Convention

United in Confession

At the 2026 LCMS convention, delegates will be asked to endorse or encourage fellowship with two new partner churches.

Story by Megan K. Mertz | Photography by Sarah Hjulberg and Erik M. Lunsford | Summer 2026

The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS) is in altar and pulpit fellowship with 42 Lutheran church bodies around the world. At the upcoming LCMS convention, set for July 18–23 in Phoenix, delegates will be asked to consider resolutions to endorse or encourage fellowship with two more. These resolutions represent years of theological dialogue and include support from the LCMS Commission on Theology and Church Relations (CTCR) and the Office of the Synod President to work “toward fellowship” and “provide a united defense against schism, sectarianism, and heresy” (LCMS Constitution, Article III).

Christian Evangelical Lutheran Church of Bolivia

Norwegian missionaries first brought Lutheranism to Bolivia in the 1970s. At the time, these missionaries focused primarily on mercy work among the Quechua-speaking people in rural Bolivia. The Christian Evangelical Lutheran Church of Bolivia (Iglesia Cristiana Evangélica Luterana de Bolivia, or ICEL) was founded in 1997. The church did not have an established educational path for its pastors, and it began sending students to the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Argentina’s seminary in 2010 and then to Concordia the Reformer Seminary in the Dominican Republic in 2017. The ICEL currently has just over 900 baptized members in about two dozen congregations.

Formal conversations with the ICEL began in 2022 and concluded in February 2025, when the CTCR unanimously recommended the ICEL for church fellowship. On May 4, 2025, the ICEL was officially recognized as an LCMS partner church by the Synod president according to the process set forth in the LCMS Bylaws. This summer, the Synod in convention will be asked to endorse this action.

Lutheran Mission – Australia

At its 2023 convention, the Lutheran Church of Australia (LCA) approved a motion to allow a “one doctrine, two practices” approach to the pastoral ministry — some congregations would call women as pastors, while others would continue calling men only. The uproar in the church was swift. More than 500 clergy and laity signed a “Letter of Confession” in April of that year denouncing the “attempt to bring about a false sense of ‘church unity’ by imposing upon the LCA two mutually contradictory doctrines and practices of ministry.”

The Rev. Matthew Anker, president of Lutheran Mission – Australia, attends worship during the 2024 International Church Relations Conference in Wittenberg, Germany. Top: Representatives gather for a Divine Service celebrating altar and pulpit fellowship between the LCMS and the Christian Evangelical Lutheran Church of Bolivia at Concordia the Reformer Seminary in Palmar Arriba, Dominican Republic, in 2025.

In 2024, Lutheran Mission – Australia (LM-A) was founded to “serve people with the unadulterated Word, so that they might receive God’s gifts with a good conscience,” according to LM-A President Rev. Matthew Anker. Since then, the church has developed rapidly. Some former members of the LCA have colloquized in, while LM-A has focused on establishing new congregations. (At the time of publication, it had 21 congregations.) The LCMS has walked alongside LM-A throughout this journey, providing encouragement for its leaders and the occasional grant.

“The LCMS has been incredibly supportive without being directive. Whenever we’ve reached out for assistance, it has always been there,” Anker said. “From the beginning, the relationship with the LCMS has reminded us that we’re not alone. Australians feel quite isolated, especially confessional Lutherans. So, this is vitally important.”

At the LCMS convention this summer, delegates will be asked to support and encourage recognition of fellowship with LM-A.

Learn More

Read more about the Christian Evangelical Lutheran Church of Bolivia

Read more about Lutheran Mission – Australian

Learn more about LCMS Church Relations

Megan K. Mertz

Managing editor of Lutherans Engage the World and chief copy editor for LCMS Communications.