Vol. ZWiII Summer, 1968 No. 2
THE SPRINGFIELDER is published quarter1 by the faculty of Con-
Church- hlissouri Synod.
1 cordia Theological Seminary, Springfield, I linois, of the Lutheran
EDITORIAL COMMITTEE
ERICH H. HEINTZEN, Editor
R A Y ~ I O N D F. SURBURG, Book Review Editor
DAVID P. SCAER, Associate Editor
h l a ~ ~ J . STEEGE, Associate Editor
PRESIDENT J. A. 0. PREUS, ex officio
Contents
EDITORIALS
Full Accreditatioil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
The Consultation of Black Pastors . . . . . . . . . . . . .
THE KATURE O F THE EVANGELISTIC TASK OF
PREDOhllNANTLY WHITE DENOMINATIONS
IN RELATIOS T O THE BLACK COh,lMUNITY
GAYRAUU S. \\'ILIIIORE, JR., Executive Director,
Comr~littee on Religion and Race, United Presbyterian
Church, U. S. A., New York.
PAKISH RENE\\'AL AND PARISH EDUCATION.. . . . . . . . . . . . . .
RICHAEII J . SCEIULTZ, Department of Practical Theology,
Springfield, Illinois
REVIE\.\' ARTICLE: FIRST AIDS IN COUNSELLING . . . . . . . . . . .
ALLEN NAUSS, Director of Student Personnel Services,
Springfielcl, Illinois
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . BOOK KEVIE\VS . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
BOOKS RECEIVED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . :
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . INDEX TO \'OL. 3 1
I11dexerZ in INDEX T O RELIGIOUS PENODICAL ITERATURE, published
rlnzericnn Th~ologicnl Library Association, Speer Library, Pn'ncet
logical Se,~linary, Princetolr, New Jersey.
Clergy changes of address reported to Concordia Publishing H
RIissouri, ~ v i l l also cover mailing change of T h e Springfielder.
of address should be sent to the Business Manager of The Spriltg
cordia Theological Seminary, Springfield, Illinois 62702.
Address communications to the Editor, Erich H. Heintzen, Concor
logical Seminary, Springfield, Illinois 62702.
Parish Renewal and Parish Education
The follo~ving essay in its original form was presented to the
Alberta and British Colzlmbia District of the Lutheran Church-
Missouri Synod, April 22-25, 1 9 6 8 . The essay is reprinted below
in somewhat shortened form.
N HIS BOOK, The Re~ze~val of the Church, William Adolph 1 Visser 't Hooft states the theme of muih that is being written
about church renewal when he cornmcnts, . . . wherever Christian
men and women consider the task of the church in relation to the
modern world, they come to the conclusion that it is only a radi-
cally transformed church that can fulfill its task."
Thc Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, in its 1967 New York
Convention, took note of the call for parish rcnewal by passing
Resolution 7 -01 which is entitled: "To Strive for Parish Rcnewal
Through Education." The resolution was inspired by a position
paper of thc synod's Board of Parish Education which had appeared
in the convention workbook. That call to action was entitled:
"A Position Statement on the Kind of Parish Education Vitally Neccs-
sary for the Life and 34ission of the Church."
This present offering is meant to be a contribution to the
synod-wide study and discussion .rvhich will be necessary if the
resolution is to becomc effective in bringing about salutary changes
in parish postures ancl operations. It will clucidatc some of the
calls for rcnewal, point out areas of theological study which must
undergird action, and indicate strategies to be reviewed in relating
parish renewal and parish cducation.
The Call for Rene~val
Through the years illy fanlily has had a number of discussioils
about "renewal." We've had to consider and take action on re-
newal of children's shoes, refrigerators, washing machines, and
occasionally, a car. \Vc'vc had to be adamant about not renewing
that which will still serve. The sainc point may be nlade with re-
gard to renewal of the parish. What's wrong with the parish?
Does it really necd rcnewal? In what way?
The next few paragraphs will havc a pessimistic tone. It is, of
course, not difficult to criticize he church. One of the most menlor-
able barbs was discovered in a late nledieval manuscript: "The
church is something like Noah's ark. If it weren't for the storm
outside, you couldn't stand the smell inside."
