Jesus is Lord! Jesus is Lord! This first, short creed of the Christian Church was confessed by Christ before Pilate (), fleshed out in the Apostles’ Creed for Baptism into Christ, and confessed robustly in the Nicene Creed for fellowship at His altar. “Jesus is Lord!” continues today as the summary of the Christian faith, the certainty of the forgiveness of our sins, and the power which creates church fellowship through faith in Christ.
To confess that Jesus is Lord means that Jesus is Yahweh, God from eternity, our Savior. The Son of God was sent by the Father to take on our human flesh by the power of the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Virgin Mary. As the God-Man, He kept the eternal Law of God for us by His holy life, He atoned for our sins on the altar of the cross by His substitutionary death, He justified sinners before God by His glorious resurrection from the dead, and He opened the kingdom of heaven to all believers by His victorious ascension into heaven. The redemptive words and deeds of Jesus have the power to create fellowship with God because Jesus is the Son of God, of one substance with the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit. That is why we preach Christ crucified! Faith and Baptism unite us with Christ, and by way of His shared human flesh, we are united with the Holy Trinity () and one another. This is the unity expressed in the LCMS Church Relations (CR) vision statement: “Worldwide confessional Lutheran churches … United in Christ’s Word, Gathered at His Altar, Witnessing to the World.” Fellowship in Christ is created by faith and Baptism, which unite us with Him and He with us (unio mystica). All believers in Christ are united internally in the “one holy, Christian and apostolic church” (una sancta). But because in this sinful world false doctrine and truth are often mixed with grave danger to souls, external or church fellowship may only be manifested where God’s saving Word is taught purely and Christ’s Sacraments are administered rightly according to His institution. These are the external marks of the Church through which the Spirit works (Apology of the Augsburg Confession [Ap] VII and VIII 5). Thus, Jesus prays for His disciples, “Father, … [grant] that they may be one as We are,” adding the means of that unity, “Sanctify them by Your Word. Your Word is truth” (, 17). Church unity is confessional unity, agreement in the truth of God’s sanctifying Word. Article VII of the Augsburg Confession puts it this way: “For this is enough for the true unity of the Christian Church, that there the Gospel is preached unanimously according to a pure understanding, and the Sacraments are administered in conformity with the divine Word” (Augsburg Confession [AC] VII 2, German text, our translation). In sum, we confess the Holy Scriptures as the inspired, inerrant Word of God, the only rule and norm of faith and practice, and we subscribe to the entire Book of Concord as a faithful exposition of the Word of God (quia subscription). The purpose of CR is to advance church fellowship in Christ worldwide. As part of the LCMS Office of the President, CR collaborates with 42 sister church body “partners” to share Christ’s Word and Sacraments, strengthens 40 church body “friends” toward future fellowship, and engages 19 “other” church bodies for faithful ecumenism and united ethical expression to the world. With partners—those with whom we are in altar and pulpit fellowship— we share Word and Sacrament, meet to study the Word, and address church challenges together. With friends, we cooperate in theological dialogue, education, and/or mercy support to move toward future fellowship, God willing. With others, we practice faithful ecumenism to be honest about our theological differences, grow in mutual understanding, and work on Christian ethics statements to bear witness to the world. We seek to confess the goodness and value of God’s created orders … of all human life (from the unborn to the very old, and those of every race and culture), of human sexuality (being made male or female, and instituting one man– one woman marriage), of the estate of government (for protecting
good and punishing evil; ), etc. For the list of our 101 LCMS partners, friends, and others, see the end of this report.
