Version History
Current published version
Today's Business, Issue 1. pp. 95-97. Original floor committee resolution.
No later published versions have been added.
Official Resolution Source Text
Resolution: 5-01
Canonical number: 5-01
Committee: Theology and Church Relations
Source: Today's Business, Issue 1
Printed pages: pp. 95-97
PDF pages: 95-97
Version: original, current-published-proposal
Source reference: Issue 1, pp. 95-97
Line numbers follow Today's Business, Issue 1, with numbering reset on each printed page, so delegates can compare this page with the official PDF.
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- To Recognize Altar and Pulpit Fellowship with Evangelical Lutheran Christian Church of
- Bolivia
- RESOLUTION 5-01
- Overture 5-01 (CW, 335–36)
- Preamble
- Iglesia Cristiana Evangelica Luterana, the Evangelical Lutheran Christian Church (ICEL) has its roots in the work of the
- Norwegian Lutheran Mission (NLM) that began in the 1970’s, primarily in rural, Quechua-speaking areas of southern
- Bolivia. NLM built an infrastructure for its missionaries and mission work in Bolivia, including a retreat center and office
- in Cochabamba and a training center and radio station in Sucre. Internal migration from the rural areas to the large cities
- spurred development of congregations in several of the major cities. The congregations affiliated with NLM formed an
- independent church body (ICEL) in 1997. Its first president was a layman, Mario Delgado.
- Mr. Delgado received the first visit of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS) from then area secretary Rev.
- Douglas Rutt. Rev. Rutt connected ICEL with the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Brazil (IELB) which invited a
- delegation of ICEL to visit a conference on mission in Brazil in 2000 in São Paulo. This represented ICEL’s first contact
- with a confessional Lutheran church body in Latin America and eventually led to IELB President Carlos Winterle signing
- an agreement of altar and pulpit fellowship with the ICEL in 2002. At this time, ICEL also began participating as an
- observer in regional meetings of the International Lutheran Council (ILC). There was also contact with and support from
- LCMS sister churches in Chile and Argentina.
- NLM had established a training school in Sucre, Bolivia called Centro Luterano de Estudios Teológicos, Lutheran Center
- of Theological Studies (CLET) as well as a more advanced seminary in Arequipa, Peru called Seminario Teológico
- Luterano Latinoamericano, Latin American Lutheran Theological Seminary (SETELA). When the NLM closed the
- program at CLET (for financial reasons), ICEL began to seek other possibilities for theological education of future pastors.
- While ICEL remains thankful for the mission endeavors of NLM in Bolivia, ICEL no longer has a formal relationship with
- NLM.
- The LCMS Office of International Mission (OIM) began working indirectly with ICEL in 2012 when 20 scholarships were
- awarded to Seminario Concordia of Buenos Aires, Argentina, for the purpose of forming pastors for the Argentine
- Evangelical Lutheran Church (IELA), partner churches and others—including four Bolivian pastors. At the same time,
- Luther Academy began to offer two courses a year in Bolivia, taught by professors such as Rev. Cristian Rautenberg and
- Rev. Omar Kinas of Chile and Rev. Mark Braden of the LCMS. When Concordia El Reformador Seminary (CMSCR)
- opened in 2017 in Santiago, Dominican Republic, three Bolivian students transferred to that institution. Presidents of ICEL
- have regularly attended all annual CMSCR symposia.
- In September 2018, a delegation of OIM pastors attended the ordination of Rev. Osmel Soliz, one of the first Bolivian
- graduates of the seminary scholarship program. The liturgy followed the historic ordo, and the ordination rite included a
- quia subscription to the Lutheran Confessions. The delegation, including Rev. Ted Krey, Rev. Dr. Arthur Just, and Rev.
- James Sharp, also engaged in informal discussions with members of the ministerium and the national council of ICEL
- about issues such as the Sacraments, the office of the Holy Ministry, and worship. In 2019, Bolivia was included as one
- of the countries under Rev. Sharp’s responsibility in order to facilitate continued communication between ICEL and OIM.
- In May 2020, ICEL presented a document on the office of the Holy Ministry signed by the entire Bolivian ministerium to
- Rev. Krey and Rev. Joel Fritsche. This document affirmed the scriptural and confessional doctrine of the pastoral office
- and represented ICEL’s firm commitment to move away from its pietistic theological roots. CMSCR began monthly zoom
- lectures with ICEL leaders/pastors which included Scriptural and confessional teaching on the office of the Holy Ministry
- and other topics. At a 2021 meeting of the ILC in Mexico City, the ICEL asked the IELB to ordain the (previously un-
- ordained) ministerium of ICEL, since the two church bodies had already been in altar and pulpit fellowship since 2002.
- As part of their ordination oaths, each ICEL pastor confessed the Old and New Testament Scriptures to be the inspired
- and inerrant Word of God, the only rule for all faith and life, and a quia subscription to the Lutheran Confessions as a true
- and faithful exposition of the Holy Scripture.
