Official Workbook PDF page source text

Ov. 8-06

To Direct Concordia Publishing House to Eliminate Shipping Charges

WHEREAS, Concordia Publishing House (CPH) serves as the official publishing arm of the Synod, providing essential Lutheran resources, books, curricula, and materials to support the faith, teaching, and mission of congregations, church workers, and individual members; and

WHEREAS, CPH currently charges shipping fees on most orders, with limited exceptions such as free shipping for rostered church workers on orders over $49, which can create financial barriers for smaller purchases by individuals, small congregations, or those in remote areas, potentially limiting access to vital confessional Lutheran materials; and

WHEREAS, In today’s competitive online retail market, many general book retailers offer free shipping to encourage customer loyalty and accessibility, demonstrating that low or no-cost shipping thresholds are standard practices that reduce friction in purchasing and boost overall sales volume; and

WHEREAS, Numerous Christian publishers and retailers have adopted similar shipping policies to CPH, such as Moody Publishers (free economy shipping on orders over $35, moodypublishers.com/faqs), Lifeway (free standard shipping on qualifying orders over $100, lifeway.com/en/about/shippinginformation), Hendrickson Publishers (free shipping on orders over $50, hendricksonpublishers.com/faq), Tyndale House Publishers (free shipping on orders over $50, tyndale.com/faq), and Christianbook (free shipping on orders over $50 with code, christianbook.com), aligning their operations with market expectations to better serve their religious communities; and

WHEREAS, Eliminating shipping charges would position CPH as a leader among faith -based publishers by removing cost barriers entirely, making it more competitive than other Christian publishers and retailers, and encouraging broader dissemination of Synodapproved materials to foster evangelism, catechesis, and doctrinal unity, in keeping with the Synod’s mission to “vigorously make known the love of Christ by word and deed” (1998 Res. 1-01A, “To Adopt a Mission Statement for the Synod,” Proc., 101); and

WHEREAS, Past Synod conventions have successfully passed resolutions directing Synod-related entities to adjust operational practices for the benefit of the church body, such as resolutions on national witness, reaffirming evangelism resources and supporting small congregati ons (2019 Res. 1-01A, “To Encourage God’s People to Engage in Active Witness” and Res. 1 -03, “To Study Shared Ministry among Small Congregations”) and resolutions on structure and administration, streamlining governance for efficiency (2023 Res. 9-01, “To Amend Bylaws to Provide Clarity for Cross-Circuit and Cross-District Multi-Congregation Parishes” and Res. 9 -08A, “To Strengthen Nonvoting Advisory Delegate Participation at Conventions”), providing precedent for guiding CPH toward policies tha t enhance accessibility and affordability;

therefore be it

Resolved, That the Synod in convention direct the CPH Board of Directors to implement a policy eliminating all shipping charges on domestic orders, regardless of order size, effective no later than Jan.

1, 2027; and be it further

Resolved, That CPH be encouraged to explore cost -recovery measures, such as modest price adjustments on high-volume items, if necessary, while maintaining overall affordability to ensure the long-term sustainability of this policy in service to the Synod’s members and mission.

Christ Milford, MI

Ov. 8-07

To Use Only Sustainable Bible Translations

WHEREAS, We accept without reservation that the Scriptures of the Old and the New Testament are “the written Word of God and the only rule and norm of faith and of practice” (Const. Art. II); and

WHEREAS, Passages of Holy Scripture are used throughout the hymnals, catechisms, and other printed resources of the Synod: “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness” (2 Tim. 3:16 KJV); translations should be both consistent (for memorization and instruction) and faithful; and

WHEREAS, As Luther writes in the Small Catechism Preface (9), “Choose, therefore, the form of words which best pleases you, and adhere to it perpetually” (H.E. Jacobs ed., Book of Concord, [Philadelphia: General Council, 1908], 360); and

WHEREAS, Our printed resources must use accurate and consistent translations of Holy Scripture from the original biblical languages into the language of the people: “For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.” (Rev. 22:18–19 KJV); and

WHEREAS, The copyright for the English Standard Version (ESV) is not controlled by the Synod but is owned by Crossway, a pan-Reformed entity that does not subscribe to a Lutheran understanding of the Sacraments of Holy Baptism and the Lord’s Supper (see crossway.org/statement-of-faith); and

WHEREAS, Crossway retains the right to change the text of the ESV and has done so on multiple occasions making hundreds of changes (see bible -researcher.com/esv2011changes.pdf), with the result that the prior versions are no longer licensed, similar to the situation that occurred when the 1984 New International Version of the Bible (at one time, a primary translation used by the Synod) was withdrawn by its copyright owners, for cing the Synod to change translations after only 25 years; and

WHEREAS, This creates an untenable situation with respect to printed materials of the Synod, because although Concordia Publishing House (CPH) asserts that it has the right to use the prior translation to reprint existing materials, Crossway is not obligated to a llow CPH to issue newly published written resources of the Synod that use the original versions of the ESV and moreover, if one buys a non-CPH ESV Bible today, it will differ from what CPH produces; and

WHEREAS, Contemporary or political considerations should not impact the faithful translation of God’s Word, yet the ESV has chosen to replace the word “slave” in its original translation with the word “bondservant” in many verses because, according to the ESV editors, “the word ‘slave’ currently carries associations with the often brutal and dehumanizing institution of slavery particularly in nineteenth-century America” ( esv.org/preface ) as though we 2026 Convention Workbook

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