Missionaries and Guardians view role differently

By David S. Luecke

The two sides in the expanding conflict in our church body can be viewed as guardians and missionaries. 

To be one does not have to mean you are against the other, although the conflict seems to be driving the two apart.  Leaders can be guardians and have great interest in missions, and to describe other leaders as missionaries does not mean they have abrogated guardianship of Scriptural truths. 

But the instincts seem to be different, especially in the attitude that dominates their reaction to risk taking.  Guardians tend to avoid risk, and they are inclined to rely on historic formulations and practices when confronted with ambiguity.  Missionaries tend to accept the risks of stretching traditional understanding for the sake of greater effectiveness.

One reaction to my previous article on this theme pointed out that guardians, too, can be courageous when they take the personal risks of calling the church to be more traditional.  Indeed, change brings resistance and danger whatever direction is advocated.

Whose Church?

But the major risk at issue is to Christ’s church, not just to individuals.  Guardians want to protect the church.  Missionaries want to expand the church.  The church should be the object of concern, not our personal welfare.

But this is not our church we are talking about; it is the church of the Mighty God who calls, gathers, enlightens and sanctifies it.  An occupational hazard of ministers is to think that we have to gather, enlighten, sanctify—and protect—the corner of the church where we minister. 

God’s church worldwide has thousands of church bodies and millions of congregations.  The Holy Spirit is capable of carrying out the Father’s work just fine without or around any one church body.  If the LCMS self destructs or potentially handicaps itself with specific changes, God will continue to provide for Christ’s body—through the Missouri Synod or otherwise if necessary.  Who do we think we are?

Who we think we are determines what we see to be our leadership function.  Missionaries tend to think of themselves as assistants called by God to bring his kingdom forth in new ways and places.  Guardians tend to think of themselves as protectors delegated by God to preserve the kingdom as it already exists.

Guardians tend to rely on rules and confrontations.  Missionaries tend to rely on Spirit motivation and challenges.

Treasure in Clay Pots

The Apostle Paul offers a helpful distinction.  He describes a treasure in clay pots.  The treasure is clearly the Gospel conveyed through the power of God’s word.  The clay jars are the various expressions of Christ’s church through human efforts and institutions.

A natural tendency is to focus on the jars, which are inevitably fragile because they are made up of Christians who remain sinful.  The current conflict in our church body is about the jar.  But we are called to focus on the treasure.

Paul explains why God puts the treasure in fallible jars.  It is so that God can show that the treasure’s all surpassing power comes from him and not from us.

Do we in the LCMS really believe that?  Some in-depth discussion of church pottery would be very helpful in the two years before the next convention.