Synod convention to begin with a ‘bang’

The gavel that will be used during the 69th Regular Convention of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS) dates to 1911. (LCMS/Erik M. Lunsford)

By Molly Lackey

Meetings that follow parliamentary procedures — like board meetings, congregational voters meetings and even the Synod convention — use gavels to call attention and bring order during raucous moments.

The gavel that will be used during the 69th Regular Convention of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS) is actually a special artifact with historical significance, which is why, at the beginning of the convention, it is presented to the Synod president by the executive director of Concordia Historical Institute (CHI), the official archive of the LCMS. The gavel itself is more than 100 years old, and the wood even older than that.

The Synod gavel — which former CHI director Rev. Dr. August R. “Auggie” Suelflow (1922–1999) referred to as the “synodal hammer” — was carved in 1911 from the wood of an oak tree felled in 1839. (The same tree was used to construct the Synod’s original log cabin seminary in Perry County, Mo.) Suelflow, who served as CHI director from 1948 to 1995, was invoking Jeremiah 51:20 in his name for the gavel: “You are my hammer and weapon of war.”

Publisher F. Theodor Lange (1866–1934) commissioned an unknown European artisan to carve the intricate piece in honor of the 100th anniversary of C.F.W. Walther’s birth. The carving work on the head of the gavel is intricate: One side bears the image of Martin Luther; the other, a portrait of Walther. The design also includes crosses, the Luther rose, the log cabin seminary and a German text from Romans 3:28, which reads (in English): “Thus we believe now, that man is justified by faith alone apart from the works of the law.”

Considering the gavel’s age and artisanal quality, it should come as no surprise that this important piece of Synod history is somewhat fragile. In fact, while the gavel has been used at every convention for the last 115 years, it has not typically been the only gavel used.

At the 1969 Synod convention, an ivory gavel was used for the bulk of convention proceedings, one that had been used at the Synod’s centennial convention held in 1947 in Chicago. More recently, high-quality replicas of the gavel have been produced by CHI. The original gavel is used to open and close convention, but to reduce the possibility of damage or breakage, it is swapped out for one of these sturdy stand-ins. When the Synod is not in convention, the gavel lives safe and sound in a display case at the entrance of the CHI museum located in the LCMS International Center in Kirkwood, Mo.

Ahead of the 1979 convention, Suelflow wrote to then LCMS President Rev. Dr. J.A.O. Preus: “As previously, I will be most happy to supply you with a substitute gavel which you can use to ‘gavel down’ any inordinate individual, obnoxious, and obstreperous, should you so desire. However, the prized gavel which has been in use at all conventions since 1911 really ought not to be taxed to such capacities. I know that you agree.”

When it comes to heirlooms and traditions, there are sometimes warring tendencies toward puffed-up self-importance and eye-rolling jadedness. Both are wrong. By stewarding pieces of our past — like the Synod gavel — we participate in a quiet sort of gratitude for the ways God has worked through means, including history, to use people and institutions to pass down “the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 1:3).

Molly Lackey (molly.lackey@lcms.org) is a staff writer for LCMS Communications.

2026 LCMS Convention

Under the theme “Christ Is Risen Indeed,” the 69th Regular Convention of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod met July 18–23, 2026, at the Phoenix Convention Center in downtown Phoenix.

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