As for me, I missed the touch of the shepherd's staff. To this day I have never entirely escaped a tinge of homesickness for the parish ministry - the regular preaching of the Word to one's own flock, the instruction of young and old, the bedside ministry to the sick and dying, teaching the adult Bible class, and working with teachers and Sunday school teachers. Now I was caught up in the swirl of executive and administrative tasks - a continuous successions of meetings, conferences, consultations, appointments, innumerable trips, and an endless flow of correspondence. The whole course of my life was changed. I do not intend this as a complaint. I realise if the church is to function, someone must hold executive office. God evidently wanted me to serve Him in that way.
John W. Behnken, President of the Missouri Synod 1935-1962
This I Recall, CPH 1964
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3 comments:
Ah...at Salam Fellowship, I have to do the pastoring and the executive stuff...as you know, the church has a very low budget for missions...in my case, I have to raise the funds...you should something about this President!!
Ah...at Salam Fellowship, I have to do the pastoring and the executive stuff...as you know, the church has a very low budget for missions...in my case, I have to raise the funds too...you should do something about this President!!
1935-1962 the Missouri Synod was drifting away from its moorings. The Synodical Conference unraveled on Behnken's watch. Whatever other things you might be able to say about President Behnken, he wasn't the man who could stop the mainstreaming of Missouri. However, I would like to know more about how he interpreted the drift and how he responded to it. Was he able to see the drift as in any way responsible for the loss of the Synodical Conference? After the 70s and Seminex, we can look back and see the drift like a freight train running through the church, but back then Missouri was in deep denial. Was President Behnken in denial as well? Or was he specially sighted and just uniquely ineffective?
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