wfn.org | LCMS 61st Convention elects new officers, acts on 101 resolutions

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Wrap-Up News Release
61st. Regular LCMS Convention

LCMSNews -- No. 58
July 24, 2001

For more information,
contact Joe Isenhower Jr.
via e-mail at joe.isenhower@lcms.org
by phone at (314) 996-1231.

6lst LCMS Convention elects new president and officers, acts on 101 resolutions

ST. LOUIS -- The some 1,200 voting delegates to the 61st. Regular Convention
of The Lutheran Church--Missouri Synod elected a new president for the
2.6-million member church body, chose other officers and board members, and
acted on 101 resolutions when they met at America's Center here July 14-20.

On July 15, they elected the Rev. Dr. Gerald B. Kieschnick of Round Rock,
Texas, to his first three-year term as president. Kieschnick, 58, was
elected on the fourth ballot, with 600 (50.8 percent) of the votes cast --
18 votes more than for the Rev. Dr. Dean O. Wenthe, president of Concordia
Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, Ind.

Kieschnick, who takes office in September, is the Synod's 13th president
since its founding in 1847.  He succeeds the Rev. Dr. Robert T. Kuhn, who is
retiring.  Kuhn became president when President A.L. Barry died in March.

In his July 18 convention remarks accepting the Synod presidency,
Kieschnick, who is president of the LCMS Texas District, said that
fulfilling the Great Commission of Jesus Christ is first in a list of six
"matters of importance" facing the Missouri Synod. "Today is the day to
begin to refocus our efforts on the mission that Christ has given to His
church on earth, and to do so with renewed vigor, energy and passion,"
Kieschnick said.

Other important matters that Kieschnick said face the Synod are recruiting
and training pastors, teachers and other church workers; using the gifts of
lay people; improving relationships among the national church body, its 35
districts and its 6,100-plus congregations; emphasizing the grace of God;
and building solidarity within the Synod under Scripture and the Lutheran
Confessions.

Kieschnick added words about the kind of man he seeks to be:  "Basically
stated, I earnestly desire to be a man of God, of prayer, of strength, of
courage, of wisdom, of sensitivity, of fairness and of love."  He told
delegates, "I need and covet your support, your encouragement, your
constructive words or advice and counsel, and, above all, your prayers."

Also on July 15, delegates elected the Rev. Daniel Preus of St. Louis to his
first three-year term as the church body's first vice president. Preus, 52,
was elected on the fourth ballot with 601 votes (or 51 percent of the total
votes cast).  Elected on Monday, July 16, were the Rev. Dr. Wallace R.
Schulz, 57, Pacific, Mo., as second vice president; the Rev. Dr. Robert H.
King, 79, Jefferson City, Mo., third vice president; the Rev. Dr. Paul L.
Maier, 71, Kalamazoo, Mich., fourth vice president; and the Rev. Dr. William
C. Weinrich, 56, of Fort Wayne, Ind., fifth vice president.

The convention also elected 102 other individuals (ordained, commissioned
and lay) to fill positions on various boards and commissions.

Each day of the convention featured essays presented by Synod theologians,
on the convention's "Tell the Good News about Jesus" theme and on church
fellowship, which has been studied throughout the church body since it was
ordered by the 1998 Synod convention.

Leaders of other Lutheran churches and of the two LCMS auxiliaries also
brought greetings to the convention.

Resolutions before the convention were based on overtures submitted by Synod
congregations and others. Arranged according to the eight floor committees
that proposed resolutions to the convention, a rundown of the most
significant actions follows.

MISSIONS

Ten mission resolutions were approved, beginning with an affirmation of the
assembly theme, "Tell the Good News about Jesus," on July 15.

Sustained debate delayed passage of only one mission resolution --- to "be
passionate" for Jesus' Great Commission to spread the Gospel throughout the
world. Delegates took three sessions to agree how to address dissention and
its resolution.

Easily affirmed by almost 98 percent margins were resolutions encouraging
ministry to international students in the U.S. and an intensification of
mission effort, including increased financial support of LCMS World Mission.
Urban mission partnerships were promoted, with an affirmation of "Pentecost
2000" --- a Synod-wide initiative to launch 1,000 new cross-cultural
ministries --- for the next triennium.

A separate resolution encourages the use of the "gifts and talents" of all
LCMS members beyond the "primarily Caucasian and male" makeup of most
regional and national boards and commissions. Subsequent actions recognize
the need for diverse approaches to reach people of different cultures; and
encourage prayer for continued growth "as a church of all nations,"
reflecting this increased diversity through official church publications and
communications.

Dr. Glenn O'Shoney, who will retire November 1 after 12 years of service as
the LCMS' top mission executive, was recognized for his long-time service to
the church as pastor, mission director and president of the Synod's Texas
District.

