Robert Schmidt* The LCMS February Reporter wrestles with the fall off of membership of the Synod. It states that between 1971 and 2010 membership declined by 500,000. Child baptisms are down 70 per cent and adults received into membership have shrunk 47 percent. (Reporter, 2-28-2017). President Harrison provided six observations concerning the decline. The demographic…
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Robert Schmidt “We won’t worry about the election. We are Lutherans and believe that there are two kingdoms. Though Trump won one, he didn’t, and couldn’t touch the other.” That’s the Kingdom of God’s grace.” But what does God’s grace include? Might it have something to do with the Old Testament promises about a new…
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Robert Schmidt The last gavel has been struck; the convention is over. No more licensed deacons and plans are underway to find an easier way to rid the Synod of honest dissenters. Moderates are mostly retired and mission minded folks are concentrating on better practices, not a better administration. Three years from now there will…
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Robert Schmidt Portland Daystar Conference January 17, 2000 Introduction As the Christian Church greets the 21st century, it does so with some trepidation and gloom. The old idea of a “Christendom” where Christians set the agenda and sought to translate their values into the society is almost gone. Instead, active Christians find themselves in a minority…
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Robert Schmidt Editorial Note: The following is a set of explanations to Dr. Schmidt’s “95 Theses on Church Control.” Those theses can be read here. It is manifest that ordination administered by a pastor in his own church is valid by divine right. Consequently, when the regular bishops become enemies of the Gospel and…
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Robert Schmidt October 31, 1999 Unless I am convicted by Scripture or plain reason, I do not accept the authority of Popes and Councils, for they have contradicted themselves. My conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot and will not recant anything, for to go against conscience is neither right nor safe. …
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Robert Schmidt Daystar Mission Conference, January 2004 The Mission Affirmations of 1965, what happened to them? Why didn’t they get off the ground? They were solidly Biblical, drawn on the experiences of missionaries all over the world, attuned to both the church and the world. What happened to them? Some might blame those folks…
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Robert Schmidt Editorial Note: Long before there was a Daystar online discussion group, Robert Schmidt received a phone call inviting him to become active in promoting women’s ordination in The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod. Having come from the Nigerian mission field where, in addition to teaching at the seminary, he served as a chaplain to a…
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Robert Schmidt Editorial Note: In 2001 Robert Schmidt had the opportunity to visit with Hubert Allen, the grandson of Roland Allen and biographer of the famed missiologist. Together at Oxford’s Bodleian Library Dr. Schmidt and Mr. Allen re-examined Roland Allen’s unpublished manuscript, ”The Ministry of Expansion: The Priesthood of the Laity,” in anticipation of its…
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Robert Schmidt The hope was to reaffirm and re-energize the vision for mission that has historically been a hallmark of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod. The planners for Daystar’s January 11-12, 2004, conference at Chesterfield, MO, near St. Louis, felt that the Mission Affirmations, adopted by the synod’s 1965 convention, would be a very fine and…
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