# LCMS Convention Workbook_St. Louis Missouri_2004_S78 # Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration) 78 SYNODICAL REPORTS the Free Evangelical Lutheran Synod in South Africa, serves as ed- itor of ILC News. The ILC meets in conference every two years. It met most re- cently in August of 2003, in Foz do Iguacu, Brazil under the theme “Ministering to the Pastor’s Family.” On March 31—April 4, 2004, the ILC, under the direction of its “Seminary” Relations Commit- tee, is sponsoring a world conference of representatives from ILC churches responsible for training pastors in Erfurt, Germany. The theme of this conference is “Luther and the Work of the Pastor.” The next Conference of the ILC will be held in Berlin, Germany August 27—September 3, 2005, under the theme “What Does It Mean to be Confessional?” 2. Christian Evangelical Lutheran Church of Bolivia In March 2003, Brother Mario Delgado, President of the Chris- tian Evangelical Lutheran Church of Bolivia (CELCB), wrote a let- ter to LCMS President Kieschnick, expressing the desire of his church body to enter into church fellowship with The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod. In response to this request, President Kieschnick and Dr. Nafzger met with representatives from the CELCB in Cochabamba, Bolivia, August 31-September 2, 2003. A second meeting scheduled for March 2-4 had to be cancelled because of the inability of the representatives from the CELCB to obtain visas to enter the U.S.A. The CELCB came into being as a result of the work of the Lutheran Mission of Norway. It became a legally recognized orga- nization in 1997. Today it is a church body of about 1,500 baptized members in 30 congregations. It has 10 pastors and 20 workers (evangelists and deacons). The CELCB was received as a member of the International Lutheran Council in 2001 and shortly thereafter entered into altar and pulpit fellowship with the IELB in Brazil, a sister church of the LCMS. 3. Evangelical Lutheran Church in Kenya The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Kenya (ELCK) traces its origin to 1948 when a representative of a Swedish Mission Society came to Kenya. Three other mission societies were also involved in the early history and formation of the ELCK, together with the World Mission Prayer League from the U.S.A. The most recent statistics show that the ELCK has a member- ship of approximately 70,000 members. It has 110 pastors and 185 evangelists who serve a non-sacramental ministry under the super- vision of pastors in 440 congregations. Initial contacts between representatives of the LCMS and the ELCK took place in April 2000. These contacts were renewed in January 2003. In July 2003, Bishop Walter Obare, Bishop of the ELCK, wrote a letter to LCMS President Kieschnick indicating the desire of the ELCK to enter into church fellowship with the LCMS. Doctrinal discussions between the ELCK and the LCMS have taken place in two meetings. The first meeting was held in Nairobi, Kenya on November 26, 2003. Representing the LCMS in this meeting were Rev. Daniel Preus, First Vice President of the LCMS, Rev. Ken Greinke, Acting Africa Area Director, and Vicar Scott Yakimow. A second meeting was held in St. Louis on January 27-28, 2004. Representing the LCMS in this second round of dis- cussions were President Gerald Kieschnick, Vice President Daniel Preus, Dr. Samuel Nafzger, CTCR, Drs. Robert Roegner and Daniel Mattson, Board for Mission Services, and Dr. David Scaer, Professor of Theology at Concordia Theological Seminary, Ft. Wayne, Indiana. The President of the Synod, Dr. Kieschnick, forwarded to the Commission the report from these discussions which concluded that doctrinal agreement exists between the LCMS and the ELCK, together with his recommendation that the Synod enter into church fellowship with the ELCK. The Commission on Theology at its February 2004 meeting unanimously recommended that the LCMS 2004 Convention Workbook declare itself to be in altar and pulpit fellowship with the Evangel- ical Lutheran Church in Kenya. Overture 3-01 from the Commis- sion recommends that the Synod at its 2004 convention formally declare altar and pulpit fellowship with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Kenya. 4. Evangelical Lutheran Church in America When the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America came into existence on January 1, 1988,-as the result of a merger of the Amer- ican Lutheran Church, the Association of Evangelical Lutheran Churches, and the Lutheran Church in America, the Committee for Lutheran Cooperation (CLC) was organized. Composed of six rep- resentatives from each church body, the CLC meets twice each year. In keeping with the purpose established for it, the CLC dis- cusses relationships between the ELCA and the LCMS, and it re- views and monitors cooperative endeavors carried out by the two church bodies. Such cooperative endeavors include separately in- corporated inter-Lutheran agencies.such as Lutheran World Relief, Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services, Lutheran Resources Commission, Lutheran Education Conference of North America, and Lutheran Film Associates. Presently serving as representatives to the CLC are the following: LCMS—Dr. Gerald Kieschnick, Rev. Daniel Preus, Dr. William Hoesman, Dr. Raymond Hartwig, Dr. Thomas Kuchta, and Dr. Samuel Nafzger,; ELCA—Bishop Mark Hanson, Dr. Lowell Almen, Mr. Carlos Pefia, Dr. Charles Miller, Dr. Randall Lee, and the chair of the ELCA Conference of Bishops, Dr. E. Roy Riley. In 2001 the LCMS adopted Resolution 3-21A which, affirming that “we cannot consider them [the ELCA] to be an orthodox Lutheran Church body,” asked that “current cooperative pastoral working arrangements with the ELCA be evaluated by the [LCMS] Praesidium with results and recommendations [to be] reported to the next Synodical convention.” In order to discuss relationships between the LCMS and the ELCA, a discussion panel was set up by President Kieschnick and Bishop Hanson. The first in a series of two dialogues was held on November 11, 2003, in Baltimore and the second will be in St. Louis on April 15, 2004. (See Report of the President of the Synod.) In view of recent developments in the Episcopal Church USA (with which the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America [ELCA] is in full communion), the Commission adopted at its September 2003 meeting a resolution supporting the witness of the President of the Synod regarding this matter. Resolved, That the following statement be adopted by the Com- mission: Wuereas, The Episcopal Church USA (ECUSA) has authorized the consecration of an openly homosexual clergyman as Bishop of the Dio- cese of New Hampshire; and Wuerzas, The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and the ECUSA are in full communion with each other and their bish- ops participate in the consecration of each other’s bishops; and WHEREAS, The Bishop of the New England Synod of the ELCA has expressed her intention to participate in the consecration of the Bishop of the Diocese of New Hampshire; and WuereEas, The ECUSA has approved the blessing of same-sex unions and the ELCA has established a timeline in which to make a de- cision regarding the same; and WHEREAS, Theologians, clergy and laypersons of the ELCA and the Anglican communion have themselves expressed vigorous dissent from these decisions (e.g., a statement altributed to Peter Akinola of Nigeria, Archbishop of the world’s largest Anglican church body, declaring this bishop’s election to be a “Satanic attack on God’s church”); therefore be it Resolved, That the CTCR commend the President of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod for addressing this issue in his remarks to the ELCA Assembly on August 13, 2003, noting that the ECUSA decision regarding same-sex relationships “constitutes a momentous break from the Christian Church’s 2000 year long understanding of what the Holy Scrip- tures teach about homosexual behavior as contrary to God’s will and the biblical qualifications for holding the pastoral office”; and be it further