LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 1975, Page 398

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398 SOCIAL MINISTRY

Report of Commission
on World Hunger

The New Orleans convention stated that the Commission on
World Hunger is continuing to perform a valuable service and
consequently should be continued in order to carry on its job
of sensitizing members of The Lutheran Church-— Missouri
Synod to the admonitions of the Bible about helping those in
need.

It also passed unanimously Resolution 9-03 asking particu-
larly that each congregation and member in the Synod be active
in helping the poor by serving as their advocate.

It was also resolved that a goal of $1 million over a period of
2 years be set to help alleviate hunger in all parts of the world.

In following the wishes of the voters at the convention, the
Commission on World Hunger reports these accomplishments
since the convention:

1) Assisted the church in Ethiopia in its request for clarifica-
tion on ‘Proclamation and Human Development.”

2) Encouraged the LCMS contingent of the LCUSA commit-
tee to finalize and implement the domestic disaster program
as approved by the three major Lutheran judicatories.

3) Acted as liaison between the free Lutheran Church of
West Germany and the East German government toward the
rehabilitation and restoration of their properties and programs.
particularly in the field of poverty.

4) Provided material on the population explosion for the
publication Adrance.

5) Was supportive of the Board of Social Ministry and World
Relief in the LCMS World Hunger Appeal as implementation of
the world hunger resolution adopted at the New Orleans con-
vention.

6) Provided the White House and each Senator and Con-
gressman with the publication Breaking Bread with the Hungry.
with an accompanying letter. The response was excellent.

7) Attended national and international meetings on world
hunger with opportunities to emphasize the Gospel motivation
in this whole area of helping needy people.

8) Alerted Lutheran youth groups throughout the country
with bona fide agencies that provide opportunities for personal
service both at home and overseas in poverty situations.

9) Offered outlines to the Synod’s terminal schools on world
hunger toward integration in the curricula.

10) Helped sponsor the activity of the “Bread for the World"
agency. which is committed to hunger information, and sug-
gested practical action in this area.

11) Sponsored seminars on world hunger involving the
various agencies and commissions of the Synod as well as other
church and national organizations working in this field.

12) Continued the ongoing task of reviewing and digesting
volumes of pertinent material on the subjects of population
growth, food production and distribution, and the broad scope
of the hunger problem, and passed it along to our people
through all channels available.

Martin C. Poch, Chairman

8-04A

To Adopt Declaration Concerning
Persecution of Christians

WHEREAS, Committee 11 of the 1973 convention of the LCMS
recommended that the LCMS adopt the following declaration:

As Christians we are concerned about injustices and oppression
wherever these are to be found: but toward our fellow Christians we
have a special obligation, particularly where they are experiencing
oppression in severe form. Since it is well known that Christians
are being persecuted, especially in territories under Communist
rule, we petition the 1973 convention of The Lutheran Church — Mis-
souri Synod to resolve:

1. We solemnly declare our solidarity with the suffering. bleeding,
yet confessing church under oppression (1 Cor. 12:26).

2. We praise God for the inspiring, victorious faith and love with
which He has blest these our persecuted brethren.

3. We thank our gracious God for having hitherto preserved our
nation and church from the scourge of terror and persecution.

4. We cal! on all Christians who enjoy the privilege of political
freedom to be well informed about the fate of Christians under
oppression, to pray fervently for our persecuted fellow believers
and for the conversion of their tormentors, to support these suffering
Christians by every available means. and to imitate humbly their
great zeal and self-sacrifice in the service of the crucified and risen
Savior.

5. We call on all church leaders to keep the cause of the oppressed
Christians before the forum of world opinion—and not by silence
to aid and abet their persecution.

6. We call upon our country to protest in the United Nations
Organization against the continued violation in the Soviet Union,
China. and other countries. of their Christian citizens’ basic human
rights, as guaranteed especially in Articles 18 and 19 of the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights. adopted by the U.N.O. on Dec. 10, 1948
(and by the U.S.S.R. on Nov. 1. 1962), and to urge the U.N.O. to take
all possible steps to secure the compliance of the aforementioned
countries with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

7. We call on all Christians to pray for their fellow believers in
the captive nations especially during the third week in July, which
has been set aside by our Congress as Captive Nations Week:

and

WHEREAS, Proposed Resolution 11-16 of the 1973 conven-
tion has turned over to the Board of Directors of the LCMS:
and

WHEREAS. As far as we have been able to determine, no
action has been taken as of Jan. 12, 1975, on this resolution by
the Board of Directors: and

WHEREAS. Top officials of the LCMS designated the third
Sunday in July in 1974 as Indian Concerns Sunday: and

WHEREAS. The recently published works of Aleksandr
Solzhenitsyn and Cardinal Josef Mindszenty again show that
Christians are being persecuted by the Communists: and

WHEREAS, According to the Dec. 20, 1974, Christianity
Today. “Appeals have been pouring into the West in recent
months from Soviet evangelicals seeking relief from oppression
by authorities in their country”: and

WHEREAS, The Nov. 18, 1974, Time reported: “A black
evangelist was sewed up inside a tom-tom and starved to death
while drummers pounded incessantly on the skin top. The
bodies of several other Christians have been found buried
up to their necks in sand, their heads swarming with ants.
According to some reports, more than 130 native Protestant
pastors and lay church leaders have been assassinated in the
land-locked African republic of Chad since last November”:
therefore be it

Resolved. That the 1975 convention adopt the resolution
recommended by Committee 11 of the 1973 convention.

Trinity Lutheran Church
New Haven, Mo.
Orville Meyer, Secretary

Identical or similar:

8-04B and 8-04C

Eastern Past. Conf., English District
Messiah, Detroit, Mich.

Amandus Derr
C. Hoffmeyer

8-05

To Continue World Hunger Appeal

WHEREAS, The problem of hunger has reached worldwide
crisis proportions: and

WHEREAS, Our Lord Himself by word and example urges
His disciples to become advocates for the hungry: and

WHEREAS. God has blessed us with the faith and material
blessings to meet the needs of hungry brothers and sisters: and

WHEREAS, The World Hunger Appeal! of the Synod through
its Board of Social Ministry and World Relief has been a blessing
to many during the past biennium; therefore be it