LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 1975, Page 380

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380 PARISH SERVICES

West. Since the last convention a new Lutheran center has been
opened—Good Samaritan Lutheran Home at Cypress, Tex.,
near Houston. These agencies merit the support of our people
for the Christian ministry and the total residential care that are
provided. Approximately 1,200 residents. young and old, are
being served at these several facilities.

Preparing

Cooperative efforts continue at the seminaries in St. Louis
and Springfield to assist future pastors with information and
knowledge about mental retardation and the counseling respon-
sibilities that might be required. The packet which the com-
mission has always made available to new graduates continues
to be provided so that there is a file resource for each new
pastor as he reaches his new parish.

Contact is maintained with college candidates for special-
education teaching, so that the requirements within the church
for these specialized people might be met. At the same time
chaplaincy openings do occur, and our pastors and seminary
students are kept aware of such opportunities,

Extending

Anticipating that the commission can be of wider service
intersynodically, an overture to the 1975 convention was author-
ized. Moreover, initiation for an overture covering social health
problems related to mental retardation was recommended to
the Commission on Social Concerns, with assistance in drafting
such a statement

Funding

God’s people in our various parishes, agencies, and institu-
tions have been helpful during the past several years with pro-
viding financial support to assist the commission in carrying out
some of its outreach with lesson materials, films, and tracts.
Our Lutheran schools this past November were helpful in sup-
porting this ministry. Tremendous support is evident in our
communities across the nation now for providing alternatives
to residential living, and a campaign has been launched by the
commission to provide some materials to alert our churches to
opportunities for volunteer service and ministry in their parish
neighborhoods.

Planning-Praying

One aspiration of the commission is to provide a District
advocate to extend the outreach of the commission itself to each
District Board of Directors. The ultimate goal would be to pro-
vide a parish advocate in every parish of our Synod. There con-
tinues to develop a need for trained persons to carry on this
ministry in Districts while at the same time administration per-
sonnel have been needed at our various residential centers.
For this reason a continuing goal is the training of Directors
of Exceptional Education (DEE).

Intersynodical cooperation has been effected in the past to
provide wider outreach to assist parents and retarded persons
directly. We are looking forward to the time when such outreach
can be further implemented through LCUSA.

Another aspiration is the establishment of a scholarship
fund to provide training for interested teacher and chaplain
candidates. The church’s prayers are solicited that these aspira-
tions may be attained as well as the overall work of the com-
mission.

God has blessed this ministry! May He continue to bless this
outreach through the power of the Holy Spirit. so that indi-
viduals and parishes continue to be aware of the mission possi-
bilities as well as the evangelism potential among the mentally
retarded population.

Members are: Rev. Hans A. Voss (1977), chairman: Prof.
Leah Serck (1975); Rev. Harry A. Timm (1975): Mr. Victor Bunge
(1975); Mr. Paul Hillmann (1977).

Commission for Services to the Mentally Retarded
Marshall R. Nelson, Executive Secretary

7-05

Report of Editorial Commission
for Official Periodicals

Central to the work of the church is communicating — com-

municating with people outside the fellowship of believers in
Christ. to be sure, but communicating also within that fellowship.
Communicating within the body of Christ is necessary to the
tasks of edifying, teaching, correcting, encouraging, equipping,
sharing, and informing.

The Lutheran Witness. the official periodical of our Synod.
plays an important role in communication within the church
body. No other means offers the potential of reaching as many
people in our Synod as does The Lutheran Witness.

The Witness (1) teaches and applies the Christian faith. so
that our readers are built up in understanding and commitment:
(2) promotes and supports the work we do together: and (3) in-
forms about significant events and developments affecting us as
members of the body of Christ and of the Synod.

The Lutheran Witness is responsible to our church body
through the Editorial Commission for Official Periodicals.
Sitting on this commission are Dr. George W. Wittmer (chair-
man). Dr. John W. Klotz (vice-chairman), John E. Hoffmeyer
(secretary), Dr. Elmer Kraemer, Rev. Eugene L. Krentz.
William Roepke, Barbara Steege, William G. Wagner. Rev.
George F. Wollenburg, and Dr. Edwin C. Weber (advisory).
Two of the commissioners, Rev. Wollenburg and Dr. Weber.
joined the editorial commission in January 1974, replacing
Dr. Frederick Niedner and Dr. Roland Wiederaenders.

During 1973 and 1974 the commission met 10 times to carry
out the tasks assigned to it. In these meetings the commission
reviewed the work of the editors in relation to the objectives
and policies of the official periodicals. The editorial commission
is concerned that the teachings of the Holy Scriptures, as
attested and applied in the Lutheran Confessions, are main-
tained in the pages of the Witness and that the position of the
Synod set forth in its Constitution and Bylaws and in resolutions
adopted at synodical conventions is honored and upheld.

The editiorial commission in 1973 intensively explored the
desirability of issuing a weekly news publication for people
who want a speedier and more thorough report of synodical
news. A more frequent news publication for our church leader-
ship would offer several advantages. including more extensive
and timely news coverage.

Despite these advantages, however. the commission in late
1973 decided to postpone launching a weekly news publication.
primarily because rapidly mounting costs of paper, labor,
postage, and other items would hike the subscription price to
a prohibitive level for most people.

In late 1974 the Synod’s Board of Directors asked the editorial
commission to consider once again issuing a more frequent
news publication. The commission now (at this writing) is
actively considering a more frequent news publication.

The commission has been continually concerned about
rising costs on the one hand and circulation on the other. A price
increase of 5% in January 1974, for example, did not fully cover
increases in the cost of paper and materials, but the commission
is determined to keep the subscription price as low as possible.
consistent with appropriate service to our readers.

We are grateful for the loyalty and support that has kept our
coverage near one half million or approximately 60 percent of
the homes in our church. But we must be concerned about the
homes our Synod does not reach with the Witness. This concern
is heightened when we consider that the unreached homes are
not consistently distributed throughout the Synod. In 21 Districts
the Witness reaches from 50 to 100 percent of the homes, but
in 15 Districts—and these include some of our larger Districts —
coverage is from 26 to 46 percent.

Our goal is to reach all the homes of our Synod. Only when
this goal is achieved will we be able to communicate effectively
with all the people of our church. The leadership of our Synod
supports this goal of total coverage. The Council of Presidents,
whose members include the synodical President and Vice-
Presidents and all of the District Presidents, resolved on Dec.
5, 1974, to encourage every congregation in the Synod to make
provision for subscription to The Lutheran Witness for every
home.

In recent years circulation of the Synod's German-language
official periodical, Der Lutheraner. continued to decline. Despite
efforts as late as August 1973 to stimulate circulation. Der
Lutheraner by September 1974 was distributing only 2,702
copies. As circulation declined, costs increased, mostly because
of a sharp rise in paper and postage. By September 1974 Der
Lutheraner required a subsidy of one dollar per subscription.