Perhaps it would be well to state the essence of the thesis be-
fore we bring out the criticisms. In the face of all the pessimism
about the Christian parish ministry, and the calls for its abandon-
ment, I believe that we have within our grasp the tools and knowl-
edge to renew the parish \villlout disc;irding it. I firmly believe
that the parish is not onlv to be tolei-ated, bnt that i t is a Gocl-
given and truly viable instrulllent for achieving the mission of God's
people in our modern world.
A. The Attack oz the Parish
The parish form of the church is under heavy attack. We
can begin with the caveats of the previously mcntioncd position
paper of the Board of Parish Education. The evidences of serious
weakness within the parishes are: 1 ) widespread Biblical illiteracy
among church people; 2) most church members seein to be ''audi-
ence" or "organization" rather than "disciples"; 3) Lutheran elee
mentary schools are static jn enrollment; 1) increilses in s u n d a y
school enrollment have dropped alsnningly; 5 ) mcst of our con-
firmed youth become Biblc class "dropouts" before the end of their
higllschool years; 6) participation in adult Bible S~UCIV has not kept
pace with growth in church membersl~ip; 7 ) there is a large-scale
neglect of the training of church officers tcnchers for the schools
of the parish; 8) faillily illvolven1ellt in l~lall i~ed Christian l lu r ture
is inissing in most parishes; 9) many congregations are not provid-
ing professional leadership for their progmms of Christian educa-
tion; 10) therc is a persistent lag in the organizing of the Chr is -
tian co~lgrcgation for a collll,rehensi\re progr;lll1 of Christian educa-
tion. 'I.hesc arc serious indictlllents n.]lich ought to disturb us all.
Nunlcrous sociological studies provide lllountains of evidence
that the church is less than s~lccessful in achieving her announce4
goals. ~ \~no i ig the surveys we might inelltion specifically Gerha rc
Lcilski's study of church cflecti\leness in metropolitan Detroit, hljer
ton Stromnlen's Strrcey of C ~ L L I . C ] I YOU^]^ all(] tllc Johnstone surve!
of t h ~ rflcctiveness df i.ntheran e]elllelltary scllools. Sociologist
nlajnt.ain that \vhercas churchnien assumc that the church has ;
grcat impact on the lives of people, this is often a delusion.
1'ro])l.lctic voices from man!: quarters elucidate the concer l
about the parish church. Ihrl ${cim jvritcs: "The church is l i k
a shil> on whose deck festivities arc still kept up and glorious n l u s i
is heard. \vhil(: c1cc.y helow the waterline a leak has sprung an
IllassCS of water al:c pouring in, so that. vessel is hour1
lon.cr. tho~.~gIl t h ~ 1~1111ps are manlle(] dav night."'
"I t is llard,'' moans Elton ~ r u e b l l o d , "to exaggerate t h e dl
grcc to which thc modcrn churcl~ seems irrevelant to moderll man.'
Djctl.ich Bonhocflcr, the 1,uthcran l11artyrl touc]led a very so!
\\:llcn IIC ~vrot-c with iron):: "TIlc ulls]lot of i t is t h a t n
orlly cll.11)' as Christian is to leave the \\;or]d for all hour or so c
3 Sunnay nlorlling and go to church to be assLlred that lny sins a
1 1 . ' Tliis is \rhat Bonhocffer llleans by lCcheap grace
Arllold Come raws about thc situation: "TIlere has been
dlcolofiical cxcitemcnt about the recaptured vidoll of tile church
the body of CJlrist t h e koilrarria ("fcllowship'~~ of the ~~l~ Spir
lhc llouscllold of God. There have hcfn declarations tf
Parish Rozcwal and Parish Education 19
the church is to rededicate itself as the herald and spearhead of the
coming of Christ's kingdom to all the world. But this vision and
this rededication have scarcely been grasped at all at the level of
the local congregation, and have barely affected denominational pro-
graming in any significant way. In other words, all of the new,
ideal, theological theory has thus far borne little fruit because it
has not effected any significant reformation in the definition and
practice of the working structure of the church's life." V o m e adds:
"Whenever a particular formation of the church's ministerial func-
tion fails any longer to impart to the whole membership a sense of
mission to the world, then that formation lies under the judgment
of God. The time for reformation is at hand.""
