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LCMS 2026 Convention Workbook: Reports and Overtures, PDF page 266

2026 Convention Workbook
231
THEOLOGICAL DOCUMENTS  —COMMISSION ON THEOLOGY AND CHURCH RELATIONS
Way Forward
Detailed Framework
Page 50 of 50
5. We believe that the formal and the material principles must not be brought into 
opposition to each other, for the Scriptures are the Word of Christ and they testify of Him. 
Loyalty to Christ requires loyalty to His Word, and loyalty to the Scriptures requires loyalty 
to Christ, His person, His work, His means of grace. We dare not stress the material 
principle at the expense of the formal principle, or vice versa. Churches uniting should 
make their pledge of loyalty to both Christ and His Word (cf Eph 4:1–16). 
6. We believe that it is a solemn obligation of the Church to teach the whole counsel of 
God, rightly dividing the Word of Truth, feeding milk or meat as the case may demand, 
but never compromising the truth of Scripture, never permitting reason or feeling to
undermine the authority of the Word, or substituting for it any form of subjectivism.
7. In the application of these principles, particularly in the holding of such divergent views 
as are mentioned in Theses 4 (e), the material principle, agreement in which constitutes 
the fundamental unity in Christ, is not to be ignored contrary to the law of Christian love 
but is to be upheld and applied in full agreement with the formal principle.
APPENDIX B
Resources
The Creator’s Tapestry: Scriptural Perspectives on Man-Woman Relationships in Marriage 
and the Church. A Report of the Commission on Theology and Church Relations, The 
Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, 2010.
Harrison Matthew C. and Pless John T, eds. Women Pastors? The Ordination of Women in 
Biblical Lutheran Perspective. A Collection of Essays, Third Edition, St. Louis: Concordia 
Publishing House, 2012. 
Lehenbauer, Joel D. “Godly Women and the Way of the Cross. ” Chapter Four in 
Confessional Lutheran Leadership Under the Cross: Collection of Theological 
Presentations from the International Church Relations Conference, 2023. The Lutheran 
Church—Missouri Synod, 2024.
The Order of Creation: Theology, History, Definition.A Report of the Commission on 
Theology and Church Relations, The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, 2022.
Shaw, Jonathan, ed. Women’s Ordination through the Lens of the Apostles’ Creed. A 
Fraternal Theological Dialogue of the Lutheran Church in Korea and the Lutheran Church—
Missouri Synod. Revised Edition. The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, 2024. 
https://resources.lcms.org/reading-study/lcms-church-relations-booklet-womens-
ordination-through-the-lens-of-the-apostles-creed/
Women in the Church: Scriptural Principles and Ecclesial Practice. A Report of the 
Commission on Theology and Church Relations, The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, 
1985.