LCMS Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 2023, Page 147

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5. THEOLOGY AND CHURCH RELATIONS
With newly found confessional Lutheran friends from the
CTSFW Russian Project and elsewhere, GELCU reached out to
The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS). By 2016 the
process of seeking to formalize church fellowship with the
LCMS began. At the same time, some of the more liberaloriented members of GELCU left the church and sought
support from the old partners, calling themselves GELCU as
well. To avoid confusion, it became necessary for the church
body to change its name from GELCU to ELCU (dropping the
G, for German). During the years 2015–2017 a new liturgy in
Ukrainian and Russian was developed and approved
(previously there was an Agenda only in German). The
Liturgical Commission continues to work on a new hymnal.
The ELCU was officially established by convention on Sept.
20, 2019, but the new name was not officially recognized by
the Ukrainian state until Feb. 11, 2021. This was due partly to a
slow governmental bureaucracy, the COVID-19 pandemic,
and political machinations surrounding the church’s
severance from the EKD and LWF.
Beginning in 2017, the LCMS Office of International Mission
(OIM) in Eurasia began mission work with this newly
emerging Lutheran church body. Monthly weeklong seminars
on a variety of theological topics were offered to the Ukrainian
clergy by OIM missionary theological educators as well as by
regional partner churches from Europe, Russia, Kazakhstan,
and the Baltic states. An LCMS missionary couple moved to
Odessa as English as a Second Language teachers, especially
for Ukrainian pastors, in order to broaden their access to
important Lutheran literature, which was not available in
Russian or Ukrainian. An LCMS pastor and his family was
called to live and work in Ukraine with the pastors of the
ELCU. Unfortunately, much of this work, as well as plans for
formal discussions pursuing the recognition of church
fellowship with the LCMS, were either stalled or postponed
due to the outbreak of COVID-19 and then by the Russian war
against Ukraine, when all missionaries had to be recalled from
fields in Russia and Ukraine. OIM Eurasia plans to resume this
work as soon as the war ends, and the LCMS can re-enter
Ukraine.

with a CTCR subcommittee charged with evaluating church
relations requests, the CTCR (at its Feb. 16–18, 2023, meeting)
unanimously approved a motion to memorialize the 2023
convention to recognize fellowship with the ELCU in keeping
with Bylaw 3.9.5.2.2 (b):
When a church body applies for formal
recognition of altar and pulpit fellowship with
the Synod, such recognition shall be proposed at
a convention of the Synod only after the
approval of the commission [CTCR].
WHEREAS, The ELCU, in the face of severe trials (including
the Russian-Ukrainian war) and intense opposition and
persecution, has established itself as an independent and selfsupporting church body that is firmly committed to the Holy
Scriptures and the Lutheran Confessions; and
WHEREAS, The ELCU has sought and received support and
assistance from the LCMS over the years through its
participation in the Russian Project of CTSFW and through the
work of OIM in Eurasia, which has helped enable the ELCU to
be and remain committed to theology and practice that is fully
faithful to the Word of God and the Lutheran Confessions; and
WHEREAS, The ELCU accepts all the canonical books of the
sacred Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments as the
inerrant, revealed Word of God; and
WHEREAS, The ELCU accepts without qualification all of
the symbolic books of the Evangelical Lutheran Church,
compiled in the Book of Concord of 1580, as a correct
exposition of the sacred Scriptures; and
WHEREAS, On March 27, 2019, Bishop Serge Maschewski,
on behalf of the ELCU, formally requested altar and pulpit
fellowship with the LCMS; and
WHEREAS, Bylaw 3.9.5.2.2 (b) says, “When a church body
applies for formal recognition of altar and pulpit fellowship
with the Synod, such recognition shall be proposed at a
convention of the Synod only after the approval of the
commission [CTCR]”; and

Despite these challenging circumstances, in October of 2022
various leaders of the LCMS—including President Matthew
Harrison, the Rev. Dr. Jonathan Shaw (Director of Church
Relations—Assistant to the President), and Rev. James
Krikava (then OIM Regional Director for Eurasia)—were able
to meet with Bishop Maschewski in Freising, Germany, for a
second live round of formal discussions regarding church
fellowship with the LCMS. At that time, plans were already in
place for Bishop Maschewski to travel to St. Louis and meet
with the Commission on Theology and Church Relations
(CTCR) to continue those discussions, but ongoing fighting in
the war between Ukraine and Russia prevented him from
traveling. A thorough report on the October discussions,
however, was presented to the CTCR by Dr. Shaw and Rev.
Krikava at the CTCR’s December 2022 meeting.

WHEREAS, In face-to-face discussions with Bishop
Maschewski, the CTCR has examined the official documents,
teachings, and practices of the ELCU and found them to be
faithful to Scripture and the Lutheran Confessions, and has
proposed the recognition of fellowship between the ELCU and
the LCMS; therefore be it

Finally, in February of 2023, Bishop Maschewski was able to
travel to St. Louis to meet with the CTCR, together with an
ELCU lay leader (Mr. Alex Gerzhik). Following a presentation
by Bishop Maschewski to the CTCR, and extensive discussion

Resolved, That we give thanks to God that doctrinal
discussions between official representatives of the LCMS and
the ELCU have resulted in recognition of complete concord
and agreement; and be it further

Resolutions

Resolved, That we acknowledge with gratitude the unity
of confession that has been given to our churches under the
guidance of the Holy Spirit; and be it further
Resolved, That we give thanks that despite serious
challenges, obstacles, and opposition, God, by His grace, has
equipped, preserved, and strengthened the ELCU to give a
faithful, confessional Lutheran witness in Ukraine and
beyond; and be it further

PROCEEDINGS OF THE 2023 (68TH) LCMS CONVENTION | 147