Klemet Preus Vision for Minnesota South

Transcription

1 Klemet Preus Vision for Minnesota South Prior to each of the last three conventions of the Minnesota South District of the LCMS, friends asked me if I would be willing to let my name stand on the ballot for District President should I receive enough nominations. In the past I said, No. Conditions in the District as well as my call to serve God s people at Glory of Christ Lutheran in Plymouth made me conclude that I would best remain pastor in the parish to which I was called. When asked to allow my name to stand in 2012, my disposition is different. Circumstances have changed both in the District and in my congregation and I find that my previous aversion is mostly gone. So, in the event that God places me into this office by the vote of the delegates at the upcoming convention I will, with humble reluctance, serve. The possibility of being elected, if even remote, led me to discuss with the Elders of Glory of Christ Lutheran Church (Plymouth) their opinion on the prospect of me taking a different position in the church. Had I received a call from another congregation I would have certainly ascertained the opinion of my congregation regarding both my leaving and my staying. That s what pastors do when they get a call to serve in a different church. Being chosen as District President affords a pastor no such option. He will be elected during the District Convention and must say yes on the spot. Any discussion or deliberation with the church must, of necessity, take place before the election. I shared with the Elders that my two biggest fears are that I would get all excited about the prospects of leading the District and then be disappointed if not chosen, or, possibly worse, I would get elected and find that the job gave me no joy and I was ineffective. My Elders advised me to put in writing my vision for the District and let people know what direction I would want to take the District if elected. That way, if the congregations and pastors of the District shared my vision and wanted to work with me they will elect me. If not elected that would mean they did not share my vision. In such a case, neither the District nor I would be well served by my presidency. I have discovered in the past that others, when asked to describe me or my vision for the church, have sometimes spoken in a manner which transgresses either modesty or charity. Like most people, I am neither as wonderful as my friends seem to think nor as loathsome as my detractors would claim. And, so that all who have been given the responsibility of casting a ballot will know both my measure and my vision, I offer the following. Challenges Facing Minnesota South in 2012 A while back I heard a great essay on John 3:16, For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son (ESV). The speaker made the point that the word so in the passage, God so loved the world, should be understood as saying, in such a way. Jesus is not saying that God loved 1

2 the world so much although that is surely a biblical idea. Rather He is saying that God loved the world in such a way. He loved not generically or vaguely but in a specific manner. He loved by giving His only Son. This same God wants to carry out His mission in such a way that all the world will hear His Word and receive the blessed Sacraments. He works in specific and easy to understand ways. He wants us to preach, teach and proclaim the Gospel to those within and those outside the church; to those who like or like it not as the hymnist says. i He builds His Church through us. We baptize all nations, instruct all who are willing to learn and give the Sacrament of His body and blood to those who confess Christ rightly. God works in such a way. For the church in Minnesota South to do so, I believe that four challenges should be addressed. LCMS President Matthew Harrison wrote: I. Unity There are enduring divisions in the Synod. And these divisions not only make our life together bitter, they consume our energy, and they cripple our ability to share the Gospel in its fullness with a world that has never been so open to what we have in Christ as Lutherans. Our disunity is killing us and our mission effectiveness and at just the wrong moment. ii The divisions that are so apparent at the Synod level are equally obvious in our MNS District. The election lists which circulate during the conventions reflect these divisions. The types of new mission starts of the District reflect them. The many pastors on both sides of the divide who absent themselves from the meetings of circuit pastors either out of fear or out of anger reflect these divisions. We all know the issues. The divisions are reflected at the altar of Christ where we cannot seem to agree on the criteria which pastors employ as they either welcome sinners to the altar or request them to wait during a time of instruction. Even our worship reflects these divisions. Think of it: God s service to us of Word and Sacrament those blessings which unite are occasions for anger and acrimony. Truly, every member of the District should bow before Christ and repent of whatever role we have played corporately or individually in these ongoing divisions. We should further pledge to God that we will not rest until we have done whatever is necessary to mend the painful wounds of division in our District. These divisions were tragically reflected in the sale of the property on University Avenue in Minneapolis which housed University Lutheran Chapel for seven decades. It will not help to point fingers of accusation or to judge motives. Nor will we be well served if we simply forget the matter and move on. Rather, we should ask ourselves the tough questions which those desirous of unity must ask. Can t we do better than this? Couldn t we have had conversations with those most intimately and adversely affected by the decision even if they were on the other side of our divide? Couldn t we have done that which we have never been able to do work together to address and challenge? 2

