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You are here: Home / Confessional Renewal Movements / 3.2 Letters to the Editor

3.2 Letters to the Editor

May 28, 2016 by Editorial Council

Dear Editor:

Just a brief note of appreciation for the Let’s Talk (Lent 1998) issue devoted to the important topic of the mission of our Synod and its congregations. It was interesting to get to know the viewpoints of some key members of our Synod Council.

I wish there had been a clearer statement of the meaning of “mission.” Is it defined by our Synod’s new mission statement, adopted by the 1997 Assembly: Proclaim the Gospel, make disciples, do justice—in Jesus’ Name? If so, then I’d expect at least three articles dealing with these three “mission” goals.

What I especially missed in the Let’s Talk issue on mission was an article on doing justice as a Synod and as a congregation of it. Does doing justice mean correct social position and advocacy? What else?

And what does making disciples mean? Dynamic evangelism and membership growth? Or is it a matter of raising the “faith temperature of the people in your parish,” as Bishop Olsen put it?

Finally, what does proclaiming the Gospel mean? How is it related to our Bishop’s emphasis on “faith development?” Was Fr. Bob Cross’s article “Common Ground: We are Sinners” intended as an example of proclaiming the Gospel on the parish level?

These questions are not meant to offend or criticize the issue co-editors. I offer them as evidence that Let’s Talk has encouraged me to think more deeply about “mission” in our Synod.

Richard Kaeske


Dear Editor:

Congratulations on the recent issue of Let’s Talk on “Ecumenism and Us.” I agree the vote against the Concordat may have prompted more discussion about the Confessions than approval might have, but miss attention to what the Confessions actually say on bishops and presbyters. Hope you get something from within Chicagoland on this.

John Reumann
Ministerium of Pennsylvania
Professor Emeritus
Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia

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3.2 Pentecost 1998

In This Issue

Renewal Movements in the United Methodist Church

By W. Richard Stegner

The 9.5 Theses

By Editorial Council

The Reception of the 9.5 Theses: An Exchange of Letters

By Wayne Cowell

The Theses, Confessionalism, Me, and My Congregation

By Frank C. Senn

9.5 Concerns for Confessional Renewal

By Jane Kunzie-Brunner

Are We So Right We Can’t Be Saved?

By John Seraphine

3.2 Letters to the Editor

By Editorial Council