Official Workbook PDF page source text

2026 Convention Workbook 6

OFFICER, BOARD, AND COMMISSION REPORTS

send theologians to strengthen sister and associate churches in confessional Lutheran theology and receive students for formation as pastors and church leaders. CR, OIM, and the seminaries are working more closely together than ever: Last December we conducted a global summit to ensure mutually supportive theological education goals in courses, educators, and objectives. The Commission on Theology and Church Relations (CTCR) conducts critical reviews and recommendations for convention approval for recognizing altar and pulpit fellowship. LCMS members, congregations, and districts provide prayers, offerings, and ministry support coordinated through CR, and work in their own backyard with the global church diaspora. Finally, the International Lutheran Council (ILC)

promotes confessional Lutheranism around the world through conferences, leadership programs, and mutual encouragement.

CR prioritizes three ways of ecclesiastical support: the annual International Church Relations Conference (ICRC), regional gatherings, and church body visitation. In each year of the last trienni - um, CR sponsored about 100 international church body presidents, bishops, and leaders at its ICRC held in Wittenberg, Germany.

ICRC themes were “Confessional Lutheran Leadership under the Cross” (ICRC 2023), “Christ—The Lord of History” (ICRC 2024), and “Church Body Fellowship” (ICRC 2025). The purpose of the ICRC is to enhance unity in Christ and His Word in worldwide confessional Lutheranism through theological presentations, thoughtful discussion, edifying worship, invigorated friendship, and mutual support. International speakers, multi-lingual liturgies, and cultur - al/theological outings round out the ICRC experience. Each ICRC publishes a book of essays and select video presentations as sister and associate church take-home resources.

1 Regional gatherings discuss church body opportunities, challenges, and partner support, and offer well-attended theological education. Church body visitations help build strong relationships, mutual trust, and collaborative plans, with time for theological dialogue and education.

Some CR Highlights by Region Europe Lutheran World Federation (LWF) 13th Assembly, Sept. 13–19, 2023, Kraków, Poland In September 2023, Dr. Shaw attended the every-seven-year LWF Assembly in visitor status. The essays, public statements, and adopted resolutions followed the LWF’s 50-year decline—its rejection of the historic Lutheran doctrine of justification and the related practice of church unity, its arc toward secular humanism, its self-definition as a practicing communion based on reconciled diversity, its confusion of the two kingdoms, and its tragic loss of the Gospel of free forgiveness of sins and justification by faith in Christ. Instead, a liberal agenda of political, social, sexual, gender, and environmental justice and reconciliation was propagated.

There were some changes compared to past LWF assemblies: an increased use of Lutheran terms given new meanings, explicit condemnations of those who teach the verbal inspiration of Scripture with an intended sense, and a soft-pedaling of sexual and gender issues problematic to the Global South. Christ became the divine disruptor of the status quo, the theology of the cross became Christ taking on the vulnerabilities of the human body to suffer violence at the hands of the unjust power structures of His day, and the Gospel became the human work of serving “bodies of displaced, marginalized and excluded people around the world.” 2 At the January 2024 Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort The Word of God is a powerful and active Word that conveys its own meaning, movement, and purpose. The Word that creates personal faith, and sanctifies and enlivens the whole Christian Church, is the same Word that unites the faithful. Holding to God’s Word alone in Christ is the basis of our faith, the biblical principle for ecumenism, and the means for recognizing church body fellowship so that the churches may rightly collaborate in Word and Sacrament ministry. No ambiguities in, additions to, or subtractions from God’s Word may be allowed. We hold to God’s Word alone in Christ!

Church Relations Overview LCMS Church Relations (CR) is part of the LCMS Office of the President. The President of Synod is the Synod’s Chief Ecumenical Officer and oversees all LCMS global ecclesiastical relations. On his behalf and based on his guidance, the CR staff provide daily strategic-, operational-, and tactical-level leadership, planning, and support for confessional Lutheran “bishop-to-bishop” relations worldwide. Rev. Dr. Jonathan E. Shaw is the CR director, Rev. Michael N. Frese is the CR deputy director, and Rev. James A. Krikava is the CR area representative for Europe and North America.

The Rev. James Krikava will retire from his position as LCMS Church Relations area representative for Europe and North America on July 31, 2026, having served in this position with distinction and faithfulness since April 2024. His service to the LCMS extends back to 2014 when, having been ordained in the Evangelical Lutheran Synod in 1983, he joined the LCMS ministerium through colloquy to serve as regional director for the OIM Eurasia Region (2015–22) and later as associate executive director for the Office of International Mission (OIM). Rev. Krikava’s extensive missionary experience in the Czech Republic and Eastern Europe (1990– 2006), combined with his pastoral ministry and theological educa - tion background, uniquely equipped him for fostering confessional Lutheran relationships across Europe and North America. His remarkable musical gifts—occasionally heard echoing in Wittenberg and LCMS conventions—enriched his service to the church. The LCMS gives thanks to God for his decades of faithful service in advancing church fellowship in Christ worldwide, for his wise counsel in navigating complex ecclesiastical relationships, and for his steadfast commitment to the Gospel and the Lutheran Confessions.

As he reminds us, “Always more Lutheran, never less!” We commend him and his wife, Peggy, to the Lord’s continued blessing as they celebrate 50 years of marriage in September 2026 and enjoy their family of two daughters and one son, their spouses, and ten grandchildren.

The purpose of CR is to advance church fellowship in Christ worldwide. Toward this end, the CR mission is to collaborate with sister churches (43) in altar and pulpit fellowship, strengthen associate churches (38) toward future fellowship, and work with other church bodies (23) for faithful ecumenism. These 104 church bodies in 73 countries represent 22 million people. For a list of these churches and a practical way to pray for them, with details on the three categories of ecclesiastical relations, see the end of this report.

CR works with vital stakeholders in its mission. First are the leaders of supported sister, associate, and other church bodies, placed by God in their churches to teach the Gospel in all its arti - cles, reflect confessional unity in historic worship, protect against false doctrine and practice, and share the diversity of God’s gifts for the common good. The OIM plants Lutheran missions and conducts missions-based theological education. Our two Synod seminaries