LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 1973, Page 212

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212 CONSTITUTIONAL MATTERS

tion therefore resolved to postpone action until the CTCR
and Commission on Constitutional Matters had completed
their work on this assignment.

The CMMC has met with representatives of the CTCR
and has communicated with the CCM in an effort to com-
plete this assignment. The present situation is that the
CTCR has decided to complete its document on the mission
of the church before undertaking a review of the work of
the CMMC on the revision of the Constitution of Synod.

Since the CMMC was instructed by the Milwaukee con-
vention to bring its final report on this assignment to “the
next convention” we are herewith submitting the results
of our work.

The commission has devoted considerable time to the
mandate received from the Synod. This has included anal-
ysis and study of the Articles of Incorporation, the Consti-
tution, and the Bylaws as set out in the Handbook. Such
analysis and study has been carried out both by subcommit-
tees and in plenary sessions.

In the light of the Mission Affirmations it is our con-
clusion that the Constitution of the Synod seems stark.
mechanical, and legalistic. No doubt the spirit of the Afirma-
tions can be read into many articles and subsections by the
experienced theologian and administrator but as a document
which should state clearly the purposes, the objectives and
structure of a great body of Christ-sent disciples bonded
together as The Lutheran Church — Missouri Synod it leaves
much to be desired in its expository purpose to the average
reader.

Our commission is mindful that the Constitution and
Bylaws are the results of translation, modification. additions,
and revision covering a span of 125 years of synodical his-
tory in the continuing efforts to make them relevant to
the times and the needs of the Synod. In another overture
to this convention the commission is recommending that the
Svnod declare its intention of calling a Constitutional Con-
vention subseauent to the 1975 convention and that, in the
interim, the Commission on Mission and Ministry in the
Church develop the guidelines for such a convention and
present them to the 1975 convention.

The CMMC is convinced that the Preamble and Statement
of Purposes of the synodical Constitution are of vital im-
portance in guiding the Synod in its statement of organiza-
tional and administrative matters. We, therefore, propose
the following revision of the Preamble and Statement of
Purposes be received by the Synod as guiding principles to
be submitted to the proposed Constitutional Convention and
considered by that convention when the whole Constitution
is revised.

Part 1. Suggested Revision of the Preamble of the Consti-
tution of the LCMS
PREAMBLE

In the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
Amen.

In our common faith and confession — that God,
the Father, created and preserves the world; and
that God so loved the world that upon man’s revolt
He sent His Son into the world to redeem the
world so that whoever believes in Him will not
perish but have everlasting life; and that Jesus
Christ, God’s Son, in obedience to His Father's
commission laid aside His glory and became a man
to serve men and died on the cross to reconcile all
men unto God; and that the risen and victorious
Lord sent forth His church on His mission to the
world when He appeared to His disciples on the
day of resurrection, declaring, “Peace be unto you,
as My Father sent Me, even so send I you,” and,
“Go ye and make disciples of all nations”; and
that, through Baptism, every Christian is commis-
sioned a missionary, for through the selfsame
water and Word the Holy Spirit makes us both
God’s children and His witnesses to the world
when He says, “Go ye and teach all nations, bap-
tizing them in the name of the Father and of the
Son and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to ob-
serve all things whatsoever I have commanded
you”; and that, by virtue of the saving faith which
the Holy Spirit creates in his heart, every Christian
is bound to his Lord and enters into a real and

living unity with every other member of Christ's
holy body, the church, and, in our conviction that
we can do together many things which it is not pos-
sible for us to do separately —we, as Lutheran
congregations, pastors, and teachers, adopt this
Constitution in obedience to our Lord's will that
the diversities of gifts be used for the common good.

Part 2. Suggested Revision of Article III of the Consti-
tution of the LCMS

Article IT] Purposes and Objectives

Affirming in faith, humility, love and joy that
the church is God's mission, and is sent on that
mission to the world, we earnestly endeavor

1. to place ourselves, our congregations, and our
Synod into His loving hand and, rejoicing over a
universal redemption won for all in Christ Jesus,
to reconsecrate ourselves with everything we are
and have to the task of witnessing Christ in deed
and word as willing instruments of His mission to
the whole world,

2. to speak the Word of God both to one an-
other and to Christians everywhere, in order to
nurture, edify, and educate for Christian faith and
life as willing instruments of Christ’s mission to the
church,

3. to serve as willing instruments of Christ's
mission to the whole man and to the whole society,
and we rejoice with every fellow believer in Christ
in the infinite opportunities for the whole church
to be Christ's mission.

Affirming, further, that the church lives to be
the instrument of the Holy Spirit in obedience to
its Lord, we seek specifically

1. to promote the proclamation of the Gospel
through Word and Sacraments, to relate that Gospel
to man’s need in every situation, and to extend the
ministry of the Gospel to all the world,

2. to gather those who respond in faith to the
call of the Gospel and to nurture them in the fel-
lowship of faith,

3. to maintain and promote unity in the true
faith and to give outward expression to that unity,

4. to safeguard the preaching and teaching of
the Word of God in its truth and purity and the
right administration of the sacraments by all its
ministers and in all its congregations in conformity
with its confession of faith. (Article II)

For achieving these ends, the Synod shall:

1. Educate and ordain ministers for service in
the Evangelical Lutheran church and be responsi-
ble for the discipline of the ministers in its mem-
bership,

2. Establish and maintain institutions for the
education of youth in preparation for teaching and
for training in other forms of leadership in the
congregations of the Synod, and in society,

3. Promote missions throughout the world,

4. Publish and distribute Bibles and study ma-
terials setting forth Christian truth and disseminate
information concerning doctrine, practice, history,
and life of the Lutheran church,

5. Further through Christian parochial schools
and other educational agencies a thorough instruc-
tion for confirmation and continued growth in
Christian faith and living,

6. Cultivate edifying and unifying practices of
worship, and prepare and publish service books for
congregational, family, and private devotion,

7. Use all forms of mass communications media
which are available and practical in bringing the
Gospel to all the world,

8. Stimulate and further Christian social min-
istry,

9. Exercise supervision over ministers and
teachers, who hold membership in Synod, in the