A well written analysis of the Issues, etc. debacle

Pastor Dave Peterson (with whom I attended seminary and current pastor of the church in Ft. Wayne where I did my fieldwork) wrote an insightful analysis of the Issues issue. I particularly appreciate how he gives us a peek into the future of the mission of the synod's members.

Thomas Friedman's book, The World is Flat, describes how the days of giant all-inclusive companies, countries and economies is spreading out worldwide because of better information sharing and transportation technologies. The same is happening to missions. Before, mission work was the field of large corporate church bodies. Now it is the lighter, faster, more efficient, independent mission organizations, like the Lutheran Heritage Foundation, are doing the best mission work out there.

There may come a day when the Synod simply spins down into a loose association of congregations that largely ignore the central governing body. A shame for such an end to a synod with a strong and glorious history, but if the case, so be it. The will of God will not be shackled by human organizations. The Holy Spirit moves freely through the world.

Now Pr. Peterson's remarks:

The LC-MS radio station, KFUO, in St. Louis canceled the popular and successful program Issues, Etc hosted by Rev. Todd Wilken and produced by Jeff Schwarz a week ago today. (You can read this all over the blogosphere, but http://weedon.blogspot.com/ seems to have the most comprehensive coverage.) No public explanation has been given and it has been reported that no explanation was given to those fired either. Issues, Etc. was a powerful force for good in our synod an did much to further the Gospel. Whatever the intentions of KFUO were in canceling the program they have effectually reduced the amount of Gospel preaching and outreach in the world. There is less Gospel preaching and outreach today then there was a week ago because of this decision and action. They have also caused a good deal of hardship on the families of Rev. Wilken and Mr. Schwarz.

President Kieschnick's administration will go down in history as the administration that also cut down on foreign missions while expanding the Synodical budget and personnel at the "International" Center. Regarding Issues, Etc President Kieschnick has released a statement claiming that while he was present for the canceling of the program and did nothing to save the program or find jobs and benefits for Wilken and Schwarz, it was not done at his prompting. That is probably equally true of the foreign mission work we no longer do. He didn't issue the orders. He just watched while it happened.

It would seem the President Kieschnick has found himself helpless in these situations, the poor pawn of economic and demographic forces beyond his reach, things with which his leadership simply cannot cope. I am sorry for that. But it would seem that expansion of other programs and budgets, of filling KFUO with new programming, has been most unwise in a day and age when we cannot sustain or do well what we already have. Alas, we do not know all the factors that lead to these decisions. The synod has a secrecy clause so we're not allowed to know. Thus are we required in all cases to attempt to put the best construction on these things. Knowing what we do, the best construction I can imagine is that President Kieschnick and his administration have had the purest of motives throughout but lacked the wisdom and leadership abilities to make the best decisions resulting in less Gospel preaching and outreach than would have been possible. It would seem then that President Kieschnick is simply not up to the job, despite his pure heart and perfect desires. This is not sinful on his part. It is simply the fact of being fallible. Not everyone has the skills and abilities to lead the LCMS in its current situation. I certainly don't. It would seem that he doesn't either.

Fortunately, as President Kieshnick has so frequently preached, we live in freedom in the LCMS. We do not have to rely solely upon the synod to do these things for us. We do not need his permission or budget to preach the Gospel or reach out to the lost. In fact, no one want us to reach out more than President Kieschnick does despite his many unhelpful decisions. Thus we see many excellent organizations that have arisen to avoid the bureaucratic inefficiency and financial woes of the synod. Off the top of my head I can think of Higher Things for youth work, the Lutheran Heritage Foundation for mission work and literature, Good News Magazine for outreach home and abroad, and Concordia Theological Seminary's work in Russia, Lithuania, Latvia, Madagascar, Kenya, and South Africa. All those organizations are committed to the Gospel of Jesus Christ as contained and expressed in the Book of Concord. They are excellent organizations and will make good use of your funds. As the synod seems to be collapsing (how else can we put the best construction on the demise of Issues, Etc?) these organizations have been expanding, reaching and serving more and more people everyday. So if President Kieschnik has the sad duty of captaining the Titanic and sitting by helplessly, at least he can take comfort in the reality that the Holy Spirit is alive and well and the Gospel still works, whether it is officially sanctioned or not.

Read the rest of Pr. Peterson's article here.