LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 1973, Page 303

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PARISH SERVICES AND YOUTH 303

and to report to the next convention.” Through a process
involving a special committee of the council and the Board
of Youth Ministry the Walther League produced a self defi-
nition of its role and relationship to the Synod. After study
and approval by the Board of Youth Ministry and the special
study committee the Council of Administrators gave its ap-
proval to the document after listing examples merely by
topic in a parenthetical statement after the second para-
graph of Section A.

The Council therefore submits the following report to
the convention defining the role and relationship of the
Walther League to the Synod.

The Role and Relationship of the Walther League
to the Synod

A. The Role of the League Within the Synod

Historically, the role of the Walther League has been to
initiate new programs within the youth ministry of the
Synod for the benefit not only of youth but for the entire
church. In his farewell address, following 12 years of ser-
vice on the Board of Youth Ministry, former chairman
Leonard Ramming cited no fewer than 18 areas pioneered
by the Walther League in previous decades.

The role of the league as an initiator of new programs
and ideas within the Synod continues. Indeed, one of the
planned benefits of the transfer of responsibility for overall
youth ministry from Walther League io the BYM was to
free the League from organizational burdens. thereby allow-
ing it greater opportunity to experiment in the area of
“youth-led, issue-oriented ministry” (e.g... the employment
of young people themselves as full-time field workers; hikes
for the hungry: greater involvement by youth in official
church decision making bodies).

B. The Relationship of the League to the Synod

The initiating role that the league has performed it has
performed within, not outside of, The Lutheran Church —
Missouri Synod. The league hopes to continue in this mode,
building on the following relationships to the church:

1. Relationship with the Synodical Youth Ministry Struc-
ture. The league relates to the Board of Youth Ministry of
Synod and various District and congregational youth com-
mittees. By far the most stable relationship is with the BYM.
Extending back decades, this relationship has been recog-
nized numerous times by the Synod in convention and is
formalized in the synodical Handbook (paragraph 7.73 e).
The relationship is reciprocal in that the executive secretary
of the BYM serves as an advisory member of the League's
Board of Trustees.

The formalization of this relationship is of real value to
the league and the BYM., In addition to sanctioning a helpful
sharing between the two staffs, it helps provide the league,
which surrendered its district and local structure in 1968,
with some access to the Districts of Synod.

The relationship between league and the District and
local youth committees of Synod is informal and depends
for its usefulness almost entirely on the relationship be-
tween the league youth staffer in the area and the par-
ticular youth officials or workers involved. Hence, the ex-
perience has varied from very close relationships in which
the youth boards and congregations depended on league
staffers to help them plan and implement youth ministry
programs to situations in which contact has been slight.
As a result of this uneven experience, the league is at-
tempting to effect closer working relationships between its
youth workers in the field and District and local structures.

2. Relationship with Board of Social Ministry and World
Relief. “Hikes for the Hungry” have provided the league
with an opportunity to support synodical programs finan-
cially. Of the half-million dollars raised so far by Lutheran
youth through this program, ten percent has been available
to the Walther League Council for quarterly emergency
grants. This has made it possible for the league to con-
tribute to the Board of World Relief's appeals for aid to
South Dakota. Biafra. South Vietnam, Jordan. Mozambique.
and Bengladesh when disasters have hit these areas. In
addition, the league has contributed over 37.000 in emergency
grants to Missouri Synod congregations and Lutheran wel-
fare agencies to aid them in their local social ministry en-
deavors. Generally, the emergency grant program has en-

abled the league to help in crisis situations with quick,
small grants.

3. Relationship to Synodical Administration. Auxiliary
status sometimes means accepting the decisions of the Synod
and its President despite reservations. When the President
recently exercised his discretionary right to compel doctrinal
review of league materials, under new Bylaws adopted at
the Milwaukee convention, the league cooperated fully. It
did so despite some doubts about the wisdom of centralized
compulsory doctrinal review, because the new provisions ob-
viously represented the view of the majority of the Synod
and, as such, had great validity.

The league is also always represented at annual consulta-
tion conferences called to coordinate the activities of aux-
iliaries and official synodical boards. It would favor more
frequent consultation with staff members of synodical boards
in areas related to league's work with youth in personal and

social concerns.
ce CouNCIL OF ADMINISTRATORS

Herbert Mueller, Secretary

7-05

To Support Inter-Parish Experiments
and Efforts

WHEREAS, Economic limitations of most congregations pro-
hibit the calling of full-time education ministers or the op-
eration of dav schools: and

Wuereas. Lay boards of parish education often do not
have the opportunity to develop skills of planning and de-
veloping programs of Christian education: and

Whereas, The Board of Parish Education's Coordinator of
Christian Education Project is providing various models of
inter-parish cooperation and sharing of resources in Chris-
tian education: and

Wuereas. The need for such inter-parish cooperation and
sharing is clearly evident in many urban and rural areas;
therefore be it

Resolved, That the Synod encourage the Board of Parish
Education to continue to support inter-parish experiments
in Christian education: and be it further

Resolved. That congregations be encouraged to investi-
gate potential cooperative educational efforts with sister con-
gregations: and be it finally

Resolved. That Synod extend its thanks to Aid Associa-
tion for Lutherans for its financial support of the CCE
Project.

NORTHEASTERN INDIANA PASTOR-TEACHER CONFERENCE
Luther G. Strasen, Chairman
Annetta Stork, Secretary

To Encourage Establishment
of School Associations

Wuereas. The need for full-time Christian education is
apparent in our time: and

Wuereas. It is our desire as children of God to bring up
our children in the Lord: and

Wuereas. It is often difficult practically and financially
for every Lutheran congregation to operate a Christian day
school, this being especially true of the newer congregations
of our Synod: and

Wuereas, We would heartily desire to be good stewards
of both our human and financial resources; therefore be it

Resolved. That the Board of Parish Education continue to
offer every encouragement to the establishment of Lutheran
School Associations for the purpose of establishing area Lu-
theran primary schools serving a number of congregations;
and be it further

Resolved. That all District Directors of Christian Educa-
tion also continue to offer every encouragement for similar
endeavors: and be it finally