Official Workbook PDF page source text

LCMS 2026 Convention Workbook: Reports and Overtures, PDF page 347

2026 Convention Workbook
312 LIFE TOGETHER
WHEREAS, The prophets use the language of “the people/my 
people” (or “lineage” or “generations”) to reference not races in the 
modernistic sense, so that the prophets are proclaiming that the 
chosen lineage includes all those brought into the promise of the 
Christ—i.e., the lineage of Abraham (as also the lineage of the 
promise to Adam and Eve in Gen. 3:15 and of the promise to Noah 
in Genesis 9), with the people of promise including all those from 
many other families and tribes whom the Lord gathered into the 
lineage of Israel (e.g., Ruth the Moabite, Rahab the Canaanite, et 
al.); and 
W
HEREAS, The word race  prior to modernism refers to the 
human race (singular), and not to races  (plural)—where races are 
be set against each other, such that the Oxford English Dictionary  
identifies the first usages of races in the modernistic sense (to 
denote not the human race descended from Adam and Eve, but 
several races divided from each other within the human race) to the 
mid-1700s and later; and 
W
HEREAS, As those of the Church, the chosen generation (γένος, 
1 Peter 2:9), we are given to proclaim not the words of modernistic 
ideology but rather the words of the prophets and apostles that 
proclaim Jesus Christ crucified for all nations ( ἔθνη); therefore be 
it 
Resolved, That we reject modernism’s doctrine of several 
“races” by which the human race is divided into different 
typological categories, categories wholly unknown to the prophets 
and apostles; and be it further 
Resolved, That we reject any teaching resulting from or based 
upon this modernistic category of race, including any teaching of 
race-supremacy, antisemitism, race division or segregation, or any 
other form of racism; and be it further 
Resolved, That we recognize and affirm our Lord’s promise to 
the Church that we are a “chosen lineage” or “chosen generation” 
(1 Peter 2:9), which is the lineage of all those called into the 
promise; and be it further 
Resolved, That we rejoice that as the Church, the lineage of the 
promise, we are given to “proclaim the excellencies of him who 
called [us] out of darkness into his marvelous light” (1 Peter 2:9), a 
proclamation to be proclaimed to all nations (Matthew 28); and be 
it further 
Resolved, That we affirm that any who teach or promote 
(whether in public or in private, including all forms of social media) 
any form of racism, antisemitism, or race-supremacy or division, 
are to be denounced by the Church for this divisive teaching and 
called t o repentance with the hope and the prayer that the Lord 
restores them to the Church, the chosen lineage of the promise; and 
be it finally 
Resolved, That the Rocky Mountain District  memorialize the 
Synod to affirm that any who teach or promote (whether in public 
or in private, including all forms of social media) any form of 
racism, antisemitism, or race-supremacy or division, are to be 
denounced by the Church for this divisive teaching and called to 
repentance with the hope and the prayer that the Lord restores them 
to the Church, the chosen lineage of the promise. 
Rocky Mountain District 
Ov. 4-19 
To Uphold Scriptural Teaching  
of the Church as One Chosen Generation  
in Spite of Existence of Various Earthly Races 
WHEREAS, The word race can broadly be used to refer to the 
entire human race, all of whom are descended from Adam and Eve 
(“And Adam called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the 
mother of all living,” Gen. 3:20 NKJV); and 
WHEREAS, The word race has also come to refer to various 
bloodlines or lineages, which the Scriptures acknowledge (“And He 
has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the 
face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and 
the boundaries of their dwellings,” Acts 17:26 NKJV; see also 
Genesis 10; Deut. 18:9–14; Acts 2:5–12); and 
WHEREAS, The apostle Peter uses the language of Isaiah, “my 
chosen people” (Isaiah 43:20; 65:22), in 1 Peter 2:9, to speak of the 
Church as a people not in reference to a single earthly race but rather 
to the chosen people of God, the sons of Abraham by faith; and 
WHEREAS, As those of the Church, the chosen generation, we are 
given to proclaim not the doctrines of the world, but rather the 
words of the prophets and apostles that proclaim Jesus Christ 
crucified for all nations; therefore be it 
Resolved, That we reject any racism in the Church — that is, 
excluding another from the Body of Christ or hating a brother in 
Christ because of his race (1 John 3:15; Matt. 5:21–22), deeming a 
neighbor as subhuman because of his race (Gen. 1:27; Prov. 
14:21)— because these acts break the Fifth Commandment; and be 
it further 
Resolved, That we recognize and affirm our Lord’s promise to 
the Church that we are a “chosen lineage” or “chosen generation” 
(1 Peter 2:9 NKJV), which is the lineage of all those called into the 
promise; and be it further 
Resolved
, That we rejoice that as the Church, the lineage of the 
promise, we are given to “proclaim the excellencies of him who 
called [us] out of darkness into his marvelous light” (1 Peter 2:9), a 
proclamation to be proclaimed to all nations (Matt. 28:16–20); and 
be it further 
Resolved, That we affirm that the Church, with the hope and the 
prayer that the Lord restore him to the Church, 
the chosen lineage 
of the promise , denounces and calls to repentance anyone who 
excludes another from the Body of Christ, hates a brother in Christ 
because of his race, or deems a neighbor as subhuman because of 
his race; and be it finally 
Resolved, That the Wyoming District in convention memorialize 
the Synod to affirm that the Church denounces anyone who 
excludes another from the Body of Christ, hates a brother in Christ 
because of his race, or deems a neighbor as subhuman because of 
his race and that they be called to repentance with the hope and the 
prayer that the Lord restore them to the Church, the chosen lineage 
of the promise. 
Wyoming District 
Ov. 4-20 
To Condemn False Teachings of “Stone Choir” 
WHEREAS, Social media (X/Twitter) personalities Corey J. 
Mahler (@CoreyJMahler) and Ryan “Woe” Dumperth  
(@treblewoe) began releasing episodes of the Stone Choir podcast