LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 2007, Page 136

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136 MISSIONS

Resolved, That the convention give thanks to God for the bless-
ings He has bestowed during the past triennium and implore His
continued blessings on Fan Into Flame; and be it further

Resolved, That the convention thank the Texas and South Wis-
consin Districts for their willingness to serve as pilot districts, test-
ing the Fan Into Flame concept; and be it finally

Resolved, That the convention urge all remaining districts and
their congregations to prayerfully and generously support the Fan
Into Flame effort so that the church may receive the resources it
needs to meet its Ablaze! goal of sharing the Good News of Jesus
with 100 million people by 2017, the 500th anniversary of the Re-
formation.

Trinity
St. Louis, MO

’

1-11

To Clarify Ablaze! Terminology

Wtereas, A proper understanding of the theology of the mis-
sion of the church—proclaiming the Gospel and administering the
Sacraments—is of crucial importance to the church’s mission and
affects the manner in which the church confesses the faith to the
world; and

Whereas, The Ablaze! resolutions of the 2004 convention con-
tain language which some people have considered to be theologi-
cally confusing or ambiguous, for example the terms “critical
event,” “encounters,” “missionary,” and “Lutheran Christian”;
therefore be it

Resolved, That we continue to encourage all members to be
about the mission of the church in all of its forms—evangelization,
Holy Baptism, preaching, teaching, Holy Absolution, Holy Com-
munion, and the mutual conversation of the brothers and sisters;
and be it further

Resolved, That we remind each other throughout the Synod to
recognize and praise God for the mission efforts which have taken
place among and by Lutherans for the past 490 years and by the
whole Christian church on earth since Pentecost; and be it further

Resolved, That we remind each other throughout the Synod to

recognize the inseparable bond between strong theology and strong ©

mission work; and be it further

Resolved, That we ask the LCMS Ablaze! Steering Committee
to clarify in future publications the terms mentioned above so as to
reflect our Lutheran doctrine; and be it finally

Resolved, That we encourage all within the Northern Illinois
District to participate in the Ablaze! movement and to pray that the

mission and ministry of the church be propelled by God’s Spirit -

through the means of grace as we face the mission opportunities
before us.

Northern Illinois District

1-12

To Correct the Theology of Ablaze!

WHEREAS, A proper understanding of the theology of the mis-
sion of the church—proclaiming the Gospel and administering the
Sacraments—is of crucial importance to the church’s mission and
affects the manner in which the church confesses the faith to the
world; and

WuereaS, The Ablaze! resolutions of the 2004 convention con-
tain statements which are theologically confusing or ambiguous,
namely:

1. The expression critical event narrows the mission of the church down
to only one of the Gospel’s forms—evangelization. It is defined as
one person talking to another and excludes as “critical” Holy Bap-
tism, Holy Absolution, Holy Communion, the preaching of the
Gospel by pastors, the teaching of children by parents, the comforting
of the bereaved, or any other church-defining things found on a long
biblical list of what the church has always regarded as Gospel min-
istries.

2. The use of the word encounter has no biblical or confessional prece-
dent and is so closely associated with neo-orthodoxy, which denies
the power of the Word, as to make its use ill-advised by a church
which is built by the power of the Gospel alone.

Sad

The exclusive counting of such encounters tends to disparage or di-
minish all other occasions in which the Holy Spirit works in the
hearts of His people.

4. The use of the word missionary confuses the personal missionary ac-
tivity of individual lay Christians with the divine call of missionaries
by the church and so tends to blur the clear distinction between pas-
tors and the royal priesthood.

. The use of the expression Lutheran Christian tends to blur the clear
distinction between what has been called the fides qua (faith which
believes) and the fides quae (faith which is believed) by making it
seem as though there are many types of Christians (Lutheran Chris-
tians, Baptist Christians, Roman Catholic Christians, Pentecostal
Christians), all of whom are somehow equal or interchangeable,

in

and

WHEREAS, The theological formulations in the Ablaze! resolu-
tions of 2004 tend to present missions in a manner more similar to
American Evangelicalism than to Historic Lutheranism; therefore
be it

Resolved, That the 2007 LCMS convention continue to encour-
age all members to be about the mission of the church in all of the
Gospel’s forms—evangelization, Holy Baptism, preaching, teach-
ing, Holy Absolution, Holy Communion, the mutual conversation
of the brothers, etc.; and be it further

Resolved, That the Synod recognize and praise God for the mis-
sion efforts which have taken place among and by Lutherans for
the past 490 years whether they bear the name Ablaze! or not; and
be it further

Resolved, That the Synod recognize the bond between strong
theology and strong mission work; and be it further

Resolved, That the Synod ask the leading theologians of the
church, our seminary professors, to produce a theology of missions
which corrects the flaws reflected in the Ablaze! resolutions of
2004 and which truly reflects our Lutheran doctrine; and be it fi-
nally

Resolved, That all within the Synod pray that the mission and
ministry of the church be propelled by God’s Spirit as we face the
mission opportunities before us.

Holy Cross
Albany, OR

To Request Accounting of Ablaze!
and Fan Into Flame Funds
WHEREAS, Congregational stewardship calls for the accounting
of funds in a congregation to a right and salutary use; and
WHEREAS, Stewardship in the Synod calls for the same; and

WHEREAS, Certain sums of money have been entrusted to the
Ablaze! movement to further God’s kingdom; therefore be it

Resolved, That Northern Illinois District request that a line-item
statement of functional expense of monies that have been received
and expended in all aspects of the Ablaze! movement and Fan Into
Flame be made available to all congregations of the Synod.

Northern Illinois District

1-14

To Present Detailed Accounting of Ablaze! Funds
WHEREAS, The 2004 Res. 1-04 established a $100 million
Ablaze! fund-raising effort; and

WHEREAS, It appears that the chairman of the Synod’s Board for
Mission Services or the board itself is in charge of these funds (see
Reporter, December 2006, p. 2); and

WHEREAS, No detailed report to the congregations has been is-
sued; therefore be it