3 Easy encouragement just to learn to trust each other cannot end the divisions. Rather, we must learn to converse with each other. We must talk and we must listen. We must regain the capacity to converse with each other. President Harrison in his It s Time recommended to the church a process of discussion which he called The Koinonia Project. Modeled after the way in which the Formula of Concord came into being, The Koinonia Project envisions a group of respected and capable people representing various constituencies and viewpoints getting together to talk. iii First, this group would honestly identify and articulate differences. Then, they would state clearly what is to be affirmed and rejected by all. President Harrison has appointed First Vice President Herb Mueller to organize this effort. Will this take some time? Yes. Is it possible? It was done in the 16 th century and we have the Formula of Concord to show for it. Would such a process possibly exclude some from the Synod? Possibly, it might. Should we try it? Obviously, we should try it. When? The Minnesota South District should ask no, beg Vice President Herb Mueller to make our District a pilot district for The Koinonia Project. Our divisions both qualify us and require us to do whatever we can to address this challenge. As District President the first telephone call I would make would be to request that our District be involved in The Koinonia Project. And I would not take no for an answer. On May 1, 1846 three Lutheran pastors from Ohio travelled down the Ohio River and up the immense Mississippi to St. Louis; Rev. William Sihler, Rev. Friedrich Lochner and Rev. A. J. Ernst. Their intent was to meet pastors from the newly founded Lutheran settlements in Perry County and St. Louis, Missouri. About 180 miles south of St. Louis a number of new passengers boarded the ferry. Pastors Lochner, Sihler and Ernst, seeing their black coats and white cravats rightly thought they were ministers but wrongly reached the conclusion that they were Methodist preachers. Happily, the Ohio pastors soon discovered that these were none other than the Lutheran pastors they were to meet in St. Louis: Rev. Loeber, Rev. Gruber and Rev. Keyl. Having first mistaken them for Methodists, our Ohio Lutherans next feared that the Missourians might have scruples about this and that point in our instruction. They were worried that the Missourians would be uptight about the doctrine of their new acquaintances. So what did they do? During the rest of the short journey of 180 miles we engaged in conversation with our new companions, and the result was the fear on our part that a complete union between us and the brethren in Missouri could not be reached without difficulties. Oh no, they thought. This will be difficult. It may be impossible. But what did they do next? They continued the conversations. And, after three weeks of theological discussions, they were able to Thank God that our fears were in vain. iv The result was the birth of the German Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Missouri, Ohio and other states now known as The Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod. No Lutheran pastor wants to be mistaken for a Methodist. Worse, no Lutheran pastor wants his doctrine or instruction questioned. In 1846, there was justifiable distrust in the air. Pride was at stake. But both parties realized that their combined efforts would be so much greater 3

4 and more God-pleasing than the singular efforts of each. And both rose above their distrust and pride to discuss their differences and resolve them. Can we do the same today? I believe we can and I believe that we must. II. Domestic Missions The divisions in our church have tragically manifested themselves in the way we talk about missions. Too often we speak of each other in terms of either/or rather than both/and. People are forced into camps. We are either confessionals or missionals. What the church desperately needs are leaders who are both self-consciously committed to our Lutheran Confessions and who are actively involved in promoting Lutheran missions. Our LCMS history again is instructive. In 1838 a tireless and committed Lutheran missionary named Friedrich Wyneken was sent to serve a congregation in Ft. Wayne, Indiana. Almost immediately he encouraged and took responsibility to reach out to the Native Americans in the northern Midwest. He was a missionary pastor. Joined by other missionary pastors from Germany, the Ohio side of the Synod of Missouri and Ohio was born. Meanwhile, another group of Lutherans from Saxony came across the Atlantic to escape the religious persecution they found in their homeland. They wanted to have the freedoms that our great nation affords freedom to worship and freedom to teach according to the Bible and Confessions without government interference. This group, ultimately lead by C. F. W. Walther was known for its strict adherence to the Lutheran Confessions. So was born the Missouri side of the Synod of Missouri and Ohio. When these two groups found each other on that ferry boat in 1846 they did not immediately label each other in terms of either/or. One group was born of missionary zeal. The other was born of a desire for purity of doctrine. The two groups found fellowship. They knew that the church could not thrive unless the missionals from Indiana and the confessionals from Missouri found common cause. v And the LC-MS has enjoyed the blessings of both numerical growth and purity of doctrine for most of her 165 years. I believe that we can enjoy these blessings again. When only one group dominates the decision making, then creativity and synergy are jeopardized. The following two examples of great, yet unrealized, potential show our weakness and the potential for improvement. 1. Campus Ministry The District has a plan to multiply campus ministry by providing any number of $5000 grants to parishes near campuses. This is a wonderful idea. Many congregations want to reach out to students in various community colleges and small local universities but are unable. Now they may have the resources. Such grants have a great potential to bring young people into the faith and to provide Word and Sacrament to Lutheran students. 4