The Church Relations Team
The President of Synod is the Synod’s Chief Ecumenical Officer and represents the LCMS in its global church relations and its world leadership of confessional Lutheranism. Within the Office of the President and on his behalf, the CR director oversees day-today CR operations, planning, dialogues, conferences, and engagements. This position was vacant for two years prior to the calling of the Rev. Dr. Jonathan Shaw in May 2021. The Rev. Michael Frese was called to serve as CR deputy director in May 2022. In addition to the Office of the President CR team, many others play vital roles in advancing confessional Lutheran church fellowship in Christ worldwide. Most important are the 101 global church bodies themselves, with their presiding presidents and bishops. CR works together with them to support faithful fellowship, wise oversight, and effective leadership in meeting the challenges of the Church. LCMS members, congregations, and district presidents provide prayers, offerings, and ministry support coordinated through CR, and work in their own backyard with the global church diaspora. The Synod’s Commission on Theology and Church Relations (CTCR) conducts critical reviews and approvals when church bodies formally request consideration for altar and pulpit fellowship. The LCMS Office of International Mission (OIM) engages with nations around the world in preaching the Gospel, in conducting missions-based theological education, and in developing missions to become self-governing partner churches of the LCMS. Our two LCMS seminaries send world-class theologians around the globe to strengthen church partners and friends in confessional Lutheran theology and receive students for formation as pastors and church leaders. Finally, the International Lutheran Council (ILC), approaching its 30th anniversary, promotes confessional Lutheranism around the world through theological education, joint study, and mutual encouragement.
Some Recent CR Highlights by Region Europe In August 2021, President Harrison and Dr. Shaw attended the joyous consecration of Juhana Pohjola as Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Mission Diocese of Finland (ELMDF), a partner church of the LCMS. On the same visit in Loimaa, Finland, President Harrison, Dr. Shaw, and Bishop Pohjola met with Baltic confessional Lutheran leaders to discuss church persecution by the state, pastoral formation, and the boundaries of church fellowship. Additional dialogue participants included Bishop Thor Henrik With of the Evangelical Lutheran Diocese in Norway (DELSIN), Archbishop Janis Vanags of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Latvia (LELB), and Bishop Bengt Ådahl and the Rev. Dr. Rune Imberg of the Mission Province in Sweden. In a related action, the LCMS provided leadership to help generate and distribute the International Lutheran Church document signed June 25, 2021, by 50 global religious leaders, “A Protest and Call for Free Religious Speech in Finland: An International Lutheran Condemnation of the Unjust Criminal Prosecution of the Rev. Dr. Pohjola and Dr. Räsänen, and a Call for All People of Good Will to Support the Freedom of Religious Expression in Finland.” Bishop Pohjola and Minister of Parliament Räsänen stand accused of hate crimes for speaking to the church on divinely ordered human sexuality.
In November 2021, Dr. Shaw participated in the LCMS OIMsponsored Missio Dei (Mission of God) Conference in Wittenberg, Germany. His paper, “One Mission, Two Kingdoms, and Innumerable Uncertainties: Contending with Covid” provided principles from Holy Scripture and the Lutheran Confessions to address state challenges to the Church’s conduct of its divine services and ministry. In charting the way forward, the powers of the spiritual and civil governments must not be mixed. Pastors have no power to use force in their ministry. Civil officials have no power over the Church’s preaching, teaching, or sacramental life together. On Oct. 21, 2022, in Freising, Germany, President Harrison and his representatives from the LCMS met with Bishop Mas chew ski of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Ukraine (ELCU) to further explore possible altar and pulpit fellowship between the LCMS and the ELCU. This meeting followed up on an Aug. 3, 2021, LCMS– ELCU church relations meeting in Prague. Dr. Shaw facilitated the day long discussion around four main points: (1) Unity in Christ (una sancta, mystical union), (2) Unity in Confession (quia subscription), (3) Unity in the Way of Worship (ordo), and (4) Unity in the Church Working Together (martyria, diakonia, koinonia). The dialogue demonstrated clearly that President Harrison and Bishop Mas chew ski were confessing the same doctrine. Both were happy to move the process forward for fellowship recognition. Due to heavy fighting in Ukraine, Bishop Mas chew ski was unable to meet with the CTCR in December 2022, but he was able to travel and attend the CTCR meeting in February 2023. The Covid pandemic put a hold on the 2021 Old Latin School (OLS) fundraising tour of Wittenberg, but the extra time enabled planning for a much more robust tour. From Oct. 21 to Nov. 2, 2022, 28 LCMS laity and pastors participated in a once-in-a-lifetime tour of Luther land, beautiful Germany, Wittenberg, and the OLS. President Harrison, Vice-President Scott Murray, OLS Director Rev. Wilhelm Weber, CR staff, and others provided theological and historical commentary at each stop. We started in the beautiful Bavarian Alps (where the weather was unseasonably warm and sunny) and continued north into the heart of Lutheran and Reformation cities and sites—Heidelberg, Worms, Marburg, Eisenach, the Wartburg castle, Erfurt, Eisleben, Leipzig, Nuremberg, and Wittenberg. In Wittenberg, Rev. Weber gave a tour of the OLS, explained its Gospel mission for locals and visitors, and demonstrated its hospitality ministry; currently the OLS serves as a safe haven to Ukrainian refugees where they can live and worship in peace. Tour travelers generously contributed $53,500 for OLS ministry.
