Dear President Gilbert, You have recently written about how most of the congregations in your district are declining numerically. According to you, three congregations are on average disbanding each year. You also reported that, according to one projection, the LCMS will go from its current 6000 congregations to 1,000 in just 30 years. You also…
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Dear President Linnemann, We wish to commend you for following the Synod’s Constitution, Bylaws, and standard operating procedures in the case of Dr. Matthew Becker. We would not know about this case had not the Synod President made it a public matter on January 26 on his personal Facebook page and then later on a…
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Robert Schmidt “I’ve just graduated from college,” she said. With diploma in hand she reflects where she’s been and where she’s going. “Yeah, I learned more than computers, than math, than business and history. In biology I learned about evolution but most of all, I learned how to care. I care about our world and…
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Robert Schmidt* *Robert Schmidt served as a missionary to Nigeria in the 1960s, a campus pastor at several universities, and a professor of theology at Concordia University in Portland. A fuller treatment of “The Coming Kingdom” was recently published in the Nov. 2013 issue of Missio Apostolica – The Lutheran Society for Missiology. The…
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By Robert Schmidt At its recent convention, the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod resolved to deal with the question of licensed deacons. The President is to create a task force to develop a plan “to resolve questions about individuals who are not rightly called (prepared, examined, called and ordained) serving congregations of The Lutheran…
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By Robert Schmidt The last gavel has been struck. The Synodical convention is over. A district president was overheard saying that it was the most peaceful convention he had attended. In an interview with the Lutheran Witness, President Harrison remarked, “I think the biggest thing accomplished, number one, was really to have a convention that was civil and positive….
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By Robert Schmidt The election of Matt Harrison and his conservative comrades have left LCMS moderates concerned about the future of the Synod and their place in it. Conversations are resuming with the Wisconsin Synod and the Evangelical Lutheran Church. Opposition to gay marriage and clergy are put forward as defining issues for the church…
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By Robert Schmidt When Luther wrote his treatise in 1520, On the Liberty of the Christian Man, it was accepted by friend and foe alike. Here was little of the thunder and polemic found in the Address to the Christian Nobility of the German Nation, or The Babylonian Captivity of the Church. Instead there breathed in it the quiet of the…
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By Robert Schmidt Tho’ devils all the world should fill, all eager to devour us We tremble not, we fear no ill, they shall not overpower us. This world’s prince may still, scowl fierce as he will, He can harm us none, He judged; the deed is done; One little word can fell him. …
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By Robert Schmidt What is the best preparation for understanding and communicating the Gospel to people of another culture? For the most part missionaries and church leaders have relied upon seminary education. As soon as congregations are planted, efforts are made for the education of the native clergy to serve the fledgling congregations and make…
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