LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 2023, Page 6

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6

OFFICER, BOARD, AND COMMISSION REPORTS

know the church better for church relations. May God bless this
confessional Lutheran church body.
Regarding the Japan Lutheran Church (JLC) and the 2023 Synod
convention consideration of the dissolution of fellowship with the
JLC, please review the CTCR Convention Report (Report R14).
Significantly, on Sept. 16, 2022, in Kisumu, Kenya, Rev. Tatsuomi
Yoshida, president of Japan Lutheran Church (JLC or NRK), met
with Dr. Shaw, LCMS CR director. Dr. Shaw arranged the meeting,
seeking a possible positive way to address church relations with the
JLC in light of the JLC’s Apr. 29, 2021, decision at its 18th General
Convention to ordain women to the pastoral office. Dr. Shaw asked
President Yoshida if there might be a possibility of the JLC limiting its ordination of women—perhaps allowing those currently
ordained to continue serving, but ordaining no more women—or
reassessing its practice of ordaining women, or later ending the
ordination of women. After a period of silent contemplation, President Yoshida responded, “No, this is what we decided and are practicing—women’s ordination—now and for the foreseeable future.”
What a sad, adamant rejection of the Father’s order of creation,
its applicability within the office of the pastoral ministry as established by Christ through His apostles, and the authoritative, Spiritinspired Word of God which establishes male-only ordination to
the pastoral office. The LCMS continues its outreach to invigorate
a confessional Lutheran presence in Japan through its missionaries,
through Pastor Manubu Wakabayashi, and others.
In February 2023, Dr. Shaw attended the 20th Convention of
the General Synod of the Lutheran Church of Australia (LCA) at
the invitation of LCA Bishop Paul Smith. The convention passed a
resolution “to work through various theological, constitutional, and
governance requirements to operate as one church with two different ordination practices … with the expectation of women’s ordination” beginning as early as 2024. The plan would seek a subsequent
two-thirds majority vote at the 2024 convention to change the LCA
Constitution to allow for women’s ordination, although Bishop
Smith allowed that a decision for women’s ordination might be
achievable with a simple majority. The convention also dismissed
the 1875 Galesburg Rule, “Lutheran pulpits and Lutheran altars for
Lutherans only,” citing it as too restrictive. (The LCMS never accepted the rule, judging it to be too loose and accommodating of
those who were “Lutheran” in name only.) The LCMS is working
to sustain confessional Lutheranism in Australia.

South America
The December 2021 ILC Latin America Regional Conference
in Mexico City allowed good LCMS CR coordination with a myriad of South American partners and strengthening of the bonds of
confessional unity. Rev. Geraldo Walmir Schüler, president of our
sister church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Brazil (IELB),
provided important bishop support for Bolivian ordinations (see
next paragraph).
In March 2022, Dr. Shaw accompanied the team of Rev. Ted
Krey (OIM Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean, LAC) for meetings with the Christian Evangelical Lutheran
Church of Bolivia (ICEL). OIM support and 10 years of theological
education have well tilled the theological soil of ICEL. This meeting, scheduled as OIM’s first FORO in Bolivia, allowed time for
CR dialogue with the Rev. Limberth Fernández, ICEL president.
IELB Vice-President Rev. Airton S. Schroeder conducted ICEL ordinations with a quia subscription oath, the ICEL standard. ICEL
has adjusted its constitution and bylaws as a confessional Lutheran
church body. On July 18, 2022, ICEL officially requested the be2023 Convention Workbook

ginning of dialogue with the LCMS aimed at eventual recognition
of altar and pulpit fellowship. Toward that end, an LCMS–ICEL
theological dialogue is planned for April 2023, prior to President
Fernández and other ICEL representatives meeting with the CTCR
in its April 13–15, 2023, meeting.
The June 2022 visit to the 63rd National Convention of the
IELB held at Guarapari, Espírito Santo, Brazil, was momentous.
Rev. Schüler was elected to a second term as president; the convention affirmed historic, Christian teaching on homosexual relations
and the ordination of women; and the IELB and LCMS signed a
working agreement for clergy calls between the two church bodies
in support of our 1980 protocol document. The working agreement
puts pulpit fellowship into action, addresses the ministry needs of
the Portuguese-speaking diaspora in the U.S., and honors calling
authorities and processes in both church bodies. The IELB is the
oldest and largest sister church of the LCMS.
CR looks forward to collaborating with Rev. Krey at the May
2023 OIM symposium for Central and South America church leaders to be held in the Dominican Republic. Current plans include
a Church Relations Day to address protocol agreements, faithful
confession, and emerging needs which flow from church body
relations.

North America
On conversations held with the Evangelical Lutheran Synod
(ELS), the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Church (WELS),
the North American Lutheran Church (NALC), and the Anglican
Church in North America (ACNA), please see the CTCR Convention Report (Report R12). LCMS CR is thankful for the CTCR’s
superb leadership in shepherding these past conversations, with CR
assuming LCMS responsibility in July 2021.
On Nov. 21–22, 2022, Lutheran Church—Canada (LCC) and
LCMS representatives met in Windsor, Ontario, Canada, to discuss the work and scope of the LCMS English and SELC Districts
in Canada. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss improving
mission outreach, especially regarding new ethnic-specific congregations and mission starts, in light of the May 1988 protocol
document between the two church bodies. For more information
see the “LCMS and LCC Joint Statement on Mission and Ministry in Canada” posted on the lcms.org website. In accord with the
“Joint Statement,” both church bodies met Feb. 26–28, 2023, at
Christ Our King Lutheran Church (LCC) in Mississauga, Ontario,
for a Koinonia meeting where the church body presidents, the English and SELC district presidents, the LCC regional leadership, and
all affected pastors met with the “aim to enhance understanding
of perspectives on mission and ministry, and to empower lively
Word and Sacrament ministry in LCC and LCMS congregations
in Canada.”
On Jan. 31, 2023, the Rev. Dr. Cary Larson, presiding pastor of
The American Association of Lutheran Churches (AALC), and the
Rev. Dean Stoner met with Dr. Shaw and Rev. Frese to discuss the
2007 AALC–LCMS protocol document, two operating agreements,
and forums for continued mutual support. In this CR meeting, the
first since Dr. Larson was elected presiding pastor, he expressed
his desire to strengthen our relationship for the sake of the Gospel
of Jesus Christ. How pleasing it is for brothers to dwell together in
unity in Christ!
Jonathan E. Shaw, Director