CONGREGATIONAL SERVICES

The convention approved changing the name of the Synod's Board for
Congregational Services to the Board for District and Congregational
Services.

Delegates asked districts to develop a "pastoral strategic plan" to monitor
Lutheran school associations. Those that have dual affiliation with the
Synod and with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America are asked to
comply with guidelines of compliance developed by a task force that studied
dual affiliations.

No new dual-affiliated (LCMS-ELCA) associations should be given Recognized
Service Organization status by the Board for District and Congregational
Services. The seven associations currently with that status will continue to
be recognized by the Synod, as long as they do "not act contrary to the
doctrine and practice of the Synod."

Among other approved Congregational Services resolutions are measures to
field-test material for the Synod's new hymnal, slated for publication in
2007; recommendation of a "plan for ministry to homosexuals and their
families" as a resource for study and pastoral care; and a call for further
field testing of the "This Far By Faith" hymnal that contains worship
materials primarily for African-American Lutherans.

Separate actions honored Dr. Bryant Clancy, who is retiring as the executive
director of the Board for Black Ministry Services, and Dr. Paul Devantier,
former executive director of the Board for Communication Services. Devantier
was cited for leading a successful landmark eight-year hiring-practices
legal battle for the Synod's Radio Station KFUO, against the Federal
Communications Commission.

THEOLOGY AND CHURCH RELATIONS

Issues involving church fellowship were quite visible during the convention.
Delegates voted to declare or formalize altar and pulpit fellowship with
four overseas Lutheran churches and expressed concern over the fellowship
decisions of the largest Lutheran church body in the United States.

Church fellowship permits the exchange of pastors between church bodies and
allows their members to take communion at each others altars.

The convention approved altar and pulpit fellowship with the Evangelical
Lutheran Church of Lithuania, the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Latvia, the
Evangelical Lutheran Church of Haiti and the Lanka Lutheran Church of Sri
Lanka. The church bodies in Haiti and Sri Lanka are "daughter" churches of
the Missouri Synod, as they grew out of LCMS-related mission work. The
churches in Lithuania and Latvia, on the other hand, date to the Lutheran
Reformation of the 16th century.

Talks with leaders of the four church bodies led to the conclusion that they
and the Missouri Synod are in full agreement in doctrine and practice, the
prerequisite for church fellowship. Delegates said it is precisely because
the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is not in doctrinal agreement
with several non-Lutheran churches with which the ELCA has declared "full
communion" that delegates addressed the ELCA.

After much debate, delegates affirmed former President Barry's judgment that
"we cannot consider them [the ELCA] to be an orthodox Lutheran church body."
At the same time, the convention added, "We of the LCMS recognize that many
of our brothers and sisters in the ELCA remain faithful to the Gospel of our
Lord Jesus Christ, and we resolve to reach out to them in love and support."

PROGRAM AND FINANCE

Delegates passed two resolutions dealing with program and finance on July
15.  The first gives thanks for the service of Concordia Historical
Institute, the Synod's Department of Archives. That resolution also approved
a special thankoffering to support the work of CHI during its 75th
anniversary year in 2002.

Also approved was the already-accomplished transfer of Capital Funding
Services from the LCMS Foundation to the Lutheran Church Extension Fund.

HIGHER EDUCATION

The convention decided that the Synod will continue to use lay deacons to
provide Word and Sacrament ministry in places that otherwise would not be
able to support a pastor. At the same time, work will continue on refining
the Distance Education Leading Toward Ordination (DELTO) program.

The adopted resolution rescinds a 1995 Synod convention resolution that
requires licensed lay deacons to complete a seminary program for ordination.

Delegates amended the church's Bylaws regarding tenure of faculty members
for Synod colleges, universities and seminaries.  They created two levels of
faculty appointments -- one that can be terminated without formal show of
cause and another that requires a formal show of cause before termination.
Instead of tenure, the action provides guidelines for promotion from one
status to the other.  The amendments require regular performance reviews for
all faculty.

Representatives of the Synod's "For the Sake of the Church" campaign told
the convention that the endowment for the campaign stands at about $68.7
million -- well above projections.  The campaign has an endowment goal of
$400 million to be collected by 2010, so that no member of a Synod
congregation would be prevented from attending an LCMS college or university
because of costs.  The representatives also reported data on 152,000 young
people, collected for the purpose of recruiting students for Synod higher
education institutions who would develop into potential church leaders.

(For that education effort and for mission work, delegates brought gifts
approaching $723,000 as an offering, beginning at the convention's opening
worship service July 14.  That figure is expected to rise as individual
gifts for the convention ingathering continue to come in by mail.)

