LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 1975, Page 396

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396 SOCIAL MINISTRY

To improve the assistance that the church may bring to our
agencies and institutions and to avoid duplications. the social
service departments of the Lutheran bodies have agreed to
function as a collegial staff under the name Lutheran Social
Service System. With a director from the staff of LCUSA, the
various staff members will function together as one. This is
an appropriate step forward as the majority of our larger
multiservice agencies are inter-Lutheran.

Christ Cares for Poorly Housed People

Our Keys for Christ program of education and action in
behalf of people who are inadequately housed has continued
to prove to people that Christ cares when they are hurting.
From Quincy, Mass.. to Fresno. Calif., and from Superior, Wis.,
to Jacksonville, Fla.. housing projects. stimulated and assisted
by Keys for Christ funds, have brought new life and hope to
low-income families. Our appeal to the church for help with
this program has fallen on many deaf ears. but the blessings
that have been brought to almost 10,000 people who now have
found dignity in housing made possible by our church proves
that our efforts have received God's favor.

The Committee on Housing Concerns. made up of Mrs.
Robert Gooch, St. Louis (chairperson): Rev. Ruben Spannaus.
Chicago (secretary): Mr. Franz Vidor. Baltimore. Md.; Mr.
Walter Christopher. Chicago: Mr. Howard Woods. St. Louis:
and Mr. William Mitchell. Springfield. Mass., screen the ap-
plications for funds and recommend to the board the projects
that deserve funding. We are grateful for the excellent staff
assistance of Rev. Albert Erickson, executive secretary of the
Lutheran Housing Coalition, of which we are a participant.

Christ Cares for Sick and Imprisoned People

1974 marked the 75th anniversary of institutional chaplaincy
services in our church. With a start in St. Louis through the
ministry of Rev. F. W. Herzberger in 1899. chaplaincy services
have grown until we now number 161 full-time chaplains, over
400 part-time chaplains, and more than 12,000 volunteers. All
Districts of our church but one have at least one full-time
chaplain sharing the love of Jesus Christ with troubled and
distressed people who spend long periods of time in various
kinds of institutions.

Appropriate preparation for our chaplains through clinical
pastoral education programs has been made possible by gener-
ous grants of Wheat Ridge Foundation and Aid Association for
Lutherans.

Our Chaplaincy Services Committee. headed by Chaplain
Vern Albrecht of Omaha, assisted by Chaplain James Ehlers
of Madison. Wis.. Arthur Bickel of Chicago. Kenneth Siess of
St. Louis. and Mr. Robert Zimmer of Chicago, has provided
valuable assistance to our board and to the cause of the caring
Christ.

Workshops, seminars, and consultations to chaplains and
guidance for pastors who are interested in this specialized
ministry are provided by the staff in cooperation with the
Department of Specialized Pastoral Care of LCUSA.

Christ Cares for People Through Our Congregations

If the mission and ministry committed to the church by Christ
is to be carried out, it must have the wholehearted involvement
of our congregations. The sainted Dr. H. F. Wind was so con-
vinced that the concerns of Christ demonstrated by social
ministry must have a congregational base that he proposed to
the convention of our Synod in 1956 that every congregation
create a special committee to provide leadership. The conven-
tion agreed and recommended this to each congregation.
Almost 20 years have passed. Congregations that have followed
the resolution can point to programs of caring that have brought
“life in all its fullness” from Christ. Congregations that have
ignored the wise counsel or have put social ministry concerns
onan ad hoc or “hit or miss” basis have not provided the ongoing
witness of Christian love and concern that is needed. Rev.
Eugene C. Gunther, Secretary for District and Parish Social
Ministry Activities, has developed a “Manual for Parish Boards
of Social Ministry” that assists the congregations to reach out
to the troubled people and to convey the compassion of Christ.

During the past biennium a number of pilot projects in se-
lected Districts have been conducted. The goal of these projects

has been to equip the District committees, so that they in turn
can stimulate circuits and parishes to touch the lives of people
who are hurting. We are convinced that help cannot be given
on the local levels without appropriate parish leadership, which
must be developed with the assistance of District leaders. These
projects have provided parishes with how-to approaches for
helping one’s neighbor in need.

Christ Cares for Aging People

1975 marks 100 years since the first home for the aged was
begun. Wartburg Home, Brooklyn, N. Y., organized in 1875.
stimulated congregations around our Synod to provide for the
elderly. Today more than 22 facilities for older persons are
operated by our church in various cities around the country.

Approximately 300,000 members of our Synod are over 65.
These are part of the 21 million people over 65 in our country.
Though we as a church have been concerned about assistance
to aging people, most of our concern until recently was extended
to those needing institutional care. Today we join others in our
country who want to assist the elderly to continue to live in-
dependently in their own communities. To accomplish this, our
department has encouraged congregations to conduct senior
citizen activities and discussion groups, thereby contributing
to more socialization and less loneliness: we have urged trans-
portation assistance, nutrition programs, meals on wheels,
shopping aid, and telephone reassurance programs. We have
also emphasized the importance of preretirement planning and
have assisted in a few seminars. Since persons over 65 now
make up such a large segment of our society, the church must
put forth greater effort to convey to older persons the feeling
that they are important to God and to the church and that they
have a significant potential for ongoing activities in the work
of the Kingdom. Life with meaning must not end for people
simply because they reach a 65th birthday, to which too many
in society attach a label: old age, over the hill, or incompetent.
Only God has the right to retire people, and He hasn't set any
arbitrary age figure. Because of this. the church may joyfully
recruit people of all ages for work in proclaiming and demon-
strating God’s love in Christ.

Christ Cares Through Project Compassion

Having been authorized in 1969, this program to recruit and
train volunteers who will share Christ and themselves with
troubled people has enjoyed special favor of God. More than
12,000 persons are currently serving in many areas and in many
ways: attempting to ‘‘stamp out loneliness” in the nursing homes
of our country, assisting institutional chaplains in all kinds of
health facilities, sharing the Good News with the homebound
of our parishes, working among the mentally retarded, assisting
in the programs of our agencies, and helping the blind, the deaf,
and other persons in need. Our goal for the future is to increase
the number of volunteers to 25,000. We believe it is possible.
Several other denominations have not only praised our material
but have adopted it for their own programs.

Christ Cares for Other Special People Through Us

For the past 4 years our Committee on Alcohol and Drug
Dependency has attempted to alert our congregations to the
growing number of alcoholics (9 million) and drug users in our
country. The tensions of our day have contributed to the in-
creasing number of persons seeking escape through chemical
means, yet the church has been slow in reaching out to these
victims with the love of Jesus Christ. Five daylong workshops
held in connection with District pastoral conferences during the
past 2 years reached more than 870 church workers in four
Districts. Resource material as well as cassette interviews with
alcoholics and drug users were made possible through the gen-
erosity of Aid Association for Lutherans. A team of knowledge-
able resource persons led the discussions. Three more District
workshops are planned for 1975. Several tangible results have
developed from these efforts. The committee responsible to
our board for this emphasis is: Chaplains Edward Eggert,
Milwaukee: Elmer Callies, Memphis; Max Metcalf, Iowa City:
Mrs. Phyllis Wallace, Collinsville, Il.; Rev. Charles Knippel.
St. Louis; and Dr. C. William Freeby, Appleton, Wis.

The concerns of our Vietnam-era veterans led to the forma-
tion of an Office of Ministry to Veterans in LCUSA. With Mr.
Gary Wood as staff person, this 2-year project is being funded