- LCMS observers, including the Rev. Dr. Jonathan Shaw, LCMS Director of Church Relations, were present for this and
- related events. During the first-ever LCMS FORO with ICEL held March 23–24, 2022, in Sucre, Rev. Dr. Shaw presented
- copies of Luther’s Small Catechism in Quechua, a first for ICEL. During and after the March 25–26, 2022, ICEL National
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- Convention, Rev. Dr. Shaw met with the Rev. Limberth Fernández, ICEL President, and the ICEL Executive Committee
- for ICEL-LCMS exploratory fellowship discussions, which included discussion of the basis for church fellowship, i.e.,
- agreement in the Gospel in all its articles founded on the authority of Holy Scripture and the testimony of the Lutheran
- Confessions. In June 2022, President Fernández wrote to President Matthew Harrison requesting formal fellowship
- discussions with the LCMS.
- A Bolivia dialogue team was appointed by President Harrison consisting of LCMS representatives Rev. Dr. Shaw, Rev.
- Dr. Joel Lehenbauer, Rev. Mark Braden, Rev. Michael Frese, and Rev. James Sharp. The first round of official fellowship
- talks with ICEL was held in St. Louis in April 2023, followed by an initial familiarization overview and discussion with
- the Commission on Theology and Church Relations (CTCR) on April 13. A second round of official fellowship discussions
- was held in Cochabamba, Bolivia, in April 2024. These dialogues exhibited a remarkable unity in doctrine and practice.
- By this time, the ICEL Constitution and Religious Canon had been revised to reflect a confessional Lutheran understanding
- of church and ministry, a commitment to the entirety of the Book of Concord as a true and faithful exposition of the Holy
- Scripture, and clear processes for ICEL to walk and work together as a church body in witness, service, and fellowship.
- A third round of official fellowship discussions took place in February 2025, with President Fernández meeting with the
- CTCR in St. Louis. At this meeting, the CTCR unanimously recommended recognition of altar and pulpit fellowship with
- ICEL pursuant to Bylaw 3.9.5.2.2 (b)(2), which authorizes the LCMS President to declare recognition of fellowship after
- consultation with the Praesidium “subject to the endorsement of the subsequent Synod convention.” In a letter to President
- Fernández dated May 4, 2025, President Harrison officially declared recognition of fellowship with ICEL. On May 24,
- 2025, a Divine Service celebrating the official recognition of fellowship was held in the chapel of Concordia the Reformer
- Seminary in the Dominican Republic. This service included representatives from the LCMS, its sister churches in Latin
- America, and faculty, students and staff of CMSCR.
- WHEREAS, The ICEL is a confessional Lutheran church in Bolivia consisting of around 1,000 baptized members in
- 15 congregations served by 12 ordained pastors; and
- WHEREAS, Formal discussions directed toward altar and pulpit fellowship with the ICEL began in 2022 and concluded
- in February 2025, when the CTCR unanimously recommended recognition of fellowship with ICEL; and
- WHEREAS, The ICEL accepts all the canonical books of the Sacred Scriptures of the Old and of the New Testaments
- as the written Word of God and the only rule and norm of faith and practice and the confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran
- Church, compiled in the Book of Concord of 1580, as a correct exposition of Holy Scripture; and
- WHEREAS, The ICEL is in altar and pulpit fellowship with the LCMS’s sister church in Brazil (IELB); and
- WHEREAS, The ICEL has requested altar and pulpit fellowship with the LCMS; and
- WHEREAS, Bylaw 3.9.5.2.2 (b)(2) says: “Formal recognition of altar and pulpit fellowship between the Synod and a
- small, formative, emerging confessional Lutheran church body (identified as such by the President of the Synod as chief
- ecumenical officer) may be declared by the Synod President only after the approval of the commission and consultation
- with the Praesidium. Such recognition shall be subject to the endorsement of the subsequent Synod convention”; and
- WHEREAS, The CTCR has unanimously recommended the recognition of fellowship with the ICEL as a faithful
- Lutheran church body, after having carefully and thoroughly considered this matter by means of extensive correspondence,
- reports on meetings with ICEL representatives, and the examination of pertinent documents that describe the doctrine and
- practice of the ICEL; and
- WHEREAS, President Matthew Harrison, by virtue of the authority vested in him according to Bylaw 3.9.5.2.2, wrote
- to President Limberth Fernández on May 4, 2025, stating: “I declare the recognition of altar and pulpit fellowship between
- our two churches. Praise God!”; therefore be it
- Resolved, That we acknowledge with gratitude the unity of confession that has been given to our church bodies under
- the guidance of the Holy Spirit; and be it further
- Resolved, That this convention formally endorse the recognition of altar and pulpit fellowship between the ICEL and
- the LCMS; and be it further
- Resolved, That we give thanks to God for the faithful Lutheran witness ICEL provides within its own country, and
- beyond; and be it further
- Resolved, That we encourage and walk with ICEL as they proclaim the saving Gospel of Jesus Christ to a lost world;
- and be it further
- Resolved, That we pray for God’s blessings in the coming years on this agreement in the confession of the Gospel that
- we enjoy as sister church bodies; and be it finally
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- Resolved, That in thanksgiving for this partnership in the Gospel, the convention assembly celebrate its approval by
- rising and singing the common doxology.
