# LCMS Convention Workbook_St. Louis Missouri_2023_S4
# Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

4

OFFICER, BOARD, AND COMMISSION REPORTS

good and punishing evil; Rom. 13:1–5), etc. For the list of our 101
LCMS partners, friends, and others, see the end of this report.

The Church Relations Team
The President of Synod is the Synod’s Chief Ecumenical Officer and represents the LCMS in its global church relations and its
world leadership of confessional Lutheranism. Within the Office of
the President and on his behalf, the CR director oversees day-today CR operations, planning, dialogues, conferences, and engagements. This position was vacant for two years prior to the calling of
the Rev. Dr. Jonathan Shaw in May 2021. The Rev. Michael Frese
was called to serve as CR deputy director in May 2022.
In addition to the Office of the President CR team, many others play vital roles in advancing confessional Lutheran church fellowship in Christ worldwide. Most important are the 101 global
church bodies themselves, with their presiding presidents and bishops. CR works together with them to support faithful fellowship,
wise oversight, and effective leadership in meeting the challenges
of the Church. LCMS members, congregations, and district presidents provide prayers, offerings, and ministry support coordinated
through CR, and work in their own backyard with the global church
diaspora. The Synod’s Commission on Theology and Church Relations (CTCR) conducts critical reviews and approvals when church
bodies formally request consideration for altar and pulpit fellowship. The LCMS Office of International Mission (OIM) engages
with nations around the world in preaching the Gospel, in conducting missions-based theological education, and in developing missions to become self-governing partner churches of the LCMS. Our
two LCMS seminaries send world-class theologians around the
globe to strengthen church partners and friends in confessional Lutheran theology and receive students for formation as pastors and
church leaders. Finally, the International Lutheran Council (ILC),
approaching its 30th anniversary, promotes confessional Lutheranism around the world through theological education, joint study,
and mutual encouragement.

Some Recent CR Highlights by Region
Europe
In August 2021, President Harrison and Dr. Shaw attended the
joyous consecration of Juhana Pohjola as Bishop of the Evangelical
Lutheran Mission Diocese of Finland (ELMDF), a partner church
of the LCMS. On the same visit in Loimaa, Finland, President Harrison, Dr. Shaw, and Bishop Pohjola met with Baltic confessional
Lutheran leaders to discuss church persecution by the state, pastoral
formation, and the boundaries of church fellowship. Additional dialogue participants included Bishop Thor Henrik With of the Evangelical Lutheran Diocese in Norway (DELSIN), Archbishop Janis
Vanags of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Latvia (LELB), and
Bishop Bengt Ådahl and the Rev. Dr. Rune Imberg of the Mission
Province in Sweden. In a related action, the LCMS provided leadership to help generate and distribute the International Lutheran
Church document signed June 25, 2021, by 50 global religious
leaders, “A Protest and Call for Free Religious Speech in Finland:
An International Lutheran Condemnation of the Unjust Criminal
Prosecution of the Rev. Dr. Pohjola and Dr. Räsänen, and a Call
for All People of Good Will to Support the Freedom of Religious
Expression in Finland.” Bishop Pohjola and Minister of Parliament
Räsänen stand accused of hate crimes for speaking to the church on
divinely ordered human sexuality.
2023 Convention Workbook

In November 2021, Dr. Shaw participated in the LCMS OIMsponsored Missio Dei (Mission of God) Conference in Wittenberg,
Germany. His paper, “One Mission, Two Kingdoms, and Innumerable Uncertainties: Contending with Covid” provided principles
from Holy Scripture and the Lutheran Confessions to address state
challenges to the Church’s conduct of its divine services and ministry. In charting the way forward, the powers of the spiritual and
civil governments must not be mixed. Pastors have no power to
use force in their ministry. Civil officials have no power over the
Church’s preaching, teaching, or sacramental life together.
On Oct. 21, 2022, in Freising, Germany, President Harrison and
his representatives from the LCMS met with Bishop Maschewski
of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Ukraine (ELCU) to further
explore possible altar and pulpit fellowship between the LCMS and
the ELCU. This meeting followed up on an Aug. 3, 2021, LCMS–
ELCU church relations meeting in Prague. Dr. Shaw facilitated the
daylong discussion around four main points: (1) Unity in Christ
(una sancta, mystical union), (2) Unity in Confession (quia subscription), (3) Unity in the Way of Worship (ordo), and (4) Unity in
the Church Working Together (martyria, diakonia, koinonia). The
dialogue demonstrated clearly that President Harrison and Bishop
Maschewski were confessing the same doctrine. Both were happy
to move the process forward for fellowship recognition. Due to
heavy fighting in Ukraine, Bishop Maschewski was unable to meet
with the CTCR in December 2022, but he was able to travel and
attend the CTCR meeting in February 2023.
The Covid pandemic put a hold on the 2021 Old Latin School
(OLS) fundraising tour of Wittenberg, but the extra time enabled
planning for a much more robust tour. From Oct. 21 to Nov. 2,
2022, 28 LCMS laity and pastors participated in a once-in-a-lifetime tour of Lutherland, beautiful Germany, Wittenberg, and the
OLS. President Harrison, Vice-President Scott Murray, OLS Director Rev. Wilhelm Weber, CR staff, and others provided theological
and historical commentary at each stop. We started in the beautiful Bavarian Alps (where the weather was unseasonably warm and
sunny) and continued north into the heart of Lutheran and Reformation cities and sites—Heidelberg, Worms, Marburg, Eisenach,
the Wartburg castle, Erfurt, Eisleben, Leipzig, Nuremberg, and
Wittenberg. In Wittenberg, Rev. Weber gave a tour of the OLS, explained its Gospel mission for locals and visitors, and demonstrated
its hospitality ministry; currently the OLS serves as a safe haven to
Ukrainian refugees where they can live and worship in peace. Tour
travelers generously contributed $53,500 for OLS ministry.

Africa
In May 2022, CR hosted a seven-member delegation from
the Malagasy Lutheran Church (FLM), a conservative Lutheran
church body with over 4.5 million members. Along with the FLM
president, the Rev. Dr. Denis Rakotozafy, the team included the
vice-president/bishop, the general secretary, the treasurer, a second
bishop, a leading medical doctor, and the translator. Through visitations and theological discussions with LCMS leaders at the LCMS
International Center, the CTCR, and the two seminaries, the FLM
delegation became familiar with the LCMS, was heartened to witness a strong confession and fervent love in Christ, and was excited
to move ahead with further dialogue and church body engagements
aiming at possible future church fellowship.
One of the immediate fruits of the FLM visitation was the request from the FLM High Committee, based on a petition from
President Rakotozafy, for the LCMS to send theologians to teach
at their six seminaries and one graduate school of theology. This