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LCMS 2026 Convention Workbook: Reports and Overtures, PDF page 61

2026 Convention Workbook
26 
OFFICER, BOARD, AND COMMISSION REPORTS
ical conferences are held in numerous countries to support pastoral 
ministry so that pastors and their congregations can faithfully min-
ister in their communities and extend the proclamation of Christ 
through the planting of churches.
E.2. Plant Lutheran Churches
The LCMS’ mission history in Asia is rich with stories of mis-
sionaries arriving in and planting Lutheran churches in countries 
where no Lutheran (and few Christian) churches existed. While 
most of the current church planting is done by sister church bodies, 
OIM Asia is still actively planting churches and looks to expand 
that work.
In the next triennium, OIM Asia plans to plant congregations 
near where LCMS expats live and work. This includes support for 
LCMS members and families teaching at international schools in 
East Asia. This also includes planting churches near active U.S. 
military bases in Guam and Japan, which not only provides pastoral 
care and Word and Sacrament ministry to LCMS members in the 
armed forces but also establishes permanent confessional Lutheran 
congregations to serve the local community.
Asia region missionaries will continue supporting developing 
and sister churches as they plant and sustain Lutheran congrega -
tions through pastoral mentoring and theological education. The 
Lutheran Church of the Philippines (LCP), the fruit of LCMS mis-
sion work, is actively planting churches on the northern islands of 
the Philippines while the Tagakaulo Lutheran Church of Christ in 
the Philippines (TLCCP) continues planting congregations in Min-
danao, even as it matures as a church body. Through pastoral men-
torship and formal theological education in seminary formation, 
OIM Asia is actively assisting the LCP and the TLCCP extend the 
Gospel of Jesus Christ throughout this archipelago with 14 church 
plants.
Elsewhere in the region, missionaries are either planting or sup-
porting the planting of congregations in Japan (four church plants), 
China (one church plant), Cambodia (27 preaching stations), and 
Australia (15 church plants).
E.2.a. Pastoral Formation
The planting of Lutheran churches necessitates the formation of 
pastors to preach the Gospel and rightly administer the Sacraments. 
OIM Asia supports the pastoral formation in four languages: En-
glish, Tamil, Pigeon, and Mandarin.
Concordia Theological Seminary in Nagercoil, India, has 95 
seminarians studying English and preparing to serve Tamil-speak -
ing people around southern India. Lutheran Theological Seminary 
in Baguio City, Philippines, has 18 students studying to serve as 
pastors, deaconesses, and church planters across the Philippines. 
In the uplands of Papua New Guinea, several Bible colleges feed 
students into Timothy Lutheran Seminary. Presently, 37 students 
are studying to serve as Pigeon-speaking pastors across Papua 
New Guinea. In September 2025, the China Evangelical Lutheran 
Church in Taiwan launched their church worker formation program 
with its first cohort of four students to provide church workers for 
the Mandarin-speaking world.
In addition to supporting and strengthening these seminary 
programs, the Asia region will work to expand opportunities for 
pastoral formation. The Lutheran Theological Seminary – Australia 
is in development and hopes to have 10 students studying to be 
confessional Lutheran pastors and church planters to serve across 
the continent of Australia.
include morning and evening devotions recognizable in Lutheran 
homes around the world. On school breaks, children return home to 
their families, extended families, or clans and share their faith. As 
children graduate from primary school, they receive scholarships to 
attend boarding secondary schools, attend an intensive pre-college 
Luther academy between secondary school and college, and finally 
receive scholarships to colleges and vocational schools, retaining 
their tight connection to the program and the spiritual care provided 
by the church all the way through to adulthood. The program sup-
ports 305 students in secondary schools and colleges. Sponsorships 
by LCMS members, congregations, and other entities have enabled 
expansion of the program this year to bring more vulnerable chil -
dren into close proximity to Word and Sacrament ministry so that 
they may proclaim with us, Christ is risen, indeed!
Beyond these programs, the OIM Africa region supports min-
istry to persons with disabilities, Word and Sacrament ministry to 
refugee populations, medical costs for church workers, construc-
tion of parsonages and seminary buildings, ministry to prisons and 
hospitals, and an extension of Christ’s Care for Children to a newly 
expanded site in Mwadui, Tanzania. Through all these projects, the 
church shows mercy.
 
E. Asia Region
The preaching of Christ crucified and raised from the dead in the 
Asia region began in the late 1800s, when missionaries arrived in 
southern India. Over the last 130 years, hundreds of churches have 
been planted across southern India, and in September 2024, 100 
years of pastoral formation was celebrated at Concordia Theologi -
cal Seminary in Nagercoil, India. The work that began in the south-
ern tip of India has expanded north, east, and south. The Office of 
International Mission – Asia Region now serves the subregions of 
East Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia, and Oceania, which inhabits 
approximately 4.8 billion people, representing roughly 60 percent 
of the global population.
Presently, 21 OIM missionary families and one alliance mission-
ary serve across 20 countries in Asia, and the LCMS gives thanks 
to God for the growth, faithfulness, and collaboration of its seven 
sister churches (IELC in India, LCHKS in Hong Kong, GLC in 
Papua New Guinea, LCP in the Philippines, LCK in South Korea, 
CELC in Sri Lanka, and CELC in Taiwan) in the work of spreading 
the Gospel, planting Lutheran churches, and showing mercy.
E.1. Spread the Gospel
The prophet Isaiah writes that the Word of God never returns 
empty, always accomplishing the purpose for which it was sent 
(Isa. 55:11). Across lands where Islamic calls for prayer blare over 
megaphones, the sound of monks chanting emanates from Bud-
dhist temples, smoke rises from the offerings burned in small cans 
along the streets, and prayers are offered at family altars in homes, 
missionaries in Asia trust Isaiah’s Word. Through evangelism, 
translation, continuing theological education, music, and Christian 
education, missionaries spread the Gospel, knowing that the Lord 
is faithful to accomplish His purpose(s) through missionary work.
Since the last Synod convention, Asia region missionaries have 
developed and offered sacred music courses and workshops that 
strengthened the worship life of local congregations and brought 
non-Christians in contact with the Gospel in song through special 
concerts and festivals. Sunday School curriculums with associated 
crafts have been developed and distributed to sister churches for 
use in Christian education programs. Annually, six to eight theolog-