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LCMS 2026 Convention Workbook: Reports and Overtures, PDF page 286

2026 Convention Workbook
251
THEOLOGICAL DOCUMENTS  —COMMISSION ON THEOLOGY AND CHURCH RELATIONS
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Proper Administration of the Lord’s Supper
PREFACE
At its 2023 convention The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS) adopted 
Resolution 5-15, “To Uphold Proper Elements and Reverential Administration of 
the Lord’s Supper,” addressing concerns about the practice of the Lord’s Sup-
per.
1 The resolution includes reminders that the Supper is “a communal meal . . . 
through which His body and blood are distributed in, with, and under bread and 
wine for the forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation.” The resolution goes on to 
reaffirm the confessional teaching “that the proper use of the Sacrament includes 
unified consecration, distribution, and reception” and the consequent fact that the 
Supper “should be kept according to His [Christ’s] institution.” It adds: “It is in-
cumbent on all faithful ministers of the Gospel to remove all obstacles that create 
doubt regarding what Christ offers in this Sacrament or detracts from it.” Lastly, 
the final two “Whereas” statements speak about the use of “prefilled communion 
cup and wafer sets” and “the use of non-wheat hosts and/or grape juice” in LCMS 
congregations.
Three resolves follow:
Resolved, That our pastors and congregations give careful consideration to the 
reverential treatment of the elements in the administration of the 
Lord’s Supper; and be it further
Resolved, That this convention reaffirms 2001 Resolution 3-16, “To Encourage 
Use of Only Wine in Administration of Lord’s Supper”; and be it fi-
nally
Resolved, That the Commission on Theology and Church Relations [CTCR] be 
instructed to take up these concerns.
The following consideration is offered in compliance with the third and final 
1  The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, 2003 Convention Proceedings, 157. 
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The Lutheran Church/emdash.lnumMissouri Synod
direction of 2023 Res. 5-15 and seeks to address the three specific “concerns” about 
the practice of the Lord’s Supper identified therein: first, the substitution of grape 
juice for wine; second, the use of prefilled communion cup and wafer sets; and 
third, the substitution of non-wheat for wheat hosts.
Each one of the three practices mentioned in 2023 Res. 5-15 has its rationale in 
pastoral concern for the well-being of communicants. Specifically, each addresses 
a matter of bodily health and well-being. Pre-packaged elements were introduced 
in some LCMS congregations during the COVID-19 pandemic as an attempt to 
protect communicants from transmission of the coronavirus. Churches that make 
grape juice available rather than wine do so to aid members who suffer from alco-
holism or others who are on medications that should not be taken together with 
alcohol. And churches that offer gluten-free bread in the Supper do so to prevent 
adverse physical reactions to the gluten in wheat. It is important to acknowledge 
and commend the compassion and pastoral concern that these practices represent.
At the same time, appreciation of the compassion, motivations, and actions at 
work does not mean that we should ignore the theological appropriateness of 
these practices. Therefore, the CTCR seeks to address herein each of these prac-
tices from a confessional Lutheran theological and pastoral perspective. Our goal 
is that our practice would fully align with our confession of the Lord’s Supper as 
instituted by our Lord Jesus.
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The Lutheran Church/emdash.lnumMissouri Synod
THEOLOGICAL 
CONSIDERATIONS
The Gospel “is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes” (Rom. 
1:16). As people hear and believe the Gospel’s promises they are sealed with the 
Holy Spirit (Eph. 1:13). We are saved by grace through faith in Christ. Holding to 
Christ in faith, we also hold to His promises. His promises are spoken that we may 
believe them and so receive what they promise: forgiveness of sins, life, and salva-
tion. Faith is thus confident hope. It is assurance that what God promises is ours, 
even when we do not see it (Heb. 11:1).
Among the precious expressions of the Gospel is the Sacrament of the Altar, where 
Christ explicitly promises that the bread of the Sacrament is His body and the cup 
of wine is His blood—and that this body was given for us and this blood was shed 
for the forgiveness of our sins. This is not “interpretation” but a simple acknowl-
edgment of God’s Word:
Our Lord Jesus Christ, on the night when He was betrayed, 
took bread, and when He had given thanks, He broke it and 
gave it to the disciples and said: “Take, eat; this is My body, 
which is given for you. This do in remembrance of Me.”
In the same way also He took the cup after supper, and when 
He had given thanks, He gave it to them saying, “Drink of it, 
all of you; this cup is the new testament in My blood, which 
is shed for you for the forgiveness of sins. This do, as often as 
you drink it, in remembrance of Me.”
2
2  See “The Words of Our Lord,” or Words of Institution, as they appear in the Divine Service of 
Lutheran Service Book (Concordia Publishing House, 2006), 162, 179, 197, 209, 217.
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Proper Administration of the Lord’s Supper
This wonderful promise of the sacramental union and forgiveness in the Lord’s 
Supper also has a sobering corollary: “We hold that the bread and wine in the Sup-
per are Christ’s true body and blood. These are given and received not only by the 
godly but also by wicked Christians” (SA III VI 1).
3
Given these words, the Small Catechism simply and boldly restates them, confess-
ing that the Sacrament of the Altar “is the true body and blood of our Lord Jesus 
Christ, under the bread and wine, for us Christians to eat and to drink, instituted 
by Christ Himself ” (SC VI 2). The Formula adds the assurance that the words of 
Jesus are “simple, plain, clear, firm, and beyond doubt” (FC SD VII 48). Thus Lu-
therans make a confident confession, grounded in Christ’s trustworthy promises. 
There is no doubt or quibbling or any attempt to rationalize how such a gift could 
be given. Faith does not demand an explanation; it receives and rejoices as it trusts 
in Christ’s promises. Rather, Lutheran Christians firmly confess that the “true” 
body and blood—that is, the real, actual body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ—
are what Christ gives Christians to eat and to drink. Any talk of Jesus’ words as 
symbolic or mere figures of speech is ruled out. Thus the Formula of Concord 
echoes the Apology (X 54) to say, “We believe that in the Lord’s Supper Christ’s 
body and blood are truly and substantially present and are truly administered with 
those things that are seen (bread and wine) to those who receive the Sacrament” 
(FC SD VII 11; emphasis added).
All this is true, of course, not only of the Last Supper, but every Lord’s Supper that 
follows Christ’s intent. Paul’s repetition of Christ’s words in 1 Corinthians proves 
that they are rightly understood to apply not only to the bread and wine Christ 
distributed on the night of His betrayal, but are also true for the communion ad-
ministration of the church in every age (see 1  Corinthians 10 and 11, especially 
1 Cor. 10:16 and 1 Cor. 11:23–24; see also FC SD VII 54–55).
3  Therefore Lutherans do not administer the Sacrament without restriction to any and everyone. 
“Everyone who desires to be a Christian and go to this Sacrament should know them [the words of 
Christ]. For it is not our intention to let people come to the Sacrament and administer it to them if 
they do not know what they seek or why they come” (LC V 2). That the “unworthy” receive Christ’s 
body and blood is taught in 1 Cor. 11:27–32.