LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 1975, Page 30

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30 MISSIONS

D. New congregations need to be established in areas of
population growth and expansion of the mission and
ministry of Christ as listed in A and B above.

2. That an office of interchurch relations, directly accountable
to the President of The Lutheran Church — Missouri Synod, be
established, carrying out in his behalf his responsibilities for
sister church relationships, with liaison with the Board for
Missions and the Commission on Theology and Church Rela-
tions.

3. That the Board for Missions shall consist of nine members,
three members to be assigned to each of the key function areas.
Domestic Affairs, Mission fields, and Administrative Services,
as their areas of special concern and as a subcommittee.

4. That some experimentation with new modes of Staffing
be initiated, consistent with program goals and objectives, as
Proposed by the new organization chart.

The fundamental structure here Proposed makes the Synod
in convention responsible, as in the past, for review of programs,
reports, and action on memorials. At the next level of account-
ability in the administrative structure is the Board of Directors
of The Lutheran Church — Missouri Synod. The Board for Mis-
sions, though elected by the synodical convention, will be ac-
countable to the Board of Directors. Should the Board for
Missions find itself in disagreement with action required by the
Board of Directors taken on a matter of importance to it, the
Board for Missions would have the right of appeal to the next
convention of the Synod. The Executive Director, whose duties
are primarily administrative, will function under the Board for
Missions, carrying out policy as decided by the Board for Mis-
sions. Policy making and evaluation are considered to be the
functions of the Board for Missions, but administrative details
belong in the realm of responsibility of the Executive Director.

Under the direction of the Executive Director the Mission
Study Commission recommends in skeletal fashion three major
areas: Domestic Affairs, Missions Fields, and Administrative
Services. A special relationship category is envisioned for the
office of interchurch relations, as proposed in Recommenda-
tion 2,

Special ministries, in the process of transition to the District
level, will need some coordination for the time being under the
area of Domestic Affairs. The Director of Administrative Ser-
vices shall have responsibilities for personnel, liaison, and re-
search.

Staffing at every level needs to be effected in terms of new
Opportunities with which the Lord confronts the church.

5. That major efforts on the part of board and staff to come to
consensus regarding goals, objectives, and policies be under-
taken, so that implementation of the mission mandate might
follow without undue delay.

6. That careful attention be given to objectives and functions
to be effected, that program objectives and position descriptions
are given careful review before staff positions are established
and filled, and that job descriptions of mission staff members
reflect the restructuring of responsibilities under the recom-
mended organizational structure, with clarity to enable evalua-
tion of performance against description.

7. Board/staff/field relations and organization, always under
the shadow of the Cross, should reflect the best of plans and
support in the ministry to all of God’s children and to the total
needs of every man, and that board and staff of Missions —

a. revise the board/staff relationship document of July 1972;

b. Implement the Board of Directors recommendations
related thereto:

¢. support the reaffirmation of New Orleans Resolution
1-06 as guidelines for more effective working relationships.

8. That the Handbook of the Synod should be amended to
contain clear statements regarding the relationship of the Board
for Missions, the Board of Directors, the President of the Synod,
the Commission on Theology and Church Relations, and sister
churches as they involve responsibility, authority, and ac-
countability, and that the responsibility of the Board for Missions
for policy in relation to new missions and domestic matters be
clearly defined, as reflected by Recommendation 3.

9. That beyond approving the Mission Affirmations, reviewed
by several conventions and more recently strengthened by the
CTCR document, “The Mission of the Christian Church in the

World,”’ they no longer be debated but be used to implement
new efforts in missions.

10. That continued development of planning, accountability,
and evaluation as found in the PPBS, and in such approaches
as the ‘‘Weighting of Subministries” as developed by the LCA,
as a way of effecting a larger measure of stewardship in future
programs and budgets, be pursued.

11. That financial and accounting functions now handled by
Board for Missions staff be transferred to the office of the Con-
troller or Treasurer of The Lutheran Church — Missouri Synod.

12. That special ministries be assessed and evaluated on
a cost and potential basis within the general principles and
priorities established by the Board for Missions.

13. That Districts should continue fashioning and implement-
ing approaches to mission utilizing their unique resources,
consistent with the policy and the goals of the Synod. Districts
should participate with the Board for Missions in consolidated
priority setting.

14. That District mission executives become more active in
their role as resources to existing congregations and in estab-
lishing new ones, urging them to employ methods of mission
intensification and expansion consistent with the principles
enumerated in “Board for Mission Goals 1973-1975,” which
encourages laity and clergy to be the missionaries God has
made them, in both the planning and the doing of the mission.

15. That members of the steering committee elected by the
District mission executives in their annual conference should
be asked to advise and consult with the Board for Missions on
North American mission matters, further establishing the com-
munication links in three directions: (a) from Districts to the
Synod; (b) from the Synod to Districts: (c) from Districts to
Districts.

16. That a specific percentage of each budget dollar allocated
to missions be set aside by the Board for Missions for what
corporations call research and development, with emphasis on
new and experimental methods in mission and ministry and on
new areas of service.

17. That a more representative membership on the Board
for Missions be established, e.g., comprising a divergence
of cultural and geographic backgrounds and designed to pro-
vide for representation of these competencies and diversities
on the Board for Missions, preferably of demonstrated experi-
ence, after having first served on a District Board for Missions.

18. That criteria and standards be developed for determining
sister church status by the special committee to which this task
has been assigned, and for maintaining sister church relation-
ships under the office of interchurch relations and that these
matters be incorporated into the program for consideration and
discussion at the International Lutheran Theological Convoca-
tion in November 1975.

19. That careful attention be given by the office of interchurch
relations to the documents drawn up and now in force in the
ALC, agreements between sister churches, as new vehicles to
effect mutual mission responsibilities, with implementation on
an experimental basis to commence in the present biennium.

20. That in order to establish a more personal involvement
at the congregational and District level, the Board of Directors
in consultation with the Board for Missions and with other
coordinating units establish a diversity of models and varied
methods of Support, interchange, and interfacing with the
mission areas and sister churches and that such a program of
development and implementation be reported to the next con-
vention of the Synod.

21. That closer working relationships between auxiliary
agencies and the Board for Missions should be established to
Maximize resource utilization in God’s mission.

22. That the development of geographic groupings of sister
churches into voluntarily formed consortia, e. g., the churches
of Asia or of Europe, of Africa, of Latin America, assuming
a larger obligation of mutual support and mutual development
of priorities and Programs, be undertaken. In effect this would
create regionalization of concerns rather than many ad hoc
entities whose priorities currently are most difficult to evaluate
on a comparative basis. These groupings would be primarily
programatic.