Collection › LCMS Convention Workbook (St. Louis, Missouri) › 2026 · 69th Convention, Phoenix › Page 26

LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 2026, Page 26

Scan: The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod

Transcription machine transcription, uncorrected

OFFICER, BOARD, AND COMMISSION REPORTS

include morning and evening devotions recognizable in Lutheran
homes around the world. On school breaks, children return home to
their families, extended families, or clans and share their faith. As
children graduate from primary school, they receive scholarships to
attend boarding secondary schools, attend an intensive pre-college
Luther academy between secondary school and college, and finally
receive scholarships to colleges and vocational schools, retaining
their tight connection to the program and the spiritual care provided
by the church all the way through to adulthood. The program supports 305 students in secondary schools and colleges. Sponsorships
by LCMS members, congregations, and other entities have enabled
expansion of the program this year to bring more vulnerable children into close proximity to Word and Sacrament ministry so that
they may proclaim with us, Christ is risen, indeed!
Beyond these programs, the OIM Africa region supports ministry to persons with disabilities, Word and Sacrament ministry to
refugee populations, medical costs for church workers, construction of parsonages and seminary buildings, ministry to prisons and
hospitals, and an extension of Christ’s Care for Children to a newly
expanded site in Mwadui, Tanzania. Through all these projects, the
church shows mercy.

E. Asia Region
The preaching of Christ crucified and raised from the dead in the
Asia region began in the late 1800s, when missionaries arrived in
southern India. Over the last 130 years, hundreds of churches have
been planted across southern India, and in September 2024, 100
years of pastoral formation was celebrated at Concordia Theological Seminary in Nagercoil, India. The work that began in the southern tip of India has expanded north, east, and south. The Office of
International Mission – Asia Region now serves the subregions of
East Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia, and Oceania, which inhabits
approximately 4.8 billion people, representing roughly 60 percent
of the global population.
Presently, 21 OIM missionary families and one alliance missionary serve across 20 countries in Asia, and the LCMS gives thanks
to God for the growth, faithfulness, and collaboration of its seven
sister churches (IELC in India, LCHKS in Hong Kong, GLC in
Papua New Guinea, LCP in the Philippines, LCK in South Korea,
CELC in Sri Lanka, and CELC in Taiwan) in the work of spreading
the Gospel, planting Lutheran churches, and showing mercy.

E.1. Spread the Gospel
The prophet Isaiah writes that the Word of God never returns
empty, always accomplishing the purpose for which it was sent
(Isa. 55:11). Across lands where Islamic calls for prayer blare over
megaphones, the sound of monks chanting emanates from Buddhist temples, smoke rises from the offerings burned in small cans
along the streets, and prayers are offered at family altars in homes,
missionaries in Asia trust Isaiah’s Word. Through evangelism,
translation, continuing theological education, music, and Christian
education, missionaries spread the Gospel, knowing that the Lord
is faithful to accomplish His purpose(s) through missionary work.
Since the last Synod convention, Asia region missionaries have
developed and offered sacred music courses and workshops that
strengthened the worship life of local congregations and brought
non-Christians in contact with the Gospel in song through special
concerts and festivals. Sunday School curriculums with associated
crafts have been developed and distributed to sister churches for
use in Christian education programs. Annually, six to eight theolog2026 Convention Workbook

ical conferences are held in numerous countries to support pastoral
ministry so that pastors and their congregations can faithfully minister in their communities and extend the proclamation of Christ
through the planting of churches.

E.2. Plant Lutheran Churches
The LCMS’ mission history in Asia is rich with stories of missionaries arriving in and planting Lutheran churches in countries
where no Lutheran (and few Christian) churches existed. While
most of the current church planting is done by sister church bodies,
OIM Asia is still actively planting churches and looks to expand
that work.
In the next triennium, OIM Asia plans to plant congregations
near where LCMS expats live and work. This includes support for
LCMS members and families teaching at international schools in
East Asia. This also includes planting churches near active U.S.
military bases in Guam and Japan, which not only provides pastoral
care and Word and Sacrament ministry to LCMS members in the
armed forces but also establishes permanent confessional Lutheran
congregations to serve the local community.
Asia region missionaries will continue supporting developing
and sister churches as they plant and sustain Lutheran congregations through pastoral mentoring and theological education. The
Lutheran Church of the Philippines (LCP), the fruit of LCMS mission work, is actively planting churches on the northern islands of
the Philippines while the Tagakaulo Lutheran Church of Christ in
the Philippines (TLCCP) continues planting congregations in Mindanao, even as it matures as a church body. Through pastoral mentorship and formal theological education in seminary formation,
OIM Asia is actively assisting the LCP and the TLCCP extend the
Gospel of Jesus Christ throughout this archipelago with 14 church
plants.
Elsewhere in the region, missionaries are either planting or supporting the planting of congregations in Japan (four church plants),
China (one church plant), Cambodia (27 preaching stations), and
Australia (15 church plants).

E.2.a. Pastoral Formation
The planting of Lutheran churches necessitates the formation of
pastors to preach the Gospel and rightly administer the Sacraments.
OIM Asia supports the pastoral formation in four languages: English, Tamil, Pigeon, and Mandarin.
Concordia Theological Seminary in Nagercoil, India, has 95
seminarians studying English and preparing to serve Tamil-speaking people around southern India. Lutheran Theological Seminary
in Baguio City, Philippines, has 18 students studying to serve as
pastors, deaconesses, and church planters across the Philippines.
In the uplands of Papua New Guinea, several Bible colleges feed
students into Timothy Lutheran Seminary. Presently, 37 students
are studying to serve as Pigeon-speaking pastors across Papua
New Guinea. In September 2025, the China Evangelical Lutheran
Church in Taiwan launched their church worker formation program
with its first cohort of four students to provide church workers for
the Mandarin-speaking world.
In addition to supporting and strengthening these seminary
programs, the Asia region will work to expand opportunities for
pastoral formation. The Lutheran Theological Seminary – Australia
is in development and hopes to have 10 students studying to be
confessional Lutheran pastors and church planters to serve across
the continent of Australia.