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LCMS 2026 Convention Workbook: Reports and Overtures, PDF page 371

2026 Convention Workbook
336 THEOLOGY AND CHURCH RELATIONS
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. 
W
HEREAS, The ICEL is a confessional Lutheran church in 
Bolivia consisting of around 1000 baptized members in 15 
congregations served by 12 ordained pastors; and 
W
HEREAS, 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 
W
HEREAS, 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 
W
HEREAS, 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 
W
HEREAS, President Matthew C. 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 
Resolved, That in thanksgiving for this partnership in the Gospel, 
the convention assembly celebrate its approval by rising and singing 
the common doxology. 
Commission on Theology and Church Relations 
Ov. 5-02 
To Support and Encourage Recognition  
of Altar and Pulpit Fellowship  
with Lutheran Mission— Australia 
Preamble 
By its own acknowledgement, the Lutheran Church of Australia and 
New Zealand (LCANZ; hereafter LCA) has struggled with deep 
theological divisions for decades. One of the most public areas of 
disagreement has been the question of what the Scriptures teach 
regarding the ordination of women to the pastoral office. In a 
document published in July 2024 the LCA stated: “Despite more 
than three decades of theological study and debate within the 
Lutheran Church of Australia and New Zealand (LCANZ), we 
remain divide d on whether or not the Scriptures permit the 
ordination of women” (Lutheran Church of Australia, Way Forward 
Detailed Framework, 2024, 3). 
As this statement illustrates, the longstanding division in the LCA 
over women’s ordination has been rooted in fundamentally 
differing understandings of the authority and interpretation of 
Scripture itself. Lutheran Mission -Australia (LM — A) President 
Matthew Anker has stated: “The key issue that led to the 
establishment of LM — A was the undermining of the authority of 
the Word of God in the LCA’s theology and life together. Even 
before women’s ordination was introduced, we no longer shared the 
same confession and needed to be unyoked from heterodoxy, which 
constantly demands sacrifice through compromise.” In addition to 
the question of the ordination of women, other troubling theological 
developments evident in the LCA (as articulated by LM —A 
leaders) include the ambiguous commitment of many LCA leaders 
and pastors to the Lutheran Confessions, Gospel reductionism, 
antinomianism, the unscriptural theology of many of those teaching 
church workers, the devolving theological agenda and trajectory of 
the LCA college and seminary, a lack of faithful adherence to clear 
and orthodox LCA public statements such as its own constitution 
and the LCA’s Theses of Agreement (including the Theses of 
Agreement’s teaching on church fellowship), lack of church 
discipline, etc. 
For many years, pastors and laity in the LCA fully committed to the 
authority of Scripture and to the truth of the Lutheran Confessions 
remained in the LCA, hopeful of a return to its foundational 
confession and commitments. Those hopes were severely 
undermined at the LCA’s 2021 convention, when then-Bishop John 
Henderson publicly stated: “We are not going to solve this issue 
[women’s ordination] with further truth claims, even about 
Scripture.” (“Agenda 3.1”, 
lca.app.box.com/s/disizprdt6mrps427dqw5yfyrkte1twv, accessed 
March 19, 2026) Soon thereafter, in early 2022, several LCA