5 At the same time we have had a campus ministry with a building and a congregational feel at the University of Minnesota. This is also a wonderful idea. Ask the hundreds of alums who have made University Lutheran Chapel their home during the last 75 years. Why did we limit ourselves to either/or thinking? Why did we sell this property? Why did we think so narrowly? A both/and approach would have been more effective and certainly happier. Can t we both give the grants and have the building? I believe that we still can accomplish a both/and arrangement for campus ministry. It will involve working with people we have yet learned to embrace. 2. New Missions The vast majority of new missions in our District are started by a just a couple of large suburban congregations called covenant congregations. These covenant congregations are those chosen by the District Office to launch multiple congregations over a period of time in growing population centers. The new congregations are launched with an expectation that 200 people will attend on the first day. The idea is that the sponsoring covenant congregation will give up to 100 of its members to the new mission. These missions enjoy $100,000 of District mission subsidy over a three year period and are expected to be self-supporting within a relatively short period of time. This is a wonderful mission plan. We should thank God for the covenant congregations of our District which launch new churches and for the new suburban churches in the District. At the same time the vast majority of congregations in the District can t possibly work within this paradigm. We need to develop a plan for groups of rural congregations. It might involve a congregation (new or established) which has to worship other times besides Sunday. It might require pastors to serve two or more smaller congregations for a while or even indefinitely. I believe that most pastors would love the chance to preach more often and give the Sacrament more often. It s what we do. Such an idea might require the District to provide subsidy for more than three years and possibly with an expectation of fewer souls per dollar. That was the way it worked in the LCMS for most of our history. And it worked. Why can t we do both? Which is healthier: three new congregations of 200 members each or 10 new congregations of 60 each? I d like to have both. We can have both if we work together recognizing both the Ohio and the Missouri of our heritage. The President of the District appoints the Missions Committee of the District. As District President, the second phone call I would make is to the man who was runner-up on the District President Ballot. I will get the names of two people from the runner-up and appoint those people to the Missions Committee. That will guarantee that all points of view will be represented in the District as we attempt to speak Christ s peace to those around us. III. Foreign Missions 5

6 I am convinced that nothing will excite people about domestic missions more than involvement intimate involvement in foreign missions. In the past we left foreign missions largely in the hands of the Synod. And the Synod has spent untold dollars and committed many lives to the spread of the Gospel overseas. Thank God for these efforts. Our District has also to our credit commissioned missionaries to teach overseas. But a more intimate congregational involvement is needed. A quick look at the websites of many congregations shows that we are eager to support the preaching of the Gospel all over the world. This is a good and healthy thing. When congregations research and support good Lutheran mission causes, only good can happen. Such mission support will make congregations stronger, mission programs stronger and, ultimately, the District will be stronger. If I may, let me use my own congregation as an example of this excitement. About ten years ago Glory of Christ Lutheran Church decided to support a couple of organizations which finance continuing education courses for Lutheran pastors in various parts of the world. We have helped train Lutheran pastors in Sweden, Guatemala, Indonesia and, most significantly, the Philippines. Every year since 2007, we send a team of five people to the Philippines for two weeks. During these trips God has blessed me with the opportunity to teach theology to the pastors of the country. And He has blessed the hard working laity from our congregation who work side by side with teams of laypeople from the Philippines to restore dilapidated parsonages or build new church buildings. The results are positive in a fivefold way. First, the pastors of the Philippines are better educated then they were five years ago and this translates into greater faithfulness and more energy for them. Second, we have done some very valuable charitable work for people who need it and appreciate it. Third, we have made friends. We love and are loved by people who believe just as we but whose lives are vastly different than ours. Fourth, the participants have learned that the Christian doctrine and the services of the church are not simply our way. Christianity is not American or European or Philippino. We believe in one, holy, catholic, apostolic church. The church is everywhere bound together by the Gospel. We have a common doctrine and a common faith in Christ and in His Gospel and Sacraments. Fifth, our entire congregation is excited about our increased mission support so that now over 15% of the congregation s budget is spent on missions. We get frustrated because we can t do more. Of course congregational involvement in foreign missions can have some dangers. Some congregations will give valuable resources to non-lutheran causes which teach contrary to the Scriptures and the confessions of the church. These congregations should be encouraged, on the basis of the Scriptures, to use their resources better. A second danger, I suppose, is that congregations which give directly to Lutheran mission endeavors may not support the District as generously. But people will still be taught the Word. They will still be instructed by the Catechism. They will still receive the Sacrament. Whether congregations do the mission of the church directly or through the administration of the District we can say with Paul, What then? Only that in every way Christ is proclaimed. And in that I rejoice. (Philippians 1:18) 6

