CUS Board of Directors sends letter to CTX president

Concordia University System Board of Directors responds to actions taken by Concordia University Texas

September 20, 2024

Meeting in regular session at Concordia University Chicago, River Forest, Ill., on Sept. 19, 2024, the Concordia University System (CUS) Board of Directors unanimously resolved to deliver a letter to the leadership of Concordia University Texas (CTX), Austin, Texas. The letter, addressed to CTX President Don Christian, reads as follows:

The word “concordia” describes a state of unity. Its prominent position in the title of The Book of Concord: The Confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, published in 1580, proclaims a genuine unity of many churches bound together by a shared confession of the true faith. That is true “concordia.” “Concordia” is achieved when the many are made one by a confession made evident in proclamation and corresponding practice.

It is impossible to be “Concordia” and at the same time reject the unity that the name is meant to proclaim. An institution that abandons its founding church and the unity of that church cannot be “Concordia.” The disruptive, illegal attempts of Concordia University Texas (CTX), Austin, Texas, to separate itself from The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS) — a relationship established by mutual covenant duly defined in the Synod’s Constitution and Bylaws — and from the Synod’s component institutions, demonstrate that CTX uses the name falsely. The CUS Board of Directors condemns the actions of CTX to effect such separation — including the recent appointment of a president using an unauthorized search and approval process by a board of regents itself not legitimately constituted — as divisive, schismatic and un-Christian.

The CUS Board of Directors stands together in unity with our Synod and its Board of Directors, which is to say in true “concordia.” Our Synod spoke clearly in 2023 Resolution 7–03:

Resolved, That the Synod in convention call upon the CTX president, those CTX administrators who have advocated for and supported the purported separation, and the CTX BOR to submit to the governance of the Synod as laid out in the Constitution and Bylaws; and be it further

Resolved, That the Synod in convention call upon the CTX president, those CTX administrators who have advocated for and supported the purported separation, and the CTX BOR to repent for having broken the Fourth, Seventh, Ninth, and Tenth Commandments, and to apologize publicly for the illegitimate and wrongful purported separation; and be it finally

Resolved, That the President of Synod stand prepared to grant holy absolution to those who repent and want to do better by rescinding their actions resulting in reconciliation and restoration.

This is language affirmed by the entire Synod in convention in August 2023.

The CUS Board of Directors calls on the university in Texas that uses the name “Concordia” to reverse course and undo the damage it has done to itself and the countless faithful individuals and congregations that founded, prayed for, attended and selflessly supported the school over these many years. Jesus prayed: “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me” (John 17:20–21). We say to Concordia University Texas: Be reconciled to the church that mothered, nurtured and sustained you for so many years.

The Concordia University System Board of Directors

View/download letter

Read past stories and statements about this topic:

Statement from LCMS Board of Directors on CTX selection of president

Synod seeks reversal of CTX governance change

CTX Board of Regents declines to seat new members

LCMS BOD seeks meeting with CTX BOR

Delegates express desire for reconciliation for CTX, pass Resolution 7-03

Synod responds to CTX action to self-govern

LCMS files complaint against Concordia University Texas

Walking away: Concordia University Texas holds to ‘ill-advised course’