LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 1975, Page 8

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EVANGELISM

The staff of the evangelism department has also taught
evangelism courses at the Springfield and St. Louis seminaries.

8. Evangelism in Leisure Time

In order to explore the possibilities of assisting Districts.
congregations, and individuals to make the most of leisure time
for the work of evangelism, the board sponsored a consultation.
April 17— 18, 1974, with the following participants:

Mr. Victor Brott, Saginaw. MI

Rev. Richard Hardel, Aberdeen, sD
Rev. Darwin Karsten. Eureka. MO
Rev. Jerrold L. Nichols. St. Louis. MO
Mr. James Rhiver. Collinsville, IL
Mrs. Talitha Stark. Bethany, OK

The board is still considering some of their recommendations
and cooperates with Synod's Committee on Leisure.

9, Evangelism Among the Jews

In response to an overture sent bya congregation to the New
Orleans convention the floor committee prepared Res. 1-23,
which did not reach the floor, entitled “To Facilitate Gospel
Proclamation Among the Jews.” The intent of the resolution
was to instruct the District Evangelism Boards to give attention
to bringing the Gospel to the Jewish people and Synod’s Board
for Evangelism to “produce guidelines and materials which
will aid individuals, congregations, and Districts in this effort.”

The board established a committee for “Witness Among the
Jews” which has met twice in 1974 and plans to work the next
2 years. The committee is:

Rev. Arthur Graf, Giddings, TX

Rev. Edward Einem, Detroit, MI
Mrs. Jean Kiefer, Philadelphia, PA
M:. Ed Smith, Arlington Heights. IL
Rev. Bruce Lieske, Philadelphia, PA
Prof. William F. Meyer, Austin, TX
Dr. George Liebenow, Cincinnati. OH

Mr. James Cross also served on the committee for a time.
The committee has surveyed the Districts as to the need for
help in this area, written articles and papers on the problem
of anti-Semitism, and examined the work and materials of other
organizations. It plans to conduct a pilot workshop in 1975 for
congregations in areas of high Jewish population and to produce
a manual out of the results of the workshop.

10. Evangelsim Television

The Board for Evangelism has worked with Lutheran Tele-
vision to help make the television ministry 4 part of the evange-
lism outreach of the local parish, by a closer identification of the
programs with the local parish and by personal visitation of
those who write in.

To explore this area, several pilot projects were conducted.
With Easter Is. 1974, 10 congregations were enlisted to personally
deliver the poster and picture from Benji and Waldo to those
who wrote in from their parish area. 4,384 deliveries were made.

With The City That Forgot Christmas and Christmas Is. 1974.
267 congregations were involved in 6,000 personal deliveries
with very positive results.

Plans are to continue to expand this approach and to develop
a kit for the local parish to visit those who write in to the weekly
“This Is the Life” telecast.

Another joint effort in the spring of 1974 was the use of the
television spot Glumpf, funded with money from the Lutheran
Women's Missionary League. In the Waterloo, IA, area 92 con-
gregations participated in a simultaneous vacation Bible school
program, which was called day camp instead of Bible school.
The Glumpf spot and other material using Glumpf were used in
publicizing the program. Attendance was at an all-time high.
The same program is now available for any area that will work
together on such a program.

11. District Organization for Evangelism

The board continues to work with the District board or com-
mittee of evangelism and makes special efforts to help the
chairman and the District executive assigned his area of respon-
sibility. Two Districts in the last biennium lost full-time District
men in evangelism: Michigan and Northern Illinois. Two
Districts added full-time District men: Central Illinois and Ohio.
The Northwest District entered a program of Mission Trainers

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for clusters of congregations with the District funding half of the
salary. The California and Nevada District provided a vicar to
the pastor-chairman of their District Evangelism Committee to
release him for more District leadership in evangelism. Other
Districts have continued to assign the responsibility to executives
in Missions, Stewardship. Youth. or Presidential Assistant.
Some Districts are now studying the office of full-time executive
in evangelism.

The board continues to assist the District executive and the
District board or committee through several means.

a, A newsletter that brings news. information, and reviews
of current evangelism books. materials. and programs.

b. An annual spring meetind of all District Evangelism Board
chairmen. called District directors of evangelism. and execu-
tives; 1974 in St. Louis; 1975 in Dallas. TX. in conjunction with
the Texas District Evangelism Congress.

c. A fall regional meeting with the District directors and
executives, both 1973 and 1974.

12. Publications

The Board for Evangelism was happy to see Concordia
Publishing House publish a new book on evangelism in 1973:
Reborn to Multiply. by Paul J. Foust. Michigan District counselor
in stewardship and evangelism. The board helped to publicize
and promote the book. The board has also urged Concordia
Publishing House to publish other books on evangelism.

The board has generated articles on various evangelism
topics which were printed in The Springfielder and The Lutheran
Witness. It produced articles to publish in each issue of Advance
and the World Wide Evangelist. When articles are not accepted
by a publication. the board seeks to share the information
through other sources. as it did with an article on Rev. Sun
Myung Moon. written for the board by Dr. Wi Jo Kang after
requests for information about this evangelist came from the
field. The board printed the article and distributed it through
the District President's office to the circuit counselors.

13. Back Door Losses

The board continues to be concerned about the back door
losses of 52,000 for each of the last 2 years (see Exhibit 5). It has
sought to evaluate its Membership Referral System. which is
connected to the subscription lists of The Lutheran Witness. and
has revised the letters that go to the individual, to the church
where he belongs. to one where he now lives. to one to which
he is urged to transfer. Districts have been consulted, area
Lutheran newspapers are attempting a similar approach, but
no real progress is being made in dealing with the problem. The
Membership Referral handles 9.000 notices a year and seems
to be most usable in the rural and small-town areas but not in
the metropolitan areas.

In order to stimulate concern and provide assistance for
congregations. the board this vear revised two sections of the
Evangelism Resource Book and issued them as separate book-
lets that could be used as replacement sections or by themselves:
the section on “Assimilation” (X) and that on “Conservation”
(XD). A variation of the basic sponsor plan which is suggested
in the later booklet. called BASIC. Brothers and Sisters in Christ.
1s now being tield-tested.

14, Open House Services

With the encouragement coming from the 1973 convention
and from special requests of Districts. the board produced
a workbook to help congregations plan fora series of open house
services, which is the present name for the traditional Preach-
ing-Teaching-Reaching (PTR) Missions of the 1950s. During
the past biennium Districtwide open house services were con-
ducted by the Michigan. Minnesota North, and Minnesota
South Districts. Several circuits in the Kansas City area of the
Missouri District and many individual congregations throughout
the Synod conducted open house services. some of whom ex-
perimented with different approaches and variations. A manual
to assist in planning area open house services is now being
prepared.

15. Evangelism Resource Book

In 1973 the board reprinted the basic summary of evangelism
programs gathered in a three-ring binder called Evangelism
Resource Book. Reaching People for Christ. consisting of 17
tabbed sections. each covering a different area of evangelism.