Francis Ayres pictures a pastor whose Ladies' Aid decides to
"study the place of the laity in the church." He adds: "The clergy-
man who begins to see the ~ossibilities groans, for he realizes that
what is required is no Inere tinkering with the church's program,
but a revolution in the church's life. Those who have worked for
renewal know something of the cost it will demand."G
Gibson Winter, one of the more violent critics of the parish,
writes: "The introverted church is one which puts its own survival
before its mission, its own identity above its task, its internal con-
cerns before its apostolate, its rituals before its ministry. These
contrasts distinguish the church as a structure and the church as a
living power-its static and dynamic aspects."'
Abbk Georges Michonncau, a French Rornan Catholic parish
priest, is just as critical of the Roman parishes: "What is the worth,
as Christians, of this crowd that we see in church? Do they love
one another? Are they a unified element in the con~munity? Do
they even know one another? Once out of the church, what ideas
will they exchange? What influence 011 one another will they have?
Do they have the idea of belonging to one and the same living
Body? Of being members one of another? Has the ceremony
they have just come away from united their minds and hearts in
one, identical hope and thought? Do they go out with the burning
desire of making Christ fill their lives and of seeing Him reign in
their environment? Did they come to fulfill an obligation for their
own salvation, or did they come to strengthen and feed a life which
they want to spread? What kind of an example are they going to
be to the great mass of indifferent souls among whom they live?
Will they be a family recognized for its charity, loyalty, faith in
Christ, confidence, joy, courage under hardships?-Or will they be
pretty much like everyone else around them, except for a weekly
habit peculiar to them? When others look at this band of the faith-
ful, will they have a mind to become Christian?"'
Tom Allan, in Scotland, suggests that the problem exists in
Glasgow, also: "The embourgeoisement of the churches has gone
SO far that, except in certain vital and progressive ventures and
among the Pentecostals or the Salvation Army, the proletariat have
deserted the churches, or else by staying in the churches they have
deserted their class."
James Smart, a powerful advocate of renewal through educa-
tion, writes: "Here we touch one of thc inost acute problems of Our
American Christianity-that such high percentage of those who call
themselves Christians are inembcrs of an audience or of an organi-
zation but not disciples, not students of the faith in training for
some kind of definite service. But before we criticize them too
severely for this, we should recognize that they are the direct prod-
uct of a ministry that concentrates on preaching and organizing
and leaves teaching to someone else. And most likely the preach-
ing they have heard has not even lliade thein aware that a Chris--
tian needs not only to hear the Gospel and respond in faith and
obedience but also to embark on a course of study through which
alone he can find his true growth in faith and knowledg and Power
for action. It is clear, then, that preaching which is divorced f r o m
teaching i~iisreprescilts the claim that Jesus Christ niakes upon the
person who responds to Him and rvho desires to enter into fellow-
ship with Him. . . . But in the Gospels, Jesus says that to b e In
comniunion with IIin, is to be a disciple, abiding in His word7 and
wit11 His word of truth, and with His word of truth abiding i n us,
liberating us from our ignorance and blindness, and from all that
incapacitates us fro111 His service. Holv call thcrc be communion
\{'it11 J ~ S I I S Christ if thcrc is no tliougl~t, no intention, of en te r ing
Ilpon a life of ~ l i s c i ~ l ~ ~ l l i ~ ? " ~ ~ '
Robert Long, editor of ;I book of essays entitled Rmeluing *he
Cosgregatio~z, po~nts up the problem: ". . . critics argue tha t the
present collgregatioilnl structure developed in a society where the
~il laoc '1 ;lnd the countryside \\-ere tllc typical setting for human
acti\.lty and that i t is unsuitable for mass urban society. In a
lllobile. urhanilrcl society d e c i ~ i o ~ - ~ ~ k i n ~ rls~~ally takes place in a
~ 'a r i e t~ . of communities which are far rcnloved froni the place of
residence. TIlc rcsidcntial parish is tllerefore considered incapab le
of cscrtillp significant influence in the realm. TOO often7
it is tleclarccl, co~lgr~gatio~inl autoiiomr is so interpreted t h a t no
mcanjngrul cct~mcnical or coopcratire lilillistrv can I>e developed at
gras5 roots. Otllcrs point o t~ t that the stiocture of the c o n g e -
gation $() ini.ol\cd the laity i l l building up the institution that
