HOUSTON – Delegates to the 63rd Regular Convention of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod adopted six missions-related resolutions on the final day of business (July 19).
Two were related to the Synod’s 30 “partner” church bodies worldwide:
• Res. 1-10 asks all LCMS members and entities – including districts, congregations, and auxiliaries – to support partner churches “through prayer, sharing resources, communicating, and encouraging each other through visits and financial means.” It also asks them to work through the Synod’s Board for Mission Services, so that their efforts may be coordinated and confusion avoided.
• Res. 1-13 thanks God for the partner churches, commends them “for their faithful work in Christ’s mission,” and asks the Synod to pray and support these partners.
Representatives of more than 20 partner church bodies – introduced at the convention July 19 – will be attending an “Ablaze! International Summit” sponsored by LCMS World Mission July 20-22.
Other mission-related resolutions adopted by delegates today include:
• Res. 1-03, which asks the Commission on Theology and Church Relations to prepare a “comprehensive study document” that presents the biblical teaching of the “priesthood of all believers” and Luther’s teaching on vocation in light of today’s mission challenges. After approval by the Synod in convention, the document would be shared widely synodwide, including with LCMS seminaries and universities as they instruct students.
• Res. 1-11, which commends campus-ministry workers “for maintaining confessional integrity in providing Word and sacrament ministry” to college students. It also asked the LCMS Praesidium – composed of the Synod president and five vice presidents – to “continue to assess” LCMS campus ministries “ and their association with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America,” and present a report to the next LCMS convention in 2010.
• Res.1-04, which encourages the Synod’s mission board to develop training opportunities and manuals to help LCMS members in “mission development” and “intentional church planting.”
• Res. 1-08, which commends Lutheran Hour Ministries for “its consistent mission focus and its pioneering efforts in adapting technology” to outreach, encourages the ministry in its five-year plan to develop resources for congregational outreach, and asks LCMS congregations to continue to support LHM and to “make use of their resources to reach the unreached in their communities.”
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