LCMS Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 1979, Page 63

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PRESIDENT’S REPORT 63

still confronted with a large number of congregations
without pastors. A number of overtures call for more
intensified recruitment efforts. Once again, these efforts
must be implemented at the grassroots level and simply
cannot only be referred to a board or committee. Active
recruitment efforts by all constituents are needed at
once and in force.

We note with satisfaction that the first joint visit to
higher education schools of the Synod by the two
seminaries will take place this fall. This cooperative
approach should make an excellent impression on the
students and will remind us all of another important
facet of “walking together.”

Another matter which this committee needs to con-
sider pertains to adjustments in the Colloquy Board
regulations, so that this rapidly growing program can
be carried out in a more workable fashion.

Because of the great influx of applications, the fear
has been expressed that standards will be lowered. I
think that we can rely on the good judgment of the
seminary presidents and others who are involved in this
program to see to it that candidates for the ministry in
The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod are “in every
respect qualified” for their high calling in the church. A
goodly number of Seminex men are also in the colloquy
program.

There is an overture requesting that the Boards of
Control in Argentina and Brazil be elected by those
Districts. I would hope that this be given favorable
treatment by the committee. These Districts have a long
and steady confessional Lutheran background and
after all these years deserve to be given this privilege
and responsibility.

VII. Parish Services

The committee on Parish Services deals with a great
many and diversified subjects relating to parish life.
These include educational materials for Sunday and
parochial schools, vacation Bible schools, and
marriage-enrichment programs.

Along with the request for more recruitment efforts
of future pastors is a similar call for recruitment of
future teachers. The report notes that during the past
school year available candidates from the Synod’s
teachers colleges decreased. The committee will want to
give attention to this matter.

Significantly, our elementary and secondary schools
have enrolled 23,000 students from ethnic groups. This
represents 15 percent of the national enrollment. Over
130 nonwhite teachers are serving in Lutheran schools.
Bilingual instruction is on the increase. Resolutions call
for provision of more Spanish education materials, and
this important matter needs study and subsequent
decision.

The Lutheran Youth Fellowship (LYF) program is
making progress. Over 4,000 youth are expected to
attend the August 1980 gathering at Fort Collins, Colo.
This will be the first synodical youth gathering since
1968. These call for appropriate resolutions to be con-
sidered at the convention.

VIII. Social Ministry

One of the special items for Committee 8, Social
Ministry, will be the continuing need for sponsoring
refugee families. During the past four years Lutheran
Immigration and Refugee Services of the Lutheran
Council in the U.S.A. has assisted in the resettlement of
more than 25,000 people from southeast Asia. The
committee will want to devote itself to this issue. Several
overtures deal with considering the needs of older
persons. They represent the fastest-growing group
within our population, and the problems of the aged cry
for resolution not only by the national and local gov-
ernment programs but by a concerned church as well.

IX. Special and Sundry

Members of Committee 9, Special and Sundry, have
several related and unrelated overtures to consider.
However, there is one matter which is not explicitly
spelled out in several reports and overtures but is
touched upon one way or another in several other items
which appear in the Workbook. I am referring to the
matter of certain unofficial publications.

Every year close to one-half million dollars are spent
for publishing unofficial newspapers which are distrib-
uted throughout our church body. One of these supports
the Lutheran Council in the U.S.A., and two others
support our seminaries. In view of the fact that our
doctrinal and constitutional problems have for the most
been resolved, and a positive program for our inter-
Lutheran cooperation is needed and desired, it would
seem wise to ask the publishers of these journals to
discontinue printing and encourage support by all of
their contributors for our seminaries and the Lutheran
Council. They should be urged to make use of existing
channels for “brotherly dissent” spelled out in the
synodical Handbook.

XII. Program Implementation

We come at last to the committee which was given
the greatest amount of material and attention at the last
convention, namely, Program Implementation. We took
great care in selecting one knowledgeable person from
each District for the committee, this year, maintaining
an equal layman-pastor representation.

The very first resolution which was formulated by
the 1977 committee and subsequently adopted by the
convention pointed out that since the mid-sixties the
percentage division of “mission dollars” remitted by
congregations through their Districts had decreased
steadily from 18% in 1965 to 12% in 1976, and that
District sharing with the Synod had decreased from 60%
in 1965 to 46% in 1976.

The same resolution called for congregations, Dis-
tricts, and the Synod to prioritize current and future
budgets.

What has happened since then?

I am sorry to say, not a great deal. There has been
some increase in synodical giving, but the main prob-
lems persist. All of us, not just Committee 12, should
study with great care the charts on pages 250 and 253in