Poised for Mission

Robert Schmidt Squabbling in the church, lack of central coordination, everyone going their own way, locked in an acrimonious debate between traditionalists and those on the cutting edge of mission? While that certainly describes the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod at the beginning of 21st century, it was equally true of the early church at the Council of…
Read more

Ministry under the Cross

Robert Schmidt Editorial Note: The following paper was delivered April 17, 2007, at the Theological Convocation of the Texas District. The theme of the convocation was “Living the Theology of the Cross in a Pluralist World: Being Missional and Confessional.” Other speakers at the convocation were Dr. Paul Robinson of the St. Louis seminary, Dr. Art Scherer,…
Read more

Letter to the Christian Nobility of the World

Robert Schmidt Editorial Note: Robert Schmidt was a seminary professor in Nigeria from 1960 to 1963. The first draft of the following paper was written in the late ’60s after he returned to the United States. It probably will not be helpful for those pastors struggling to keep their congregations and their careers afloat in these difficult…
Read more

The Ecumenical Vision

Robert Schmidt Editorial Note: Under the auspices of the Campus Ministry Division of the Lutheran Council in the U.S.A. (LCUSA) the author led twenty-five students from Canada and the United States to work on several farms in Zimbabwe in 1984 after the Rhodesian-Zimbabwe war.  The work there was coordinated by Lutheran World Service, the development…
Read more

Doing Theology in Our Christian Calling

Robert Schmidt It was an argument a third-year seminarian could not win. The professor, the sainted Henry Reimann, was teaching an elective called “The Nature and Function of Theology.” What is “theology” anyway? He suggested that in the history of the church, especially the Lutheran church, theology was the “critique of teaching and preaching.” In…
Read more

The Call to Good Citizenship

Robert Schmidt In the September 2006 issue of the LCMS Reporter Uwe Siemon-Netto, a German national and director of the Institute of Lay Vocation at Concordia Seminary, wrote about our need to heed our calling as Christian citizens. The international journalist rightly selected the Lutheran doctrine of the calling as an appropriate place for Christians to face…
Read more

“Not” – Resolution 4-06 Task Force Report

Robert Schmidt The 2013 convention of the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod (LCMS) resolved that the president of the Synod establish a task force to resolve questions about the service of licensed deacons serving congregations of the Synod with the word and sacraments of Christ. The task force recently issued a report in response to the convention’s…
Read more

An Open Letter to District President Linnemann

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…
Read more

Freedom to Be Faithful

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…
Read more