precious
name. Amen. —

In the speech that followed, I offered the following comments
and observations:

* It is the mission of the church that concerns me most at the be-
ginning of my term of office as President of The Lutheran Church—
Missouri Synod. Let it be known, with no equivocation or uncertainty of
any kind, that accomplishing the mission of the church to disciple and
teach the nations of the world will be Job One in this administration!
We do not have the luxury, even if we wanted to, of “fiddling while
Rome is burning.”

¢ After briefly describing the origin of the Early Church following
the death and resurrection of Christ, including the persecution and mar-
tyrdom of many believers and disciples, I added, “Also hardy souls, the
people of central Europe, in my case, southeastern Germany near the
Polish border, lived their faith in a reasonable semblance of joy and
peace. But the oppression of governmental entities made it clear to our
ancestors that they had no choice but to leave the place of their birth,
travel on leaky, ill-fated vessels to a distant land, leaving behind their
homes, their property, their heritage, their families.

For what reason did they choose to make this sacrifice? The in-
tegrity of their faith was in danger of being lost as a result of govern-
mental declarations forcing those who bore the name “Lutheran” to
enter into ecclesiastical relationships without adequate basis for such
relationships. That would be too much to tolerate, much less to affirm.

So, with a portion of their possessions in hand, they embarked upon
the journey that would take some of them successfully to places like
Perry County, Missouri, and Lee County, Texas. Many of them died on
board and were buried at sea. The survivors thrived in the new world.
They ultimately formed what was once known as the German Evangel-
ical Lutheran Synod of Missouri, Ohio and other States, later called the
Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Missouri, Ohio and other States. Still
later they changed their name to The Lutheran Church—Missouri
Synod.

¢ Notwithstanding the significant growth experienced by congrega-
tions and entities of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod in the first
century of its existence, the LCMS is not exactly, at the present mo-
ment, on top of the heap when it comes to church bodies that demon-
strate vibrancy and significant impact on the worldwide Christian scene,
either among Anglos or among other cultures and nationalities. Few
would argue with the existence of our strong biblical, doctrinal and con-
fessional stance. Nevertheless, many would view as marginal our
church body’s impact on the entire body of Christ, not to mention the 4
billion unsaved people in the world, given our propensity in the past for
internal dissension and divisiveness.

Could it be that, in our zeal to retain our steadfast confession of the
faith once delivered to the saints by our forefathers, we have become
under-concermed with the demonstration of that faith in our daily lives?
Could it also be that we have become less than passionate, if not luke-
warm, with the proclamation of that faith to the unbelievers of the world
who literally surround us at the beginning of this 21st century?

A few specific parochial statistics should suffice to make the
point:
* Annually, 35 percent of the congregations of the LCMS gain not
one adult by baptism or confirmation.

¢ Annually, 47 percent of the congregations of the LCMS gain one
adult or less by baptism or confirmation.

2007 Convention Workbook