7 Every congregation can support foreign missions either by itself or in cooperation with other churches. And LCMS President Harrison is eager for congregations and entire Districts to adopt foreign mission endeavors. One of the most exciting opportunities for support of the work of Christ overseas is the endeavor to collect $250,000 for the training of pastors from our sister Lutheran Church bodies. These funds will be matched. Imagine a District, above and beyond its normal support of the Synod, giving funds to bring a promising young theologian to America for two years to fund an advanced degree at one of our seminaries. Imagine that pastor returning with greater theological passion and greater leadership skills. Imagine a District adopting one pastor of a sister church body who can then enjoy the love and support of that District and the congregations of it. The MNS District needs to encourage every congregation to get involved in the support of foreign missions, even if this can be achieved at first only modestly. Such efforts will grow locally and will result in greater and more enthusiastic support of the Synod and District. The third phone call that I would make as District President would be to President Matthew Harrison. I would make an appointment with him and his mission team to determine how the MNS District could be engaged in helping those Lutherans across the globe who need our support. IV. Pastors The most fundamental reason for a Synod is so that we can do those things together which we could not, as congregations, do separately. Two such enterprises are foreign mission work and the recruiting and training of pastors. We are about to face a crisis of too few pastors in our church and this impending crisis needs to be addressed. While 62.2% of active LCMS pastors are 50 years old or older, only 16.7% are under 40. We are witnessing a delaying of the inevitable a tidal wave of retirements and roster losses, projected to be 300 or more a year according to a study commissioned by Concordia Plan Services. vi When I was a campus pastor at the University of North Dakota ( ), three young men from that institution entered the ministry during my seven year tenure. Back then a man could enter the seminary and expect to have almost all of his seminary expenses covered by the church. He could expect to have a job when he graduated, and he could expect that he would keep that job. He could expect to make an adequate wage and if he did not get rich with money he would be wealthy beyond measure with the love of his people and the knowledge that God was imparting the gift of salvation through him. In the past two years I have been approached by two young men from my congregation both interested in the office of the holy ministry. They asked: How much will it cost? Answer: Most students amass a debt of five figures while at the seminary and this is added to whatever existing debt the student brings from his undergraduate training. Will I have a job when I graduate? Answer: We would like to think so, but every year many graduates have to bite their 7

8 nails as they wait and hope that they will be placed. It s not guaranteed. They asked: Will I be accepted at my first call and have job security? Answer: We hope so. Some pastors have difficulty in their first parishes. I m not sure that I would have entered the ministry 35 years ago if I had received those types of answers. Many promising young men are balking at the chance to become pastors in our church. What we face is a crisis and the symptoms are a series of small, heart-rending crises which leave congregations and pastors bruised and disillusioned. Every time a young pastor is so burdened with debt that he is distracted from the job of preaching then something is wrong with the system. Every time a pastor graduates without a call then something is wrong. Every time a pastor is asked to resign his divine call without cause or due process then something is very wrong. These things need to be fixed. Our synod has, in many ways, lost respect for the office, I believe, because we do not understand it. Of course there are reasons outside our span of control. The economy has kept many of the baby-boomer pastors from retiring and this has made it difficult to find positions for new pastors. Many congregations have shrunk and have difficulty supporting pastors. The price of education has gone up significantly in the last 40 years. All this is true. And no one should point the finger at any single cause for the impending crisis of fewer and fewer pastors. But the Lord still expects laborers to be sent into the harvest. Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. But how will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how will they believe in Him of whom they have not heard. And how will they hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? (Romans 10:13-15) But the problem is more than economic; it is theological. The problem is our continued conflict within the church. Pastors and congregations find themselves in conflict because they have different scruples about who they may commune. The continuing worship wars victimize both congregations and pastors as we simply cannot seem to answer the question of what are acceptable parameters of worship expression. We are uncertain about the job of the pastor and the difference between pastors and laity. The result is power struggles which should never characterize the church of Christ. What we need is more than an urgent response to a series of heart-rending crises. What we need is the patient but firm application of our theology to our situation. Why are the expectations of congregations so often different from those of pastors? Our theology needs to be taught. Why are faithful pastors eased out of their positions? Our theology needs to be applied. Why are pastors spending more and more of their time doing things besides preaching the Gospel and administering the Sacrament? We need to go back to the basics of what pastors are about. And we need theological leadership at the District level which will address the challenges which pastors and congregations face. Someone once said, I ll lighten up if you tighten up. All of us can embrace that slogan. We can move, if even incrementally, toward each other. If we do we 8