thcrc is no time or il~tcrcst for carrying on God's Illinistry in the
structurcc of socict! ." 11
\\'all;lcc Fisher , rcnon net1 Lu thcl-an author of Frorrl Traditiolz
. ~ l i s s i ( ~ ~ l . and pastor of a large "dol~ager" congregation of the
1 ~ltheran Chulcl) in Alrlcrica in JLallc;lster, Pcllllsy~rania, writes:
"-1.h~ critics )laic a legitinlate tnrgct in the twentieth c e n t u r y
~ ~ ~ u r c l l * ;lnd \olll~' Of tlrclr shots hit dred center. TIle \TTord of the
is lnutcd ill nrany corners of the cllurc~l bv *'success"-or-ented
b()ar(l'. t iou~ 1)astors, and org3nil;ltion-nlil& ecclesi-
astics Clcar-cllt coll~~iction on tile nature and purpose of the
"lurch 'las clllcr~e(l fronl the paris]lcs theological centers. T~~
Parislt Renezval and Parish E(1ucation 2 1
oftcn thc blind are leading thc blind, the blancl are counseling thc
bland, and 'perplexed' clcrgy are following perplexed parishioners.
There is talk about 'hlission' in the institutional centers of the church,
but the evidences of a nlissionary church are spotty. Responsible
churchmen, pastors and parishioners alike, know that. Conse-
quently, some are facing up to reality, accepting the dcmands ancl
promises of Christ, and participating in God's mission to save this
world."
J . C. Hockendyk reflects a Nethcrlands viewpoint on the mat-
ter: "To put i t bluntly, the call to evangelism is often little else
than a call to restore 'Christendom,' the Corpus Christiannnz, as a
solid, well-integrated cultural conlplcx, directed and donlinatcd by
the church. And the sense of urgency is often nothing but a
nervous feeling of insecurity, with the established church cndan-
gered; a flurried activity to save the remnants of a timc now irre-
vocably lost." l 3
We could add dozens of other voices to our catalogus testi-
moniorum. Let the last one, however, be a Missouri Synod voice.
Richard Sonln~erfeld, church sociologist of our Senior College in
Fort Wayne, writes in The Church of the 22st Century: "Many
Protestants conceivc of thc greatest potential clangcr to the church
as lying outside the church. For them it lies in the order of our
society, in the claims and actions of world colnmunism, or in what
thcy feel are thc grand designs of Roman Catholicism for the world.
But the greatest danger to the church in America lics in nzany of
the church nze~nbers themselves. It lies in n~c~nbcrs thinking of
their membership as socially special rather than spiritually unique.
I t lies in people refusing. to confront the Gospel while living what
they are certain are religious lives. It lies in congregations charac-
terized by social activities, in and out of the church building, but
always with a veneer of religion, rather than by personal priests
before God whose life is distinguished by a unicluc rclationship that
God has grantcd them. Congregations today give evidence of be-
ing busier than ever, but busyilcss is not necessarily an indication
of spiritual life and work in Christ."'"
B. The Need for Renezval
Certainly, the church needs to gird up its loins in the face of
external danger. The prevailing philosophics which are shaping
the nlinds of men today are either logical positivism in onc of its
forms, or existentialism. These two philosol>hical trends are re-
ferred to as "The Logicians" and "The Lotus Eaters." On the one
hand we have a rejection of anything which cannot bc lneasured
by man's sense experiences. This leaves thc teaching of the church
in the same category as Santa Claus and the Easter Rabbit. It
makes all of our witness about God, inspiration, miracles, soul, spirit,
virgin birth, deity of Christ and eternal life into what thc linguistic
anaIysts call "non-sense." On the other hand, existentialism re-
jects any objective reality and claims that man must deElne him-
self as he goes along. Existence precedes essence. Revealed knowl-
edge and absolutes arc unacceptable. I t considers only that life as
authentic which accepts responsibility for its own choices and re- jects al] external pressures on what a man ought to do. At best i t
offers a life which makes a leap and has the "courage to be7', and
at the worst it sees all of life as absurd and nauseous. The doc-
trine of the church of Christ is, indeed, under severe attack. All
of the forces of secularism, materialism, scientisnl, humanism, be4
haviorism and depersonalization of the mass society face the minis-
try of the church today. Once the world listened on its knees
when the church whispered. Today she shouts herself hoarse in
the marketplace of ideas and is ignored. Yet, these are not t he
causes for needed renewal. I t is that the church herself loses her
way. We can expect and endure the enmity of the world, Yes, t he
very gates of hell. But we are in trouble if we do not under4
stand and implement the nature, function and mission of t h e
church. Then impending demise awaits us.
