LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 1973, Page 309

Transcription machine transcription, uncorrected

⤓ Download .txt · copy text

8. EVANGELISM

8-01
Report of Board for Evangelism

Introduction

“You've come a long way. Missouri.” was the title of an
article in The Lutheran Witness reviewing the evangelism
record of the LCMS during the 125 years of our existence
as a Synod. Missouri was a “late starter,” but the momen-
tum has gradually accelerated and continues to do so. From
the early evangelistic efforts among the American Indians,
the deaf, and the black, the Synod moved to organized pro-
grams such as “The Call of the Hour” in the early 30s. the
“Call of the Cross” at the centennial of the arrival of the
Saxons, the “Each One Reach One” in the 40s. the “Preach-
ing-Teaching-Reaching Missions” in the 50s, followed by its
offspring the “Spiritual Life Mission” and the “Families for
Christ” programs.

The 1960s brought some new approaches with separate
workshops for pastors, for teachers. for lay people. The
youth workshops were called “Ambassadors for Christ.”
Since 1964 a special Sunday has been observed in many con-
gregations called “Evangelism Sunday” or “Evangelism Fes-
tival.” Programs were developed to reach special areas of
concern: for the dropouts from church membership. the
“Membership Referral” was developed: for the members who
visited and worked overseas an “Ambassadors Kit.” In the
70s a ‘new look” seeks to broaden the approach of evange-
lism to include the “whole man,” and to work together with
other Christians when this is possible. The momentum of
outreach concern was strengthened by the evangelism em-
phasis on the 125th anniversary celebration and now through
the special efforts of Key 73.

The interest in evangelism in the 50s_was evidenced by
the establishment of a Department of Evangelism by the
1953 Houston convention under the Board for Missions in
North and South America. At the 1965 Detroit convention,
a Committee on Evangelism within the now single Board
for Missions was established. Finally the 1971 Milwaukee
convention responded to many requests and established a
separate Board for Evangelism. (Res. 1-19)

Until future elections. the new Board for Evangelism
was appointed by the Board of Directors, and the appointees
chose their officers: Pastors: Armand H. Ulbrich, Detroit
(4 years) Chairman; John W. Ott, St. Louis (2 years). Laity:
Evelyn Hartman, Richland, Washington (2 years), Secre-
tary; Jerry Bartos. Dallas. (4 years). Teacher: William R.
Wright. Fort Dodge, (2 years), Vice-Chairman.

The Board began its work in November 1971 with an
“Acting Secretary for Evangelism,” loaned to the Board
for Evangelism from the Board for Missions. the Rev. Walter
Meyer. The Board called an Executive Secretary, The Rev.
Dr. Erwin J. Kolb. who took office on 1 July 1972. Rev.
Meyer returned to his assignment as Secretary for North
America (Congregation and Community).

Why was Missouri a “slow-starter” in evangelism? The
article in the Lutheran Witness suggests four possible an-
swers:

1. The Synod always considered itself “evangelistic” be-
cause it was an “Evangelical” church.

2. The Synod had to break out of its German shell before
it could become evangelistic.

3. During the first years the Synod gave priority to estab-
lishing its base with training schools for pastors and teachers
and setting up a parochial school system.

4. Some members of the Synod put_ more emphasis on
preserving the pure teachings of the Bible. Others could
come and get the pure doctrines if they wanted them.

There is still some tension within the Synod with some
of these reasons. especially number 4. the tension between
preserving and proclaiming the Gospel. When undue time
and attention is devoted to preserving the truth. it can
easily detract from the concern to share the truth with
others outside of the circle of those already within the fold.
The reverse also happens. that so much energy and enthusi-
asm is devoted to winning the outsider. that the heritage of
true Bible teaching is slighted. Proper attention must be

oo

given to both, both preserve and proclaim, both a solid con-
fessional stance and an active application of the Gospel to
the needs of people in the world around us.

Thus, feeling the push of the heritage of the Missouri
Synod, the Board pursued its task with a sense of urgency
continuing to study the needs of the Synod in the 70s and
resolving to make the most of the evangelistic opportunities
that the celebration of the 125th anniversary and the move-
ment called Key 73 would bring. Here is a report of the
work with special recommendations for “beyond New
Orleans.”

1. Evangelism Emphasis of the 125th Anniversary

The Milwaukee Convention accepted the challenge pre-
sented by the President of the Synod in his opening address
and resolved to mark the occasion of the 125th anniversary
celebration by demonstrating a passion for souls through
(1) “endeavoring to gain 125,000 converts to our Lord and
Savior Jesus Christ”; (2) “rededicating themselves to ‘in-
creased efforts in evangelism’; and (3) “a concerted effort
in personal witnessing.” (Res. 9-03)

The Board for Evangelism in cooperation with the 125th
anniversary committee asked our congregations to enlist 6%
of its communicant membership to form an army of 125,000
core workers who would be called “Messengers of Rejoic-
ing.” The Messengers of Rejoicing were to study the history
of Synod, the congregations’ relationship to circuit, District,
and Synod and then be trained for an evangelistic outreach
into the community. The Messengers of Rejoicing were to
be active throughout the anniversary year, and as the evan-
gelism emphasis led into involvement in Key 73, these ‘“Mes-
sengers’ would continue their outreach efforts as Key 73
workers.

In the Missouri Synod the period of the PTRs experi-
enced the most rapid growth in the number of adult acces-
sions. from 26 to 620 in 1953 to the peak year in 1960 of
35.570. From that point on there was a consistent decline
in adult accessions until 1970 when the total was 26,074.
The vear 1971 saw a slight increase of 701 to a total of
26.775. We pray that increase will continue as we continue
to commit to be. even after the anniversary year, “Mes-
sengers of Rejoicing.”

The Anniversary Resolution of Milwaukee (11-03) re-
solved that as we give thanks to the Lord of the church we
“set definite goals for internal and external growth for the
decade of the seventies.” The broad objective for the Board
for Evangelism sets our goal:

A growing number of God's people in the Missouri Synod shar-

ing the Good News of God's forgiveness in Jesus Christ, by what

they say and do, both in structured programs and in an in-
creasing varicty of life situations.

Goals in evangelism are often misunderstood. We know
that only the Holy Spirit working through the Gospel moti-
vates witnesses and changes people from sinners to saints.
It is also the Holy Spirit who motivates Christians to give
of their time and treasure, and yet we set goals in these
areas. People are the instruments for communicating the
Gospel to others. These communicators can be recruited and
trained and evidence in the statistics indicate that when
there are structured programs for organization and training
more are won to Christ and his Church. The Board for
Evangelism therefore makes the following recommendation:

Recommendation 1— Evangelism Goals

We recommend:

a) that we reaffirm our goal of 125,000 new members as
a result of the 125th anniversary celebration

b) that we ask congregations to establish long range
goals in evangelism and annually set short range goals in
terms of programmed evangelism efforts and the increase
in souls that they will pray for

c) that the circuit and District set short and long range
goals for their evangelism programs

d) that the Board for Evangelism assist congregations,
circuits, and Districts by providing materials and encourage-
ment for setting goals in evangelism.