Collection › LCMS Convention Workbook (St. Louis, Missouri) › 2026 · 69th Convention, Phoenix › Page 27

LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 2026, Page 27

Scan: The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod

Transcription machine transcription, uncorrected

OFFICER, BOARD, AND COMMISSION REPORTS
To support pastoral formation and church planting, the Asia region has continued translating materials. Since the 2023 convention, volumes from Chemnitz’s Works, The Lutheran Difference,
and Luther’s Small Catechism have been translated into Japanese.
Volumes from Luther’s Works as well as works by David Scaer,
C.F.W. Walther, and William Weedon have been translated into
Mandarin. Several resources, most notably the Baku Ibadah Luther
(Indonesian hymnal), have been translated into Indonesian.

E.2.b. FOROs
To support the planting of Lutheran churches through the
spreading of the Gospel and pastoral formation, the FORO model
of mission support is being established in Asia and will expand.
The first FORO was held in the Philippines in early March to support and strengthen the work of Lutheran Theological Seminary in
Baguio City, which serves the Philippines but also serves as the
pastoral formation for several nations in Asia. The groundwork for
FOROs in Australia and Japan was also laid in early 2026 to support church planting and the formation of church planting pastors in
those respective nations. OIM Asia’s goal is to have six developed
FOROs in the next triennium.

E.3. Show Mercy
Mercy is always connected with the Gospel and flows from congregations where Christ is rightly preached and His Sacraments are
rightly administered. In Taiwan, multiple English Bible camps are
offered to connect the Taiwanese to the local Lutheran congregation. In Cambodia, deaconesses were brought together for a continuing education conference to strengthen their service to the community. Across Asia, where typhoons and other natural disasters
struck, the church came alongside the suffering with the Gospel of
Christ crucified and raised from the dead.
As the Asia region continues to spread the Gospel, plant Lutheran churches, and show mercy in the most populated area on
the planet, the Asia region extends deep gratitude to the Synod’s
prayers, partnership, and ongoing support as well as our mutual
confession of faith that Christ is risen, indeed! Alleluia!

F. Disaster Training and Response
Since January 1, 2023, LCMS Disaster Response has supported
work in 12 countries across three regions (Asia, Latin America, and
Africa), providing $1,082,873 in grants to assist sister churches following natural disasters. These grants primarily supported the rebuilding of Lutheran churches and schools, church worker homes,
and community homes and the provision of food, water, and essential relief supplies after natural disasters.

F.1. Disaster Training
Two major projects in Brazil and Chile exemplify the continued implementation of 2023 Res. 3-04A, which directs the Synod
to continue producing disaster-response training, resources, and
grants. Together with similar work in Asia and Africa, LCMS Disaster Response has strengthened sister churches, provided relief to
suffering communities, and expanded the global Lutheran mercy
presence during times of crisis.

F.2. Disaster Response
Significant work was carried out in Latin America following
two major catastrophes in centers of Lutheranism. In Brazil, historic floods in 2024 severely affected the Rio Grande do Sul region. LCMS Disaster Response funded three major grants totaling

$405,000 to help Igreja Evangélica Luterana do Brasil rebuild
eight churches, reprint essential confessional materials destroyed
in the disaster, and support a nationwide disaster-response training conference attended by more than 200 pastors and laity. These
efforts strengthened the IELB’s capacity to serve more than 2,200
affected Lutheran families, many of whom lost homes, church
buildings, and livelihoods.
In Chile, catastrophic wildfires devastated Viña del Mar, destroying more than 12,000 homes. LCMS Disaster Response supported the Confessional Lutheran Church of Chile with two grants
totaling $310,000. These funds provided construction materials to
rebuild 100 homes, sustained a Lutheran psychologist offering trauma counseling, supported ongoing food distribution (over 30,000
meals given), and funded full-time pastoral care, children’s ministries, and volunteer construction teams from across Latin America. The project demonstrated a strong Lutheran mercy witness and
served more than 8,000 people through preaching, teaching, and
spiritual care.

G. Ministry to the Armed Forces
In a world that often feels shrouded in darkness—where cultural winds howl and threats to religious freedom grow louder—God
has not left His people without witnesses. He has raised up faithful
LCMS pastors to serve as military chaplains, carrying the unstoppable, life-giving message into the hardest places: Christ is risen,
indeed!
While many denominations struggle to find qualified pastors
willing to wear the uniform, the LCMS has been richly blessed.
Dozens have answered the call to go where their flock goes—into
training, into danger, into austere and lonely places—to preach in
season and out of season that the tomb is empty and Christ lives.
Our chaplains eat the same food, endure the same dust and cold,
bear the same risks, all to shepherd souls with Word and Sacrament,
showing the compassion of the risen Christ, who once said, “Peace
be with you,” even while bearing His wounds.
Yet the harvest is great, and the workers are still too few. If
not us, then who will send shepherds to serve those who selflessly
serve our nation (and their families)? We need more voices boldly
proclaiming that death has been swallowed up in victory, that sin no
longer has the last word, that because Jesus lives, every battlefield
grave will one day give up its dead.
Right now, 51 faithful LCMS chaplains serve on active duty,
and another 65 ministers serve in the Reserve, National Guard, Civil Air Patrol, Coast Guard Auxiliary, and Veterans Affairs (VA)—
plus 2 directors of religious education. They stand protected (for
now) by law and Department of War policy to preach the Gospel in
its truth and purity, without compromise, treating every soul with
dignity while refusing to bend the knee to the spirit of the age. In an
environment that daily tests conscience, they keep lifting high the
cross and the empty tomb: Christ is risen, indeed!
Your Ministry to the Armed Forces surrounds them with prayer,
pastoral care, Lutheran continuing education, and fierce advocacy
for religious liberty. We fight to keep them endorsed, equipped, and
free to be faithful. Our goal: 70 active duty and 120 Reserve/Guard/
VA chaplains by 2027—so that no service member or veteran ever
lacks a pastor who will look them in the eye and say with unshakable certainty, Christ is risen, indeed!
Every quarter we mail over 17,000 pieces of solid Lutheran devotional material—Portals of Prayer, So Help Me God, and more—
2026 Convention Workbook