Reimagining the teaching of ecclesiology in youth confirmation classes of the Lutheran Church -Missouri Synod in light of the mission affirmations of Martin Luther Kretzmann

This dissertation explores the reimagining of the teaching of ecclesiology in youth Confirmation classes in The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod (LCMS) in light of the Mission Affirmations of Martin Luther Kretzmann. The first chapter includes an overview of ecclesiology in the western Church, with special attention to Lutheran emphases. The second chapter consists of a short description of the resurgence of the Mission Affirmations and an examination of their theological basis as described by Martin Luther Kretzmann. The third chapter is an overview of the hermeneutics of the Mission Affirmations, including an examination of the articulated premises of each affirmation and an investigation of the biblical texts cited as supporting these premises. The fourth chapter is a description of each of the resolutions of the Mission Affirmations. The fifth chapter is devoted to the examination of the curriculum of the Church through the tens of Maria Harris\u27 work, Fashion Me a People, as a means of determining the curricular tasks with respect to education in the Church. This includes her argument that the curriculum of the Church is one of koinonia, leiturgia, kerygma, didache and diakonia. The final chapter includes a brief description of Confirmation in the LCMS. It also entails a convergence of Harris\u27 and Kretzmann\u27s approaches to ecclesiology as the work of community, prayer, witnessing and service. Each of these is applied to the reimagining of the teaching of ecclesiology in youth Confirmation classes with the support of other theologians and religious educators so that Confirmation students in the LCMS will be both educated by and educated toward koinonia, leiturgia, martyria (including kerygma and didache) and diakonia for the sake of doxology