To Strengthen Our Process for Supporting Our Concordias

Official Workbook overture source text

7-11 
To Strengthen Our Process  
for Supporting Our Concordias 
WHEREAS, At the 2022 Michigan District convention, Resolution 
2-05a was considered, reading (as amended before it was voted on): 
  W HEREAS, Our Concordia Universities have long been 
beloved and treasured by the members and member 
congregations of The Lutheran Church— Missouri Synod and a 
vital part of the communities in which they are located; and 
  W HEREAS, Our Concordia Universities have historically been 
at the very heart of our Synod’s stated identity and purpose 
(Synodical Constitution, Article III Objectives (3) Recruit and 
train pastors, teachers and other professional church workers and 
provide opportunity for their continued growth; and (5) Aid 
congregations to develop processes of thorough Christian 
education and nurture and to establish agencies of Christian 
education such as elementary and secondary schools and to 
support synodical colleges, universities, and seminaries); and 
  W
HEREAS, Our Concordia Universities not only exist to train 
professional church workers but also to train Christian laymen 
and laywomen who will be godly and influential leaders in their 
workplaces, communities, churches, and families; and 
  W
HEREAS, Our Lord Jesus Christ calls His followers to be salt 
and light in the world at large and not only in safe, homogeneous 
communities (Matthew 5:13–16); and 
  W
HEREAS, Our six remaining Concordia Universities (on 
seven residential campuses) give our Synod a valuable foothold 
in increasingly diverse, multicultural, and urban settings where 
the Church’s presence is in many cases not especially prominent 
in the 21st century; and 
  W
HEREAS, Our Concordia Universities, by their very 
existence, have the potential to bring the mission field to our 
Synod’s doorstep and to provide safe places for difficult 
theological and cultural issues to be openly and honestly 
engaged; and 
  W
HEREAS, Three of our Concordia Colleges and Universities 
have unfortunately closed their doors in recent years (Selma in 
2018, Portland in 2020, and Bronxville in 2021); and 
  W
HEREAS, Our Synod is filled with many generous givers and 
donors with the means and/or the desire to lend needed financial 
support to our Concordia Universities if called upon to do so; 
and 
  W HEREAS, Our God Himself is “able to do far more 
abundantly than all that we ask or think” (Ephesians 3:20), even 
though we may not always be immediately able to identify a 
viable solution; therefore be it 
  Resolved, That the Michigan District investigate opportunities 
for how it can provide support (prayer, church worker and other 
student recruitment, financial, etc.) to help ensure the 
continuation of the residential campus of Concordia University 
Ann Arbor (CUAA) located within its own District; and be it 
finally 
  Resolved, That the Michigan District memorialize to the 2023 
Synodical Convention the previous Whereases and the following 
resolves: 
  Resolved, To affirm our commitment, as far as humanly 
possible, not to allow any more of our remaining Concordia 
Universities to close their doors before first exploring all 
possible avenues to assist them to remain open and to 
continue to fulfill their missions; and be it further 
  Resolved, To instruct synodical leadership to refuse to take 
any future action(s) with respect to our six remaining 
Concordia Universities without being fully transparent with 
the professional church workers and the lay membership of 
the entire Synod’s congregatio ns, namely, regarding any 
course of action being considered, prior to any such course of 
action being carried out, and without first giving the members 
and member congregations of the Synod every opportunity to 
respond to such a potential course of  
action in generosity 
and/or with creativity; and be it finally 
  Resolved, To be encouraged to further unite behind a 
renewed commitment to keep the doors of our six remaining 
Concordia Universities open as long as our gracious God sees 
fit, to His glory, honor, and praise. 
(2022 Michigan District Proc., Res. 2-05a) 
and 
W
HEREAS, District Res. 2 -05a was addressed by the Synod 
President as “canned, it has been going around to a number of 
districts ... is false, contains material error” (Ibid., 43); and 
WHEREAS, District Res. 2-05a was subsequently defeated by the 
convention; then, sadly, eighteen months later, the majority of the 
Concordia University Wisconsin Ann Arbor (CUWAA) Board of 
Regents (BOR) undertook the “reimagining” of CUWAA; therefore 
be it 
Resolved
, That the Synod in convention recognize that the 
actions of the majority of the CUWAA BOR showed the need for 
district Res. 2-05a; and be it further 
Resolved, That the whereas statements listed in district Res. 2 -
05a be memorialized to the 2026 Synod convention; and be it 
further 
Resolved, That the Synod in convention direct Synod leadership, 
the Concordia University System (CUS), and each university’s 
board of regents to be fully transparent with the professional church 
workers and the lay membership of the entire Synod’s 
congregations regarding any course of action being considered prior 
to any such course of action being carried out; and be it further 
Resolved, That the Synod in convention affirm our commitment, 
as far as humanly possible, not to allow any more of our remaining 
Concordia universities to close their doors or significantly reduce 
operations on a campus before first exploring all possible avenues 
with members and member congregations of the Synod to assist 
them to remain open and to continue to fulfill their missions; and be 
it finally 
Resolved, That the Synod in convention instruct the 
administrations of CUS schools not to ask newly elected board of 
regents members to undertake significant actions—such as we saw 
the CUWAA administration undertake in regards to CUWAA —
until the regents have been trained as required under Bylaw 
3.10.6.2.l (d). 
Michigan District 
2026 Convention Workbook
426 UNIVERSITY EDUCA TION