9 may be hurt or frustrated. If we do not we will continue to deter the promising young men of our churches from entering the ministry. A precious resource will be lost. The President of the District is called to teach theology. That is what God wants him to do and that is, by God s grace, what he will do. The fourth and fifth calls that I would make as District President would be to our seminary presidents. I would pledge my commitment to work with them to recruit young men for the ministry and to work with those young men who are placed into the ministry in the MNS District. Conclusion When I was on the District Board of District ( ), we often heard that the funds received by the District had not increased for the last 35 years even in terms of real dollars. Since I came into the District over 13 years ago, we have dealt with the decreased revenues in a number of ways. We have decreased the percentage of money sent to the Synod. That is robbing Peter to pay Paul. We have used an increasing amount of restricted funds to support the projects of the District since these funds do not need to be shared with the Synod. That is more of the same shell game. We have had District fund raisers in which congregations and individuals were asked to give even more than their normal levels. Such fund raisers cannot be carried out too often. The District President, though authorized by the District to appoint four executives, has been forced to limit himself to three for extended periods of time. This forces the decreased staff to spread itself ever thinner. We have sold expensive pieces of real estate. Selling capital assets is almost never a good idea. The ideas I articulated in the above will take money. Where are we going to get the money in the years to come? Money is a funny thing. In the New Testament, the passages which talk about money refer almost exclusively to money needed to support the poor within the church. Money for programs? Not mentioned. Money for ministry? Rarely addressed. Money for salaries? OK. The Bible does say that pastors and other church workers are to be given a living wage. So that needs to be done. Jesus said, Where your treasure is there will your heart be also. (Luke 12:34) The inverse is also true. Where your heart is there will your treasure be. If individuals have found a cause worthy of their affection, they will give to that cause. If a congregation has found mission causes which move the hearts of the members, then the congregation will support those causes financially. The Minnesota South District needs to embrace and promote those causes and missions which will compel the member congregations to support the District. First their hearts are gained and then their dollars. If receipts to the District increase, then praise God for that. But if the receipts to the District decrease, I believe that we can praise the Lord that the congregations of the District have found other causes and other missions which they deem worthy of support. And I praise God for these many worthy mission causes. 9

10 What will compel the congregations of the District to support the District with renewed enthusiasm? I believe that such followership will be the result of leadership which promotes four challenges: We desperately need theological unity within the District. We need to involve as many congregations as possible supporting campus ministries and the planting of new congregations. We need to involve the District and its congregations intimately in the challenges of giving support to our sister Lutheran church overseas. We need to reaffirm our doctrine of the Holy Ministry and encourage young men to enter the ministry. God specifically wants to work in our lives and in the lives of all Christians through the proclamation of the Gospel and the administration of the Sacraments. We love the world in such a way that we preach to them and administer the mysteries of God. This endeavor requires prayer. All of us need to pray for unity of doctrine. We need to pray that God gives us a vision for starting new missions embraced and implemented by all. We should pray that all congregations learn to be involved in foreign missions. We should pray and work that God may send laborers into the harvest. This is my vision for the Minnesota South District of The Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod. Klemet Preus Advent 2011 i Martin Franzmann, Preach You the Word, LSB 586 ii Matthew Harrison, It s Time (2008) 3 iii Matthew Harrison, It s Time (2008) iv Carl Meyer Ed. Moving Frontiers, (St. Louis, CPH 1964) v For the full story of these two groups see Carl Meyer in Moving Frontiers, vi 10