LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 1973, Page 10

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10 MISSIONS

ship to God, even while properly emphasizing the Christian’s
relation to his fellowmen in love and service. The New Testa-
ment gives us the apostolic norm for proper balance between
proclamation (kerygma) and service (diakonia), and primarily
emphasis is to be given to verbalizing the Gospel and discipling
the nations rather than to physical ministries or social action.
We hope to respond to the challenge and opportunity of bringing
the Gospel of Jesus Christ to unevangelized peoples everywhere
through evangelistic ministries supported by Christian service.

3. The Christian's life of love and service is the consequence
of his having been justified by grace through faith in Jesus
Christ. Faith is a living, active thing, always seeking the welfare
of the neighbor. God’s people should participate personally in
prayer, witness, service, and sacrificial stewardship directed
toward the release of troubled souls and toward the prevention
of those conditions that cause trouble. (Social Ministry Affirma-
tions, 9-07 Milwaukee Convention)

4. Theological awareness demands that we recognize that
there are spiritual forces inimical to the Christian faith which
are growing stronger and more aggressive. (1) We are aware of
a ‘new universalism’’ which falsely believes that because Christ
died for all, He will sovereignly and out of love bring all men to
salvation (even though some never have faith in Christ as their
personal Savior) or holds falsely that all men are “reconciled”
in the sense that those who have met Christ through the means
of grace have advantage above those who have not, but the dif-
ference is in degree, not in principle, for some simply are not
conscious of the riches they possess. In our synodical mission
we emphasize the Biblical truth that there is no salvation outside
of the means of grace or without faith in Christ. (2) We are also
conscious of a syncretism which attempts to unite and absorb
diverse non-Christian thoughts, philosophies, and practices to
use them as if they are saving truth, but the writers of the
uniquely inspired Holy Scriptures combatted the syncretistic
tendencies of their age. We affirm our intention to do likewise
(Article VI, 2, LCMS Constitution). (3) A new humanism has
manifested itself in several ways in mission practice, such as
mission without proclamation. The Bread of Life alone gives
fulfillment to life, and we provide bread where needed as a
witness of our Christian love to give sustenance of life.

5. Concerning church unity and fellowship as we learn it from
the Scriptures and have experienced it in The Lutheran Church
— Missouri Synod, we recognize that it is a unity given by God
to be preserved within our church by speaking the Word to each
other. It is a unity of belief in submission to the entire Scriptures,
centering in the person and work of Jesus Christ, and it is a unity
for the fulfillment of our mission responsibility throughout the
world. We affirm that the Scriptural and confessional principles
of fellowship to which The Lutheran Church-— Missouri Synod
has bound itself are no less binding in all our efforts elsewhere.
Thus we wish to exercise a prophetic voice toward the sister
churches overseas to exhort them to remain faithful to the
apostolic faith and we wish to exercise our God-given right as
fellow Christians to take measures to help them move in the
right direction when we believe they are going in the wrong
direction. God commands such love and concern (Gal. 6:1:
Thess. 3:14, 15: Matt. 18). At the same time, the apostolic Word is
to be spoken by sister churches to us. We discourage un-Scrip-
tural difference of faith and doctrine between us and our sister
churches for it fosters splits and schisms. In Acts 2:42, Rom.
15:4-13, 1 Cor. 1:10, Gal. 5:10, Phil. 1:27 and 4:2 God reveals only
one Savior (who unites and removes all differences), one Scrip-
ture-Word (one admonition and hope derived from one doctrine
or instruction), one mind (one conviction which God produces),
one confession (the mouth which speaks Scripture confesses but
one truth), one fellowship (in Christ we receive one another,
and Christ is not divided), one goal (one faith, one joy and one
peace). Oneness in doctrine and practice is vital in world mis-
sions because un-Scriptural compromises within the church con-
fuse the outside world, cause consternation among believers,
cause conflict in the churches, cause evangelistic activity to
wane and cease, and deny the practice of true Christian unity.
Therefore, the mission program of the sister churches through-
out the world should be consistent with the apostolic Word and
the Lutheran Confessions both as to theological and ecumenical
standards in doctrine and practice; and be it further

Resolved. That we also affirm that the following be guides for
our mission efforts:

1. The adherents of non-Christian religions can receive salva-

tion only through faith in Christ. We reject the idea that ‘‘Chris-
tian presence’ among such religions is a substitute for the
proclamation of the Gospel. Conversion is the aim of the Gospel
and is thus our aim. Men of all religions are to be invited to
believe and be baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and
Holy Ghost, for Christ is not anonymously present in non-Chris-
tian religions.

