# LCMS Convention Workbook_St. Louis Missouri_2019_S74
# Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

74

OFFICER, BOARD, AND COMMISSION REPORTS

Missouri Synod (LCMS) formally joined the ILC at the 1995
Synod Convention with Resolution 3-03A. The LCMS’s involvement with the ILC did not begin in 1993 but goes back
at least 60 years to when President Behnken gathered delegates
from the mission churches of the Missouri Synod and a number
of free churches in the ancient Hanseatic city of Uelzen, Germany, from August 6–10, 1952. These people who met in Uelzen
had just finished attending the second world assembly of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF). For a variety of reasons, the
founders of the proto-ILC did not believe they could join the
Lutheran World Federation in good conscience. This first meeting resulted in a number of free conferences being held and the
creation of the International Lutheran Theological Conference.
In 1975, the International Theological Conference changed its
name to the International Lutheran Conference, and, in 1993,
“Conference” was replaced by “Council.” The ILC’s roots
reach back even into the 19th century, emerging from church
bodies involved in the General Evangelical Lutheran Conference (Allgemeine evangelisch-lutherische Konferenz—AELK) of
1868 and the Synodical Conference. For a more detailed history
of the International Lutheran Council please visit: http://bit
.ly/2t92qRQ.
The ILC, during the 20th century, has graduated from a
group of church bodies that held free conferences together to
an informal organization that held conferences to an organization with a constitution. Each step took place with the desire to
better serve Lutheran church bodies who believed that the Holy
Scriptures are the inerrant, inspired Word of God and who held
firm commitments to the Lutheran Confessions. Since the LCMS’s convention in 2016, the ILC has taken another significant
organizational step. In 2018, the ILC became incorporated as a
non-profit organization to better serve the member church bodies and to better meet the growing needs of Lutheran church
bodies in the 21st century. During this same period, the ILC
increased in membership with 17 new members for a total of
54 members around the world in September 2018. (For more
information, see: http://bit.ly/2GoVW9j.) Most recently, the
East of Lake Victoria Diocese—Evangelical Lutheran Church
of Tanzania (ELVD-ELCT) joined the ILC as an observer. The
significant factor in the ILC’s growth has been the ongoing realignment of world Lutheranism.
The Christian Church over the past two millennia has experienced a number of heresies, as well as a number of schisms.
The first great schism of the Church occurred in AD 1054,
when the Eastern churches under Constantinople and the Western churches under Rome split. The second great schism of the
Church happened at the Reformation in 1517, causing a split
within the Roman Catholic Church that produced not only the
Lutheran Church but the legion of Protestant church bodies in
existence today. The Church in the 21st century may well be on
the third great division, caused by an ethical split over abortion,
euthanasia, and homosexuality. As the mainline Protestant
church bodies and some members of the Lutheran World Federation embrace same-sex marriage and the ordination of practicing homosexual clergy, there is a realignment of churches,
particularly in the Global South. Churches in the Global South,
whose historic partners have embraced unscriptural positions
on various ethical matters are seeking churches that hold to the
traditional, scriptural position of the Christian Church. As part
of this realignment, many Lutheran church bodies—as well as
2019 Convention Workbook

some non-Lutheran church bodies—have approached the ILC.
Although the churches from the North have provided aid and
support to the churches of the Global South for the last couple
of centuries, the day is rapidly approaching when the churches
of the Global South might lend aid by providing pastors and
missionaries to a Western world which has drifted into darkness.
Over the past three years, the ILC has been involved in an
informal dialogue involving the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity (PCPCU), a unit of The Vatican. This informal dialogue has involved discussions between theologians
of both the Lutheran and Roman Catholic traditions. The majority of the ILC-PCPCU’s discussions have taken place in Germany. After discussing a variety of topics, the ILC and PCPCU
are expecting to release a final report in 2019.
In 2019, the ILC began the Lutheran Leadership Development Program (see http://bit.ly/2TCLsHq), which seeks to help
train future Lutheran leaders in theology and in practical skills
such as budgeting and strategic planning. Each cohort will consist of 12 men, and there will be one cohort in each of the next
five years. The Lutheran Leadership Development Program
is done in partnership with Concordia Publishing House and
Concordia Theological Seminary in Fort Wayne. In partnership
with CPH, the ILC also published its first book, Breath of God,
Yet Work of Man (see http://bit.ly/2TE5K3j), in the Lutheran
Leadership Development Program series.
Over the past 25 years, the Lord has greatly blessed the
ILC. The LCMS has played a crucial role, both in the development of and the support of the ILC. The LCMS’s membership in the ILC has been a blessing, and the ILC and its members have been a blessing to the LCMS. Many, but not all, of
the ILC’s members are in altar and pulpit fellowship with the
LCMS. It is important to remember that the ILC is not a communion or fellowship of church bodies but rather an association
of churches which share a desire to strengthen world Lutheranism by holding to the inspired, inerrant Word of God and to the
Book of Concord. The goals of the ILC include (1) to further a
united witness to the Gospel of Jesus Christ and strengthen its
member churches in preaching the Gospel to the entire world;
(2) to further united diaconic action through intentional acts
and programs of mercy in response to human need and suffering; (3) to further theological study and the formation of qualified, orthodox, Lutheran pastors; and (4) to further peace and
unity by mediating member disputes. The ILC is thankful for
the LCMS’s membership, support, and leadership in world Lutheranism and prays for another 25 years of blessings from the
Lord.
Albert B. Collver, General Secretary

R1.4

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