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LCMS 2026 Convention Workbook: Reports and Overtures, PDF page 372

2026 Convention Workbook
337THEOLOGY AND CHURCH RELATIONS
pastors met to form a group called “Lutherans Confessing Christ,” 
anticipating the likelihood that the LCA would soon formally 
endorse women’s ordination, which would make it necessary for 
some pastors, laity, and congregations to leave the LCA for reasons 
of conscience. Anticipating this eventuality, LM —A was 
established as a legal entity in May 2024. In June 2024, Rev. Anker 
was called to serve as LM —A President. At the LCA’s October 
2024 convention, the LCA officially changed its position to allow 
for the ordination of women to the pastoral office. The next month, 
LM—A was officially launched and President Anker was officially 
installed as its President by Rev. Antonio Reyes of the Lutheran 
Church in the Philippines (an LCMS sister church). 
From July 2024 to the present, over 70 informational sessions have 
been held around Australia to inform interested individuals and 
congregations of the existence, purpose, and mission of the LM —
A. The first LM—A congregation was established on Dec. 1, 2024 . 
Currently, there are 19 LM—A congregations, together with around 
a dozen congregations pursuing or contemplating membership. The 
LM—A currently has 18 ordained pastors, with several others in the 
process of colloquizing into the LM—A.  
During the past triennium, both before and after the legal formation 
of the LM—A, current LM —A leaders met formally and informally 
with Synod leaders, including President Matthew Harrison, 
Director of Church Relations —Assistant to the President the Rev. 
Dr. Jonathan Shaw, Commission on Theology and Church 
Relations (CTCR) Executive Director the Rev. Dr. Joel 
Lehenbauer, both Synod seminary presidents, and others. These 
meetings confirmed that, as is clearly stated in its Constitution and 
Confessional Statement, the LM —A accepts “without reservation 
the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, as a whole and 
in all their parts, as the divinely inspired, written and inerrant Word 
of God, and as the only infallible source and norm for all matters of 
faith, doctrine and life,” and that it “rejoices in the clear, biblical 
and evangelical teachings of the Lutheran Confessions” because 
(quia) they are in full agreement with the Word of God.  In 
December 2025, LM—A President Anker met with the CTCR and, 
after t horough discussion and consideration, the CTCR 
unanimously recommended recognition of altar and pulpit 
fellowship with LM—A pursuant to Bylaw 3.9.5.2.2 (b)(2).  
W
HEREAS, The LM —A is a small but growing confessional 
Lutheran church in Australia consisting of around 1,000 baptized 
members in 19 congregations served by 18 ordained pastors; and 
W
HEREAS, LM—A leaders, pastors and congregations are to be 
strongly commended and encouraged for their faithful and 
courageous confession of the truth of God’s Word in response to 
heterodox positions taken by the LCA due to erroneous views of the 
authority and inerrancy of Holy Scripture; and 
W
HEREAS, Formal and informal discussions directed toward altar 
and pulpit fellowship with LM —A leaders began in 2022 and 
concluded in December 2025, when the CTCR unanimously 
recommended recognition of fellowship with LM—A; and 
W
HEREAS, The LM —A 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 LM —A is actively pursuing altar and pulpit 
fellowship with the Synod’s sister churches in Canada (LCC), 
Finland (ELMDF), and the Philippines (LCP); and 
WHEREAS, The LM — A has been a full, voting member of the 
International Lutheran Council since September 2025; and 
WHEREAS, LM—A leadership has expressed a hope for altar and 
pulpit fellowship with the Synod; and 
WHEREAS, At its December 2025 meeting the CTCR 
unanimously recommended recognition of altar and pulpit 
fellowship with LM—A pursuant to Bylaw 3.9.5.2.2 (b)(2), which 
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 LM—A will hold its first churchwide convention 
in August 2026, at which time it hopes to recognize altar and pulpit 
fellowship with the LCMS; and 
W
HEREAS, President Matthew Harrison has expressed strong 
support for recognition of fellowship with LM — A, and has 
indicated his hope to be able to recognize fellowship at or after the 
LM—A’s first convention; 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 commend and support the 
CTCR’s recommendation to recognize altar and pulpit fellowship 
with the LM — A and President Harrison’s hope to do the same at 
the appropriate time; and be it further 
Resolved, That we give thanks to God for the faithful Lutheran 
witness the LM — A provides within its own country and beyond; 
and be it further 
Resolved, That we encourage and support the LM — A as they 
proclaim the saving Gospel of Jesus Christ to a lost world; and be it 
finally 
Resolved
, That as a sign of encouragement and support of the 
LM— A’s confession and witness and in joyful anticipation of our 
mutual recognition of altar and pulpit fellowship in the near future, 
the convention assembly rise and sing the common doxology. 
Commission on Theology and Church Relations 
Ov. 5-03 
To Address Concerns with  
Siberian Evangelical Lutheran Church 
WHEREAS, The Holy Scriptures enjoin us to maintain the unity 
of the faith in the bond of peace (Eph. 4:3, 13); and 
WHEREAS, The Lutheran Confessions state : “The church is the 
assembly of the saints in which the gospel is taught purely and the 
sacraments are administered rightly. And it is enough for the true 
unity of the church to agree concerning the teaching of the gospel 
and the administration of the sacr aments. It is not necessary that 
human traditions, rites or ceremonies instituted by human beings be 
alike everywhere” (AC VII 1–3, Kolb/Wengert); and 
W
HEREAS, “Apostolicity” in the Church is found not in a flesh-
and-blood lineage of men, but rather, in the apostolicity of doctrine,