Church Relations

The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod

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While the LCMS is a uniquely North American church body, it has relationships of varying degrees with 70 other Lutheran church bodies in 58 countries around the globe.

Needless to say, all of these church bodies are unapologetically Lutheran, confessing — at a minimum — the three ecumenical creeds and the Augsburg Confession.

The LCMS communicates and cooperates with these other church bodies in many areas, such as ecumenical relations, theology, theological education, mission, and mercy.

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  The LCMS Office of Church Relations

  The President shall be the chief ecumenical officer of the Synod … He or his representatives shall represent the Synod in official contacts with other church bodies (Bylaw 3.3.1.1.2 (a)).

  The LCMS President is the chief ecumenical officer of the LCMS and, as such, has the primary responsibility for managing these many relationships.

  Because of the size and ever-growing scope of these relationships, the LCMS President delegates this authority to a unit within his office called the Office of Church Relations, which manages these many international relationships under his direction and on his behalf.

  The Office of Church Relations, then, serves as the official channel through which inter-church cooperation takes place in the LCMS. On behalf of the LCMS, then, the Office of Church Relations:

  • engages in church-to-church relations with national Lutheran church bodies;
  • engages in church-to-church relations with international Lutheran church bodies;
  • engages in ecumenical relations with national non-Lutheran church bodies;
  • deploys representatives of the LCMS President around the world;
  • provides scholarships and other support for theological education around the world;
  • represents the LCMS in international fora such as the International Lutheran Council (ILC) and the Lutheran World Federation (LWF); and
  • connects LCMS members, pastors, and congregations in North America to other church bodies around the world.

 

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Sister Church Bodies in Fellowship with the LCMS

The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod has partner churches around the world. A partner church is a church body with whom the LCMS has full altar and pulpit fellowship.

View partner churches

Church Bodies Working Toward Fellowship with the LCMS

The LCMS has allied relationships with several churches.

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• • Australia — Lutheran Church of Australia
  • Belgium — Evangelical Lutheran Church in Belgium
  • Bolivia — Evangelical Christian Lutheran Church of Bolivia
  • Cambodia — Evangelical Lutheran Church of Cambodia
  • Czech Republic — Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession in the Czech Republic
  • Czech Republic — Silesian Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession
  • Ethiopia — Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus
  • Finland — Evangelical Lutheran Mission Diocese of Finland
  • Indonesia — Indonesian Lutheran Christian Church
  • Kazakhstan — Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Republic of Kazakhstan
  • Nicaragua — Lutheran Church Synod of Nicaragua
  • Norway — Evangelical Lutheran Diocese in Norway
  • Peru — Evangelical Lutheran Church—Peru
  • Portugal — Portuguese Evangelical Lutheran Church
  • Rwanda — Lutheran Mission in Africa—Synod of Thousand Hills
  • Sierra Leone — Christ Evangelical Lutheran Church—Sierra Leone
  • South Africa — Confessional Lutheran Synod of South Africa
  • South Sudan — South Sudan Evangelical Lutheran Church
  • Sweden — Mission Province in Sweden
  • Tanzania — Lutheran Church of East Africa
  • Turkey — Istanbul Lutheran Church
  • Uganda — Lutheran Church of Uganda
  • Ukraine — German Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Ukraine
  • United States — The Lutheran Ministerium and Synod—USA

Church Bodies in Another Relationship with the LCMS

The LCMS has nascent dialogue with churches around the world.

• View churches with emerging relationships
• • Burma — Myanmar Lutheran Church
  • Colombia — Confessional Lutheran Church of Colombia
  • Ethiopia — Ethiopian Evangelical Lutheran Church
  • Madagascar — Malagasy Lutheran Church
  • Malaysia — Evangelical Lutheran Church in Malaysia
  • Norway — Evangelical Lutheran Denomination
  • Norway — Norwegian Lutheran Mission
  • Singapore — Lutheran Church in Singapore
  • South Sudan — Evangelical Lutheran Church in Sudan and South Sudan
  • Tanzania — Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania

 

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General Information

 

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Church Fellowship

Article VI: Church Fellowship

At the 2010 LCMS Convention, the Synod passed Resolution 8-30B titled, “Congregations Walking Together in Mission with Covenants of Love To Study Article VI of the Synod’s Constitution.”

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• The resolution noted that Article VI of the Synod’s constitution has been misunderstood, in particular the clauses, “Renunciation of unionism and syncretism of every description;” “Exclusive use of doctrinally pure agenda, hymnbooks, and catechisms in church and school;” and “examination and approval of [congregation’s] constitution and bylaws by the district.”

  Resolution 8-30B resolves, among other things, “That the President of the Synod in consultation [with COP, CTCR, CCM] ... make provisions for the preparation of materials that explain the biblical, confessional, and historical basis for Article VI of the Synod’s Constitution.”

Dialogue With Other Church Bodies

The LCMS Commission on Theology and Church Relations in 2011 adopted a report entitled “Theological Dialogue with Other Christian Church Bodies.”

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• The LCMS Commission on Theology and Church Relations in 2011 adopted a report entitled “Theological Dialogue with Other Christian Church Bodies.”

  The report concludes: “At no point, however, should dialogue with other Christians be allowed to deny or to gloss over areas of theological disagreement. Authentic ecumenical dialogue must always be in the service of the truth of God’s Word, centered in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The Church has no higher treasure.”

   Download and read report

Policies

In 2014, the LCMS Commission on Theology and Church Relations adopted and revised a policy entitled “Policy for The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod Declaring Altar and Pulpit Fellowship with Another Church Body.”

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• The report begins:

  “Article III of the constitution of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod lists as the first objective of the Synod that:

  The Synod, under Scripture and the Lutheran Confessions, shall—Conserve and promote the unity of the true faith (Eph. 4:3-6; 1 Cor. 1:10), work through its official structure toward fellowship with other Christian church bodies, and provide a united defense against schism, sectarianism (Rom. 16:17), and heresy.

  This policy statement describes the procedure which The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod follows in declaring Church Fellowship with another church body.”

   Download and read report

Letters and Statements

The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod has written several letters and statements, including some co-authored by other church bodies, on a variety of topics in church relations.

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• • LCMS and LCC Joint Statement on Koinonia Meetings — 2023
  • LCMS and LCC Joint Statement on Mission and Ministry in Canada — 2022
  • Joint letter from LCMS President Harrison and presidents of WELS and ELS to U.S. Attorney General — 2022
  • LCMS, LCC and NALC Leaders Release Joint Statement on Scripture — 2016
  • LCMS, LCC and ACNA release interim report on ecumenical dialogue — 2016
  • Report on Meetings with ELS, LCMS, and WELS Leaders — 2012–2015
  • The ELCA/Reformed Formula of Agreement in Confessional Lutheran Perspective — 1999
  • The Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification in Confessional Lutheran Perspective — 1999
  • The Porvoo Statement and Declaration in Confessional Lutheran Perspective — 1999
  • A Response to “The U.S. Lutheran-Roman Catholic Dialogue Report VIII: The One Mediator, the Saints, and Mary” — 1994
  • A Response to “The U. S. Lutheran-Roman Catholic Dialogue Report VII: Justification by Faith” — 1992
  • The LCMS Response to the Commission on Faith and Order of the World Council of Churches to the Text of “Baptism, Eucharist and Ministry” — 1985