LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 1973, Page 13

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MISSIONS 13

evangelistic outreach, in education, medical missions, mass
media efforts—all areas in which our church has excelled
throughout the past decades.

We believe that the Synod has given the Board for Missions,
and all of its partners in mission, a clear, unifying mandate for
mission. The Mission Affirmations are positive, enabling, and
inspiring. They successfully avoid the pitfall of an invalid separa-
tion between word and deed, vocalization and demonstration.
At the same time they make the communication of the Gospel of
Jesus Christ central to the whole mission, to which we are
wholly and unqualifiedly committed.

4. Faithfulness to Synodical Resolutions

We believe that the Synod, in many resolutions through
several conventions, has stated where it stands in terms of its
commitment to mission, joint action for mission, confessional
integrity in mission, and the places at which mission decisions
are to be made and responsible control to be exercised. We be-
lieve also that Synod has adequately clarified what it means by
these resolutions. The Synod adopted these resolutions on mis-
sion in order to enable, implement and accelerate the Synod’s
involvement in mission, not to thwart, bind or control it. We
accept the fact that we as a board, the staff of the board, and all
of the missionaries at home and abroad working under this
board, are bound to work in conformity with all such synodically
expressed policies. During the past biennium we of the minority
repeatedly sensed that the majority of the board, while claiming
to be bound by synodical policy, in reality operated according
to policy interpretations and policy changes that they confidently
anticipate will be made at New Orleans. We want the Synod
clearly to be aware of this situation.

Our Commitment in Relation to Synod's Commitment

Even a quick review of the actions of Synod at recent con-
ventions shows that the common elements of our commitment
to Christ’s mission stated above are shared by the vast majority
of the members of our Synod. We want to illustrate this by
showing how consistently the Synod has expressed itself on
only one point of mission policy: cooperation with other Chris-
tians in mission. We choose this one aspect of a much larger
enterprise because we feel that the Board for Missions spent
much more time during the past biennium discussing fine points
of cooperation among Christians than it spent in a zealous search
for new opportunities to take the Gospel to non-Christians.

The synodical convention in Detroit. 1965. was a real climax
in the history of missions in the Missouri Synod. There Synod
resolved to merge the responsibilities of various geographical
and special ministry Mission Boards and place them under one
Board for Missions.

A major emphasis underlying the unification of mission
boards, and of the Affirmations (enthusiastically adopted at the
same convention), was that the mission is God’s mission. It is
therefore one mission throughout the world. God is the great
Sender who carries out His mission by sending His church—
all those who are incorporated into Christ’s body through
baptism and therefore are incorporated into His mission. Such
incorporation makes us witnesses to all men, and includes the
responsibility to witness to the truth of the Gospel also to part-
ners in mission in an ongoing concern that the Gospel be com-
municated in its truth and fullness. Cooperation with honesty
and integrity is the normal and natural expression of our mission
concern.

In Detroit Resolution 1-01B, the Synod expressed its joy
“over all faithful Christian efforts to witness Christ to all the
world.”’ And in 1-01C: ‘“‘Every Christian by virtue of the saving
faith which the Holy Spirit creates in his heart is bound to his
Lord and enters into a real and living unity with every other
member of Christ's holy Body, the Church.” Detroit Resolution
1-01C further states: “Resolved that we affirm that by virtue of
our unity with other Christians in the body of Christ, we should
work together when it will edify Christ’s body and advance His
mission, refusing cooperation, however, on such occasions when
it would deny God’s Word.”

Another significant resolution was brought to the Detroit
convention by the Commission on Theology and Church Rela-
tions. It was titled ‘Theological Principles to Guide the Develop-
ment of Missions and the Relationships Between the Synod and
Various Sister Mission Churches” (Detroit 3-04). Several basic
principles were stated, namely that all believers were con-

strained to witness; that all believers are united in Jesus Christ:
that Article VII of the Augsburg Confession correctly states what
is required for true unity of the church. This resolution recog-
nizes the New Testament truth that Christians in a given place
are bound to one another by their faith in a common Lord,
Christ, and therefore together must confront the world of no
faith and other faith around them. Institutional and denomina-
tional relationships must not be exercised in such a way that this
essential oneness is obscured or denied.

It is at this point that a proper understanding of what it means
to be a “confessional” church is of the utmost importance. Con-
cern for the fulfillment of the mission of Christ demands not
only that a confessional church seek every opportunity to work
together with all Christians but that it also confess openly and
forthrightly the truth of the Gospel to its partners in the mission.
This obligation to be responsible participants in the process of
edification of Christ's body demands a search for, and creation
of opportunities for dialog with fellow Christians. In these days
of heightened nationalism and strong anti-colonialism we cannot
unilaterally do our own thing without reference to other
churches in mission. The days of isolationism and separatism
are passed absolutely, and actually never were in keeping with
the doctrine of the unity and oneness of our Lord’s church. The
Synod was fully aware of this when, at the New York Convention
‘1967) it resolved, “that the Board for Missions and its staff
be directed to pursue fully all opportunities for cooperative
endeavors that will magnify His name, glorify His kingdom,
conserve His manpower and wisely use His resources without
denial of God’s Word.” (N. Y. Resolution 1-02)

In following through on resolutions of Detroit 1965 and New
York 1967 encouraging the Board for Missions to find ways of
cooperating with other Christians for the furtherance of the
mission, the Board for Missions reported on this matter to the
Denver Convention in 1969. Denver 1-05 listed various develop-
ments in the area of altar and pulpit fellowship, cooperative
training programs, production of literature, and cooperation in
the use of the mass media. The Synod expressed its confidence
that these steps had been properly safe-guarded and passed
the following resolution: “That we rejoice and thank God for
having led our overseas brothers and sisters to discover this
unity in Christ: that we encourage continued efforts toward
expression of the unity in Christ among overseas churches,
emphasizing faithfulness to the Gospel of Christ as expressed
in the Scripture and in the Lutheran Confessions in every situa-
tion; that we continue to relate to and work closely with agencies
providing avenues of support for joint Christian ministries to
which ‘sister churches’ overseas are committed.”

The “whereases” of Denver Resolution 1-15 refer to the
theological principles stated at Detroit in 1965 and to John 17:21
as requiring all Christians to work together when it will edify
Christ's body and advance His mission and thus manifest a
unity that they have in Christ. They state that “it is the respon-
sibility of all the Christians in a particular area to understand
themselves as being not only related to their one Head but also
related to one another in the fulfillment of His mission in that
place”; and that “a confessional church must always be a con-
fessing church in a meaningful relationship to all Christians.”

The final ‘‘whereas” expresses concern that the Synod
‘will fail to meet the great opportunities that the Lord of the
church places before her in our times unless many more Chris-
tians come to a proper Biblical understanding of their calling
in the body of Christ and in God’s mission and unless the church
finds ways in which it can make a united witness to all men.”

The Synod in Denver Resolution 1-15A then resolved: ‘‘That
the Board for Missions be authorized to develop ways to enable
our pastors, missionaries, and laymen to be Christ’s people
wherever they are, and to encourage, instruct and counsel
pastors, missionaries, congregations, Districts and _ sister
churches as they engage in cooperative ministry with other
Christians in all parts of the world, including also those not
organizationally related to us”: and further, ‘‘that in the future,
new ministries be carefully planned not only in consultation with
established Lutheran ministries but with all existing Christian
ministries, so that where a new ministry can enhance God’s
mission, it should be opened.”

The concern of the Synod for the furtherance of the mission
was expressed in the Milwaukee Convention (1971) in a variety
of ways. Particularly striking is the evaluation Synod made of
the Mission Affirmations as found in the opening paragraph of