The convention reserved for itself the final say in whether any of the
church body's colleges and universities should close.  It defeated a
resolution that would have let the Board for Higher Education (BHE) make
that decision with the consent of the Synod's Board of Directors and its
Council of Presidents.  It was one of only three resolutions brought to the
convention by floor committees that were defeated in their entirety.

Delegates called on "all organizations that address issues of pastoral
leadership [to] work cooperatively and collaboratively within the structures
of our Synod and especially with the theological faculties of our church to
ensure that the theology and practice taught in the area of pastoral
leadership are in agreement with the doctrine and practice of our Synod."

The convention also directed the boards of LCMS colleges, universities and
seminaries to "encourage their professors on sabbatical leave to serve in a
parish or related ministry."

HUMAN CARE

Human-care issues addressed by the convention include sanctity of life,
abortion, sexual purity and religious persecution.

Delegates commended the LCMS President's Commission on the Sanctity of Life,
then replaced that commission with a standing committee on the sanctity of
life under the Board for Human Care Ministries. The convention affirmed the
Synod's strong stance against abortion and directed its president to write
to President George W. Bush requesting a reversal of the FDA's decision on
the abortion drug RU-486.

The adopted resolution supporting "lifelong sexual purity" encourages
Missouri Synod congregations to study and then to teach "God's truths" about
sexuality and sex.

By an almost 99 percent margin, the assembly passed a resolution promoting
"ongoing" prayer for persecuted Christians and participation in the
International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church each November.

Delegates also voted to:

-- (unanimously) "show [their] heartfelt support" for Gao Zhan, an LCMS
member from Falls Church, Va., who has been imprisoned in China since Feb.
11. (Only three days after the convention ended, she was sentenced to 10
years in prison by a Chinese court for allegedly spying for Taiwan.)

-- continue an emphasis on prison and jail ministry, and asked the Synod's
Board for Human Care Ministries to develop resources and offer training to
equip clergy and laypeople for such ministries.

-- support refugee resettlement by "encouraging all [LCMS] congregations,
individually or jointly, to resettle at least one or more refugee families
as soon as possible."

-- reject the destruction of embryos for stem-cell research as "sinful and
morally objectionable."  Delegates also asked the Synod president to send a
letter to President Bush to encourage him to "reject using public funds for
research that deliberately and intentionally kills human beings," and urged
the Synod's Board for Human Care Ministries to provide "resources, education
and encouragement" on stem-cell research to the church body's members.

-- urge "cautious participation in President Bush's faith-based and
community initiatives. This resolution commends the initiatives, calls on
church members to read Bush's "Rallying the Armies of Compassion,"
encourages them to employ the initiatives "in such a way that our unique
Christian witness is not compromised," and asks the Board for Human Care
Ministries to provide resources for congregations and others in appropriate
use of the initiatives' opportunities.

STRUCTURE, PLANNING AND ADMINISTRATION

Delegates voted to establish a permanent eight-member Commission on
Structure that would be responsible for maintaining the Synod's "Handbook,"
which contains its Constitution and Bylaws. The new commission's duties
would include "identifying and recommending modifications to areas of
concern" in the "Handbook," with an eye toward making the document easier to
use.

Other approved resolutions:

-- combine the Commission on Organizations and the Commission on Theology
and Church Relations.

-- affirm the Synod's historical position on church and ministry.  That
position is based on the writings of the Rev. Dr. C.F.W. Walther, the church
body's first president, who served two terms _ 1847-50 and 1864-78.

-- place directors of family-life ministry and directors of parish music on
the church body's roster of "ministers of religion -- commissioned."

NATIONAL/DISTRICT SYNOD RELATIONS

Beginning in 2004, Synod vice presidents two through five will be nominated
by congregations. The current process -- nominations from the convention
floor -- "hampers" the delegates' ability to make informed decisions because
they don't have time to receive published "accurate information" about the
candidates, a resolution said.

Other approved resolutions:

-- define the role of the district president in his official visits to each
congregation in his district and the role of the circuit counselor in
relation to member congregations and other workers.

-- end the parallel structure of district and Synod boards and staff.

-- allow districts to organize in the most appropriate manner to serve
congregations "in accordance with the Synod's Constitution and Bylaws."

-- change the responsibility for Synod convention-site selection from the
Council of Presidents to the Synod's Board of Directors, with input from the
district president for the area in which the site is located.

A delegate at a microphone proposed the final resolution for the 2001
convention.  Passed overwhelmingly, it designates retiring President Kuhn as
a "President Emeritus" of the Synod.

"I say thanks, my brothers and sisters, for the honor of serving you under
our Lord Jesus Christ, [and] for being in partnership in this great church,"
Kuhn then told the convention.

"And as we go home," he said, "let's really tell the Good News about this
One Who loves us, and Whom we love."

The next Missouri Synod convention is scheduled for July 10 -16, 2004, also
at the America's Center in downtown St. Louis.

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