C . Three Strategies
In the face of the need for renewal, three basic strategies are
offered to the church:
I . Keep "nagging" the laity to "be the church."
2 . Abandon the parish and turn to "para-pari~h" a ~ n c i e s .
3 . Do something to renew the parish.
First, some suggest that wc keep hammering away a t the laity
to Lk' the church. Concerned laity are confused by this approach
and others are deaf to it. One young man put his finger on the
problem n1hen he observed, ('The trouble with our church is that
they stir us up to do something but never give us anything definite
to do." A solution was suggested by n Lutheran lady who wrote:
"Man)- people will he happy to participate actively in church life
if they knorv \\,hat they're getting into and for how long they'll be
expected to serve." It sounds practical, but it has disturbing over-
tones. jVhat does she consider "church life?" And what can she
be thinking of when she views participation as something tha t has
a "how long" clause attached to it?
We can deceive ourselves by living with slogans in this mat-
ter. Trueblood offers a couple:' "A church is not something to
which ).OU go. It is something in kvhicll you are in."15 "TO be an
cffectivc Christian, it is not enouqh to be an illdividual believer.""
A clever pastor, at the end oT his service order bulletin, added :
"End of \lT~r~hip-Beginning of Service."
- -
Trueblood does come up with a wise conclusion: TO accept
the lay ministry in a mild form is as harmful as rejection of the
lay ministry. To tell them to "support" the church or "help" the
pastor is a trivial conception. The pastoral ministry is to s u p p o r t
the general ministry. Most pathetic of all is the attempt to prW
vide a nlinistry for the laity by allowing them to lead some po r t i on
Ptlrish Renewal and Parish Education
- -- . - --
2 3
of the public worship. Few are able to do it. Moreover, it leaves
a wrong impression. It is not amateur preachers and worship lead-
ers that are needed, but full-time Christians working at their voca-
tion where they are.
Hendrik Kraemer notes that "there is going on a constant prod-
ding of the laity out of their passivity and spectator attitudes."
Romanists, such as Congar and Michonneau of France, are
hard put to say more than that the roles of the laity are "collabora-
tive" with the clergy. They're still stuck with a church defined in
terms of the hierarchy.
The evident lack of results after more than twenty years of
emphasis has led Inany to take position two-let the yarish perish
--and replace it with other forms of ministry.
Here we come to the radical young turks. They write inter-
estingly. Gibson Winter in his New Creati0t.t in hlIetro~~olis a
chief proponent of the "replace the parish" view. He predicts that
new forms of ministry will not be auxiliaries of the residential par-
ish churches. Instead, these para-parish structures will become the
normative form of the church in our emerging megalopolitan soci-
ety. In his opinion, the local church is utterly incapable of sustain-
ing a ministry of Christian conlmunity within the structures of
government, conlmunity planning, and public administration, all of
which he considers crucial areas for the church's witness.
Gordon Cosby, pastor of small but world-famous Church of
the Savior in Washington, D. C., reports his despairing conclusions
about the local church. "The present institutional structures of the
church must give way to new stnlctures that will be the church on
mission. . . . I an1 convinced that the institutional structures are
not renewable. . . . \Vhen the structures get as rigid and resistant
to change as they are now, perhaps the wisest strategy is not to try
to renew them. It may be wiser strategy to bypass them and let
God do with thein what He \vill.""
\Vc could quote more such prophets of doom, but the point is
clear. They tell us that parishes such as are represented in this
convention are fighting ' a rearguard action in a lost battle. It is
only a matter of time. The "action" is no longer in the parish.
It's too late. We've nlissed the boat. Or, God has decided to move
beyond the parish.
