LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 2007, Page 23

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SYNOD REPORTS 23

tions will go out into the “open market” to emphasize, train, and
resource their outreach efforts. We believe that has been a bad de-
cision. It is like cutting off your nose to spite your face. It is time to
quit “cutting” evangelistic outreach leadership from our national
and district programs. It is time to GROW THIS CHURCH. As a
natural outcome of the goals of Ablaze! and the investment of
FAN THE FLAME dollars this Synod needs to organize a
strategy to increase our membership by the 400,000 souls we
lost in the last 20 years and STOP THE BLEEDING of those
for whom our Lord bled and died. It is a disgrace to our faith
and practice that we are losing membership.

This task force therefore recommends ... the Synod invest
in the personnel and materials needed to support the goals of
Ablaze! to equip the pastors and people of this church body to
do the work of an evangelist. We recommend to the Board of
Directors to fund a position in the next three years’ fiscal bud-
gets to work in cooperation with the districts in their Ablaze!
initiatives for the purpose of evangelistic outreach. We would
urge cooperation with Lutheran Hour Ministries in their
planned initiatives for congregational outreach. We need a de-
partment to be HELD ACCOUNTABLE for this emphasis that
is crucial to “FUNDING THE MISSION.”

Could it be that we are not reaping because we are not even
sowing? It’s time the LCMS got back out into the fields of our
Lord’s harvest instead of sitting in the barn rearranging the straw.

(D) TRUST, COMMUNICATION, AND STRUCTURE

Every single time our task force got together several systemic
issues arose that were not a direct part of our charge and yet they
have huge impact upon our ability to “fund the mission.” As a re-
sult, we feel it necessary to pass these matters over to appropriate
boards within our church in this report.

If others do NOT address them, there will be a direct negative
effect on the success of “Funding the Mission” proposal. The three
issues stated negatively are:

¢ Mistrust and division
¢ Lack of good communication to the person in the pew, and
* A complicated, inefficient, and outdated structure

The quicker we get to work on resolving these roadblocks the

more successful will be our efforts to “Fund the Mission.”

“Men’s hearts fail them

Fears assail them

Hear their sighing,

Souls are dying,

TIME IS FLYING !” (Verse 1 “Arise, O Church of God Arise”
- See Appendix A)

TASK FORCE RECOMMENDATION #3: Harmony in the LCMS

In the interest of moving forward in “Funding the Mission,” this
task force believes that no funding plan we present is capable of
fully succeeding in an organization that is seriously divided and en-
gaged in issues that divert their energies away from the “mission.”
It is the belief of this task force that the LCMS must take some in-
tentional steps to become more united around the Great Commis-
sion of our Lord.

At the congregational level, we have seen it happen over and
over again. When a congregation has in front of it a major project
that nearly everyone agrees is important, it’s amazing how petty
squabbles within the congregation disappear. The importance of
everyone pulling together is contagious.

Amidst the many squabbles (perhaps too soft a word) that di-
vert our energies as a Synod (and have for the last 30 years) our
task force believes THE major challenge that we all agree is im-
portant enough for us all to “hang together” on is reaching the lost

with the treasure of the Gospel that has been preserved among us in

all of its truth and purity. The goals of the Ablaze! movement can
be the unifying principle that will strengthen our funding motiva-
tion throughout the Synod.

Synod President Kieschnick has given us a fresh interpretation
of our mission statement with his vision of “ONE MISSION, ONE
MESSAGE, and ONE PEOPLE.” Former President A. L. Barry en-
couraged us to “TELL THE GOOD NEWS ABOUT JESUS.” The
2004 convention overwhelmingly adopted several resolutions that
lifted up our Ablaze! mission goals for the next 12 years. When we
divert our energies away from this mission and continue to tear one
another down (when the work of the Holy Spirit is always to build
one another up) we can have the finest “Funding the Mission” strat-
egy in the world, and it will never work.

There is NO faithful orthodoxy without a desire to “be Jesus’
witnesses to the ends of the earth” and there is nothing to witness if
we fail to remain faithful and orthodox. We believe that it is time to
de-emphasize our allegiances to personalities, political wings, in-
stitutions, and voting lists and re-emphasize our mission statement:

In grateful response to God’s grace and empowered by the Holy

Spirit through

Word and Sacraments, the mission of the LCMS is vigorously to
make known

the love of Christ by word and deed within our churches, communi-
ties, and the world.

Having said that, JUST removing “politics” as an issue that de-
stroys trust among us doesn’t resolve some serious matters of doc-
trine and practice that we need to define more clearly. “Harmony”
suggests different notes that blend together to form a unified sym-
phony. Some among us would like us to sing in unison, which pre-
vents us from the fullness of sound the world needs to hear, while
others want the freedom to play any note they want with no regard
for what others are playing, and that results in nothing but noise.
Harmony is to take our unified confession and strike the chords of
the variety of gifts that make up a song that gives praise to our God
and His great work in the world.

A quote from the 1981 CTCR document on “The Nature and
Implications of the Concept of Fellowship” speaks well to many
other issues in our church when it says: “Jt must be recognized that
unusual and difficult situations can and do arise in this world. Re-
sponsible commitment to our mutually agreed-upon policies does
not mean legalistic slavery to rules. Rather, this very commitment
itself demands freedom for responsible pastoral ministry. When, in
certain unusual circumstances, our regular ways of proceeding
would get in the way of a ministry of Word and Sacrament to a per-
son in spiritual need, then an alternate way of proceeding must be
sought. In such cases the advice and counsel of brothers in the min-
istry can be of inestimable value. It should also be recognized
that individuals equally committed to the scriptural principles
of fellowship might not always come to identical conclusions re-
garding specific ways of proceeding in administering pastoral
care in such exceptional cases. It is imperative that pastors show a
mutual respect for one another’s ministry. Uninformed and judg-
mental criticism of actions that appear to be violations of mutually
agreed-upon ways of proceeding are destructive of the trust and
confidence that fellow members of the Synod should have in one
another. It should go without saying, however, that Christian love
includes the exercise of loving admonition and doctrinal oversight,
especially by those to whom this responsibility has been entrusted.
Freedom for responsible pastoral ministry goes hand-in-hand
with responsible commitment to mutual decisions. It is impos-
sible to have one without the other. A lack of responsible com-
mitment invites the very suspicion and mistrust that inhibits
responsible pastoral care. But genuine commitment to our agreed-
upon procedures builds the atmosphere of confidence and trust in
which freedom for pastoral ministry thrives” (bold print added for
emphasis).

2007 Convention Workbook