LCMS Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 1979, Page 191

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LATE REPORTS AND OVERTURES 191

to include the memoirs of 57 leaders of cooperative
Lutheranism. What they said in 88 interviews is con-
tained in 4,500 pages of transcript. One of the 20 trained
interviewers has observed that “through this project
these conversations are going to last through the years
as recorded, fascinating—and in some ways missed—
history of Lutheranism in America. As one with histor-
ical interests, I envy the historians of the future for what
they’re going to have because this has been done.”
Former LCMS President Oliver R. Harms has served on
a committee giving guidance to the project.

As part of an ecumenical consortium called Census
Access for Planning in the Church, the office is gearing
up for the analysis and expanded use of data gathered
in the 1980 census.

Most recent statistics compiled on the size of the
LCMS, ALC, and LCA showed that in 1977 these church
bodies counted 8,018,595 members. This report rounded
out a decade that started out with the three having
8,494,165 members. Ever since, they have experienced a
decline, which started gradually, accelerated, and most
recently decelerated.

Why persons who after a period of not belonging toa
church rejoined was the subject of a special research
project carried out last year in seven heavily un-
churched areas of the country. Personal interviews
showed that family responsibility, a crisis experience,
the nonverbal witness of Christians, and organized
evangelism were among the reasons church dropouts
reverse themselves.

Statistics gathered about North American Lutheran
high schools and primary schools for the 1978—79
school year showed that they are increasing in numbers
and enrollments. The number of high schools went up
by 8 to 84 and their enrollments by 3 percent to 21,919.
The number of grade schools went up by 10 to 2,038,
two-thirds of which are LCMS-related. Their enrollment
increased by 4,038 to a total of 218,521 children.

The Advance Site Research Task Force coordinated
by the office, with Executive Secretary Fred E. Lietz and
Assistant Executive Secretary Arthur C. Haake of the
LCMS Church Extension Board as members, has con-
centrated on the two counties of Riverside and San
Bernardino in California. Thirty possible sites for new
Lutheran churches were identified, and the LCMS,
ALC, and LCA representatives have agreed on the
purchase of five sites each.

Program Planning

Atits semiannual meetings during 1977 and 1978 the
Committee for Planning and Development emphasized
evaluation and priority-setting through interviews with
all of the council’s executive directors; developed guide-
lines in consultation with the Committee for Admini-
stration and Finance, governing the committee’s rela-
tionships with the CAF in the planning and budgeting
process; and looked at current and future computer
applications. In connection with the computer study the
committee has requested consideration of “the feasi-
bility of a common approach by the participating
church bodies to program planning, financial account-

ing, planning and analysis, designing a common lJan-
guage, and suggesting new usefulness for the infor-
mation being generated.”

Office of Communication and Interpretation

The Office of Communication and Interpretation is
directed to “publicize the objectives, scope of interest
and activities of the council; supply information con-
cerning the Christian faith and life as reflected by the
Lutheran Church; assist the cooperating churches by
providing a means for furthering cooperation among
them in the work of public relations and communi-
cations; and supplement, at the request of the cooper-
ating bodies, their activities in this field and interpret
their faith, objectives and programs.” OCI’s four units
carry out this mandate by working closely with religious
and secular media and communication agencies; the
council’s various divisions, departments, offices, and
related units; and the communication programs of the
church bodies.

The Missouri Synod does not support OCI other than
through an annual contribution from its Board for
Public Relations. In 1977 this sum was $13,000 and in
1978 $13,500.

Consultation and Administration

The church body communication directors, including
Victor W. Bryant, the Synod’s director of public rela-
tions, and William B. Dingler, director of media pro-
grams for the International Lutheran Laymen’s
League, are convened quarterly to share developments
in each of their offices and to plan cooperative endeav-
ors. Currently going forward are a series of convo-
cations for Lutherans in media and a Lutheran Media
Mission project using print, radio, and television to
“strengthen Lutheran presence in communities where
such a presence is new or not well known.”

Administrative services are provided to the separ-
ately incorporated unit, Lutheran Film Associates,
which early this year completed a 90-minute TV special,
“The Joy of Bach,” celebrating the music and life of
Johann Sebastian Bach. Its placement in prime time on
a TV network in the U.S. is being arranged, as are
showings in Switzerland, Holland, Ireland, West Ger-
many, and other countries overseas. Meanwhile LFA
has begun considering an appropriate sequel.

Broadcast and Film Relations

The continuing effort to place Lutheran spokes-
persons on radio and TV talk shows recently experi-
enced a record with Director Edward A. Rauff of the
council’s Research and Information Center, who is an
LCMS pastor, talking about “why church dropouts drop
back in” on 54 programs.

A 20-minute filmstrip, “Who Are the Lutherans?”
‘was released early last year, and to date 2,700 Lutheran
congregations have purchased copies. Early this year a
20-minute 16mm film, “Room for a Stranger,” was
released to help in the recruitment of Lutheran congre-
gations as sponsors of refugees. It has an opening
section by LCMS President J. A. O. Preus.