LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 1973, Page 14

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14 MISSIONS

the Evangelism Affirmations adopted at that convention: “At
Detroit, in 1965, The Lutheran Church — Missouri Synod adopted
the ‘Mission Affirmations.’ Correctly understood and consistently
applied, these Mission Affirmations have the potential for taking
our church by the hand, in an adventure of faith, as we follow
our Lord ever deeper into the 20th century. Wrapped in the
whole cloth of the Mission Affirmations the church finds warmth,
protection, strengthening, safety and direction.”

The undersigned are deeply committed to the Mission
Affirmations and the related resolutions adopted in various
conventions since 1965. It has been gratifying to observe the
response of Synod to the Mission Affirmations with emphasis
on mission to the whole man, the whole society, the whole world,
the whole church, and to see the truly evangelical thrust of
resolutions and policies adopted at various conventions of
Synod. Until this past biennium the Board for Missions and
Synodical staff working under it have consistently shaped
objectives and programs in accordance with these policies and
directions laid down by Synod. They found great joy and
genuine excitement in working in harmony with these evan-
gelical directives.

The Obstacles to Fulfillment of This Commitment

Because we commit ourselves totally to the above position
we must reject the following attitudes which repeatedly have
surfaced and prevailed in our board in the past biennium:

1. We repudiate a posture that assumes that the staff of the
Board for Missions, its missionaries, missions or sister churches
overseas, and Districts are not to be trusted and are suspect.

2. We repudiate the attitude and spirit which ignores and
bypasses the work. thought, and study of our exceptionally
gifted staff.

3. We regard as specious the implication that some of our
missionaries and staff members are guilty of unionism, syn-
cretism, new humanism, or new universalism.

4. We lament the abandonment of sound and evangelical
planning and administrative procedures and deplore the
unilateral adoption of policies for mission work without con-
sultation with those who are to implement those policies, and/or
will most vitally be affected by them.

5. We reject attempts to reinterpret either the intent or the
content of synodical resolutions, quoting them out of context,
or in some cases, blatantly overruling them as “‘out of date,”
“ambivalent,” and the like.

6. We consider it simplistic to judge every serious attempt
at cooperative or joint mission efforts with other Christians as
hazardous and unionistic.

7. We consider specious the blanket condemnation of all
tri-Lutheran approaches in mission in Districts and overseas
churches.

8. We repudiate efforts to scuttle growth toward cooperative
and unified Lutheran work and to divert us on a course which
inevitably would lead to a new isolationism.

9. We deplore treating lightly or even ignoring what is
actually happening in Christ's mission as God’s people carry
on their ministries in congregations, campuses, Districts, mis-
sions, and sister churches.

10. We reject the posture of infallibility on the part of the
board which, in effect, says to Districts and overseas churches —
“We have a right to make our own assumptions as to what the
facts are no matter what statements may come to us from those
directly involved in the work.”

We are submitting to Floor Committee 1 written evidence
documenting how the above attitudes and tactics were persis-
tently injected into the Board for Missions’ decision-making
process during the past biennium.

The Future

Where we ourselves have failed to live up to our commit-
ments we sincerely repent and submit ourselves to correction.
We are deeply committed to reconciliation, to building bridges
instead of barriers, to respecting differences without promoting
dissension and division. We want to get on with the job; for:

1. We know that reconciliation is possible among us through
the Cross. The mission is in the hands of the forgiving and
sending Lord.

2. We remember the great commission—‘‘Go disciple the
nations ... I am with you always... All power is mine in heaven
and on earth.” ‘‘As my Father has sent me, even so send I you.”

(In that commission God’s command and God’s promise are
always together.)

3. We remember our history. Through the decades our God
has helped us to grow in our understanding of mission. He has
used and will continue to use our church as an instrument of
mission in His world.

4. Under the Spirit’s guidance and power, exciting things
are happening in Cod’s mission. Marvelous gifts of manpower
and technology are available and in use by the church, to hasten
the coming of the eternal Kingdom.

5. In these crucial and final hours of the world’s history the
members of our Synod, guided by the Spirit of our God, will
not permit the pursuit of God's mission to be curtailed, dimin-
ished, or diverted.

The times in which we live demand a witness to the Gospel
that is honest, bold, creative, and positive. We ask for no more.
We can be satisfied with no less. Paul W. Harms

Will L. Herzfeld
Alfred E. Jordan
Paul R. Martens
Lorman M. Petersen

C. An Individual Board Member's Statement

When a group of committed Christians divide themselves
into a “majority” and “minority” such action in my opinion be-
comes displeasing to our Triune God. Such action can also be
sinful.

More people than ever are in need of hearing and experi-
encing the Gospel. I sincerely believe every Board for Missions
member, advisory member and staff member is prayerfully
dedicated to proclaim the Gospel. Any differences in degrees
of dedication, emphasis, and doctrinal differences must be dis-
cussed openly, thoroughly, peacefully and speedily with a goal
of continued mission zeal.

Traditional and special methods of proclamation in accord
with Scriptures need to be intensified to spread the good news
among the spiritually starved expanding world population.

Where we have failed to agree on issues I ask for His for-
giveness and also ask God for strength and courage to en-
courage our Board for Missions to continue and intensify
ministries in an increasing number of mission fields in accord
with the challenge and promises of His Holy Bible.

Biblical References:

The peace that Christ gives is to be the judge in your hearts; for
to this peace God has called you together in one body. And be thank-
ful. [Col. 3:15}

May my faith be made perfect through actions. (James 2:22]

I can only add my signature to such reports and recom-
mendations where the entire board can reach general agree-

t.
men Wallace Bronner

VI. CONCLUSION: WHOLLY, WHOLLY, WHOLLY

Take my love, my Lord, I pour
At Thy feet its treasure store;
Take myself, and I will be
Ever, only, all for Thee.

“Take My Love... Ever, Only. All for Thee”’

Through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ we
are made holy, holy, holy. We respond with our total lives—
wholly, wholly, wholly. The theme of the New Orleans con-
vention says it in a different way when it quotes the last line of
the last stanza of Hymn 400—‘“‘Ever, Only, All for Thee.” That is
not only the theme of a convention. That is also the theme of
our lives. Wholly, Wholly, Wholly —‘“ever, only, all for Him.”

Attached as appendixes to this report are brief summary
reports from North American Districts and from the overseas
sister churches that have grown out of our Synod’s missionary
labors around the globe.

In the repeated references to the shortages of funds and how
this hampers the mission, we are brought face-to-face with the
realization that the “love” and “treasure-store’ most of us
have poured at our Lord’s feet is not our ‘‘all” at all, but a paltry
amount, grossly insignificant compared to what we have been
given by God and greatly insufficient for the task He has placed
before us.