Expanded church relations, officer elections highlights second day of business at Missouri Synod convention

For Immediate Release
Contact:    Vicki Biggs, 314-996-1236, 314-556-3829 (cell), @theLCMS, @LCMSConvention

ST. LOUIS, July 22, 2013—Highlights of the second day of business at the 65th Regular Convention of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod included actions by delegates to support expanded relationships with four Lutheran church bodies, affirm efforts to strengthen the church’s Global Seminary Initiative and elect Synod officers. Special presentations honored missionaries and celebrated the service of military chaplains.  Here is a summary of day two at the convention:

With a vote of 986 to 12, delegates acted soundly to encourage support for the LCMS’ Global Seminary Initiative, which bears out the Synod’s mission priority of strengthening confessional Lutheranism by providing confessional Lutheran theological education around the world. This includes sending qualified instructors to teach around the world, as well as making it possible for divinity students to study as LCMS seminaries. Read more…

In nearly unanimous votes, delegates ratified altar and pulpit fellowship with the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Liberia and Siberian Evangelical Lutheran Church. Delegates also voted to encourage further discussions with the Wisconsin Evangelical Synod and Evangelical Lutheran Synod.

Read more about the Liberian church vote…

Read more about the Siberian church vote…

Delegates elected the Rev. Dr. Raymond L. Hartwig on the first ballot to his sixth three-year term as secretary of the LCMS. Read more…

Two LCMS board positions were up for election this year. Delegates elected Kathy A. Schultz from the Central Region and Gloria S. Edwards from the West-Southwest Region to the board. Elections for at-large positions on the board will take place Tuesday, July 23. Read more and see a map of regions…

The convention recognized four missionaries, representing the categories of mission service – short-term, GEO (globally engaged in outreach) and career – with a standing ovation. Dr. Alice Brauer, known as the LCMS “Mother Teresa” specifically was honored for her 45 years of service in India, the country to which the first LCMS missionary was sent in 1894. Read more…

Chaplain Mark Schreiber, director, LCMS Ministry to the Armed Forces, offered counsel on appropriate means for welcoming returning veterans and upholding them for their service to God and country. Read more…

Convention participants joined together for morning and afternoon prayers, hearing from preachers the Rev. Dr. Tilahun Mendedo, president of Concordia College, Selma, Ala., and the Rev. Gregory Seltz, speaker of “The Lutheran Hour,” respectively.

The Synod convention, which runs through July 25, serves as the principal legislative assembly for the church body. Along with the consideration of some 116 resolutions, the convention includes opportunities for worship and fellowship. Convention participants include 1,191 clergy and lay voting delegates.

To learn more about the Synod convention, visit www.lcms.org/convention. Live streaming video is available at www.lcms.org/convention/live.

About The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod
The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod is a biblical, confessional, witness-oriented Christian denomination with 2.3 million members – 600,000 households – in 6,200 congregations. Through acts of witness and mercy, the church carries out its mission worldwide to make known the love of Jesus Christ. Learn more at www.lcms.org.

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