LCMS Commission on Constitutional Matters — Minutes St. Louis, Missouri — September 10, 1960, Page 5

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Welfare Review and Control in the Atlantic District Page Two

Let it be said here that any respectable organization wants to account
to its responsible Board and to its constituents ina proper manner, but it
loses dignity if it must be scrutinized and reviewed by countless sub-committees,
each of which may have its own standards, but also its own prejudices and
calibre of personnel.

It may be that a respectable agency would even concede to accept annual
review by a hational Board, such as the Board for Social Welfare, even if
this Board were super-imposed on its own Board of nationally recognized
and accepted churchmen and churchwomen, for it would be confident that
a national Board would have accepted values and standards of judgment,

3, There is a great danger of parochial outlook inherent in the recommend-
ation, Without passing judgment in any way on the Atlantic District Welfare
. Committee or any other District Welfare Committee now in existence, there
is a temptation for District Boards to ask, 'What is good for our District?"
rather than, ''What is good for the Church at large?'' There is strong
indication that a District has an obligation to support a national agency,

only in proportion that the agency, in turn, renders service to the consti-
tuents of that District. Bethesda has apparently capitulated to this think-
ing, and renders an accounting each year of its direct services to each
District. If this is a valid approach, then the Lutheran Hour ought to be
reviewed by the District Mission Board and receive support only in the pro-
portion to the number of shut-ins who listen and the number of converst
made in their respective Districts, and Valparaiso should be reviewed by
the District Board of Parish Education, and receive support only in pro-
portion to the number of students at Valparaiso from the various districts.
It would rather seem that as long as an agency is performing a service

not rendered by the District, it is worthy of support.

4, There is an implicit danger of the District Committee usurping the
privilege and responsibility - and with these the interest - of individuals |
and congregations to determine for themselves how they want their charity
dollar used.

5. Finally, national fund raising campaigns are geared to certain church
seasons, generally speaking, and it would work a real hardship on an
agency to "submit to such regulations and restrictions as the Welfare
Committee may see fit to impose.'"' An unsympathetic Committee could
ruin a financial effort in a given section of the country.

Dr. Wind is convinced that these objections are not valid, and that no
respectable agency will be harmed by the recommendation embodied in his
report,