2. God’s gift of eternal salvation comes through the means of
proclamation of the Gospel and by faith in Christ. Even though
the act of salvation is complete for all men (objective reconcilia-
tion), individuals are not born again and have no peace with God
until they are brought to faith in Christ (subjective justification).

3. Gospel proclamation should everywhere lead to the estab-
lishment of the church with the means of grace, through which
God accomplishes His saving work in the world.

4. Our mission purpose and goals are (1) rooted in Christ, (2)
anchored in the Word, (3) directed by the Holy Spirit, (4) related
to the culture, and (5) geared to the times; and be it further

Resolred. That as we seek unity of purpose and mind and
spirit within our board, the mission staff, and all expatriate and
national workers in our worldwide fields, all members in the
Synod be herewith assured that the Synod’s Board for Missions
wholeheartedly adheres to the Synod’s official position in doc-
trine and practice, and that we join our hearts in prayer that God
would cause us to administer the mission thrust of our church
faithfully according to the Scriptures and the Confessions, and
that He would prompt all workers and members of our Synod to
proclaim His Word faithfully, in all its truth and purity; and be it
finally

Resolred. That copies of this resolution be sent to the Presi-
dent and Board of Directors of Synod, and to all of the personnel
of the Board for Missions overseas.

(Note: Prof. Paul Harms and Dr. Paul Martens, two of the
five board members that voted against the above Policy Resolu-
tion, requested that their negative votes be recorded wherever
it is printed.)

Seeking the Lord's Will in Difficulties

The Board, out of a genuine concern that “the Gospel not
be bound, but have free course and be preached to the joy and
edifying of Christ’s holy people,” determined to seek direction
from God’s Word to solve difficulties and to present these solu-
tions to the Synod in convention for resolution. It is our desire
to construct all our statements and policies in agreement with
the LCMS position in doctrine and practice according to the
Scriptures and the Lutheran Confessions. Evidence of dif-
ficulties can be seen in the fact that the staff and a minority of
the board disagreed rather strenuously with the previous resolu-
tion which we believe speaks to the issues in a Scriptural way.
We seek to avoid un-Scriptural diversity so that the Synod’s
program of Gospel outreach will not be harmed or diffused.
Theological emphases, such as the following, seem to us to be
inadequate and harmful to our mission:

1. Scriptural and Doctrinal Content

The objectives of the LCA/LCMS Joint Advisory Committee
for the Middle East present real problems: ‘‘. . . Attempt in
Christian mission to spark a re-creating force in Islam which
force is the presence of Christ...” “. .. Shall work toward the
following objectives: Muslims and Christians, caught up by the
knowledge of being persons created in love by God, accepting
each other as fellow creatures of God and through their common
dependence on the mercies of God confront each other with the
meaning of God’s presence in their lives.’ Also, we read in the
brochure entitled, People Who Need People. published by the
MELM: “We have learned that Christianity and Islam are built
on monotheistic foundations, that ‘God’ and ‘Allah’ are simply
two names for the same Being, although their perspectives may
be somewhat different . . .” We believe that these statements
are Scripturally inadequate, while some in the board feel they
are all right.

While the Synod through its CTCR and in convention pointed
toward theological inadequacies of the ‘“‘Openness and Trust”
document, some of the staff and board have not only shown a
lack of concern for the problem of doctrinal diversity in missions,
but also feel that this is allowable and desirable in various
situations and places. Indeed, statements have been made that
the “Openness” document is in harmony with the Scriptures and