You can imagine that we at Concordia Seminary in Springfield
have been watching this movement closely. Our major rnison d'trc
is still to provide leaders for the parish ministry.
With what do the radicals propose to replace the church in
its parish form? By and large they propose the development of the
"evangelical academies.'' A nun~ber of thesc exist today. One
operates in Parishfield, near Detroit, Austin, Texas, has its Faith
and Life Comlnunity connected with the university campus. In
Italy it is the Agapd. In Greece it is Zod. In Gern~any it is Bad
Boll. Essentially these are schools and disciplined com~n~lnities rvhicll
seek to train Christians for vocational evangelism.
Over the exposition of the third positiozz regarcling parish re-
newal we place x phrase from David Ernsberger: ". . . the local
parish must be the major locus for lay renewal. . . . " IS
Howard Grinlcs in The Rebirth o f the Laity takes the trouble
to lxopose programs of parish r ~ l c ~ ~ a l , so he fits uilder this position.
David Schuller in Emerging Shapes of the Church still sees
possibilities in the renewal of the if for ilo other reason
than because the parish "is there."
Martin hlarty is an eloqilent spokesman for the renewal of the
parish rather than its necessary delnise before it achieves relevance-
God can still breathe life into its dead bones, he argues in his Death
and Birth. of n Pnrish.
Phre Michonneau states: "Ho\vever forceful or generous Or
ingenious may be specialized nlethods, it will always be the parish
which rcprcscnts the main strength of the attack. Like the infan-
try, it will be beatell if it fails to use new arnlaments and tactics,
hut it remains the indispensable means of holding any point of
attack."
\\'allarc Fisher, n Lutheran parish pastor, speaks loudly for
renewing thr parish: "The Alllericnn parish, poised ge~geogmphical17
for witness and dear to the hearts of nlaily people, can bc an effec-
tive instrui~~cnt for exercising Christ's ministry. I t is evident tha t
the ~~nronvcrtcd ch~lrcll fvi]] perish as a finite center in a perishing
culturc, but the judgment that its delllisc has taken place is Prema-
ture. 'The church could llnvc perished in the 16th c e n t ~ ~ r y ; i t d i d
]lot L~ccnusc of inner rcnc\\7nl and orlter reforln. Parish reilewal is
possible at mid-tnc~lticth rrntllry. The pious platitudes
can hc transformctl into flaming truth. Its stained glass att i tudes
can bc transformed into fcrvcnt love for &dys creation. The per-
so~lnel ;~rld mi~cllincr~ to csccule (;ad's mission are no\\- a t hand.
"Byl>asing thc parish is l,nrea]istic; illstitutional forins are
jncsc*apablc. Tllc llumnn disposition to oversl>iritualize is as un-
hihlical: and thcrcforc ;is hunk'ul, 3s tile dispositiorl to be prroccu-
i>ic(l \~.ith institlltiollnl fonns. committed, knowlctlgenblc, sensi-
li\'c clcrgv and iaitv ;11-c at a c r k in their disciplinillg them-
rcarhinr: into thc rcs~~lrces of Ulord, to the
I ~ i l ~ l i ~ ~ l l inl;ic~ of roinistr). confidcot that tflr Flo)v Spirit alill t rans-
fc)rnl tllcir. l,;lrisl1cs." '"
j l f l r still more of Fisher: "The imp:jssc. bct\veell t]leology and
;\cti\'ism in the i\mcrican parish can be hl-oken. The unconverted
I ' - 1 1 of h11111311 l > i ~ t ~ , bihliCiSIll, thcolog!cal a i \ ~ ~ t & ,
~lncriticnl dc\o~ion 10 311 institutioIl~ nllrl parisll actlvitics-con-
frnnte~l lllc \\'()r(l in lllllltiple persona] re]ntionsllips, can be t r a n s -
forlllcd 1 1 spirit into a dvnaIllic cornmunit\: of p e r s o n s
'"'o ''lnp]o\ kllcoloe) ;IS a tool in fa;hiunilrg tIlc chur&ll's effective
miniqtr!.. dpn;~~nic t h c o ~ o ~ ~ ill i,nrisll renc,val; correct or
\Latic thcbolog\. stifles
l'al-ish I