Africa In May 2022, CR hosted a seven-member delegation from the Malagasy Lutheran Church (FLM), a conservative Lutheran church body with over 4.5 million members. Along with the FLM president, the Rev. Dr. Denis Ra koto za fy, the team included the vice-president/bishop, the general secretary, the treasurer, a second bishop, a leading medical doctor, and the translator. Through visitations and theological discussions with LCMS leaders at the LCMS International Center, the CTCR, and the two seminaries, the FLM delegation became familiar with the LCMS, was heartened to witness a strong confession and fervent love in Christ, and was excited to move ahead with further dialogue and church body engagements aiming at possible future church fellowship. One of the immediate fruits of the FLM visitation was the request from the FLM High Committee, based on a petition from President Ra koto za fy, for the LCMS to send theologians to teach at their six seminaries and one graduate school of theology. This showed exemplary trust, as all their current instructors are from the FLM. Requested areas of instruction include li turgi cs, the Lutheran Confessions, and church leadership, with initial instruction at the graduate school of theology. As of the writing of this report, CR is scheduled to teach a one-week intensive in March 2023 at the graduate school in these areas. The March trip will also include visits to the FLM headquarters, congregations, and institutions of mercy. Going forward, plans will focus on available LCMS seminary professors, OIM theological educators, and others for FLM instruction. Following the September 2022 ILC World Conference in Kisumu, Kenya, the LCMS conducted its 2022 International Church Relations Conference Sept. 17–18, 2022, at the same location. All LCMS church body partners and select friends were invited. Five sessions addressed the top five joys and challenges of our confessional Lutheran partners (with presenters): (1) Pastoral Oversight and Visitation (President Harrison, LCMS), (2) Recruiting and Training Young, Faithful Pastors (President Geraldo Walmir Schüler, IELB, Brazil), (3) Confessing the Truth through Association: ILC and LWF (Dr. Naomichi Masaki, LCMS CTCR representative), (4) Arming for the Assaults of the Heterodox Woke: Ordination, Fellowship, Ethics, and Pandemic (Bishop Juhana Pohjola, ELMDF, Finland), and (5) Church Planting Today (Panel: Bishop S.M.A. Modise Maragelo, LCSA, South Africa; Archbishop Joseph Omolo, ECLK, Kenya; Bishop Torkild Masvie, LKNI, Norway and Iceland; President Y. Suviseshamuthu Muthu, IELC, India; President Timothy Teuscher, LCC, Canada; President Arturo Truenow, IELA, Argentina). Lively discussion confirmed the joys, addressed the challenges, and reinforced unity in the faith. During the third session, “Confessing the Truth through Association: ILC and LWF,” CR facilitated a discussion involving those partner churches who are also members of the Lutheran World Federation. The goal included meeting the intent of 2019 Resolution 5-07: “To Clarify the Relationship between LCMS Partner Churches and the Lutheran World Federation” (Proceedings, 152–53). The LCMS is currently in fellowship with 11 church bodies who are members of the LWF, nine of whom were represented at Kisumu. These partners expressed to the entire assembly that they understood their continued LWF affiliation not as being part of a “communion,” but a “federation.” They did not agree with LWF values and liberal theology, but continued with a confessional Lutheran voice of dissent for the truth. Most especially they rejected the LWF endorsement of open Communion and abandonment of biblical sexual ethics. Different church body leaders offered additional comments. One bishop of a church body with a decades-long LWF affiliation said that immediately leaving the LWF would be contentious for his church, so he was being careful and catechizing his pastors on the Confessions toward that end. Another bishop noted his firm resistance to LWF theology, but also his happiness to accept LWF scholarships and sponsorships for students. Yet another mentioned that he appreciated the social-humanitarian aspects of support, and inclusion in the broader Christian community. While at Kisumu, LCMS CR also met with representatives from the 10 church bodies which compose the African Union of Francophone Confessional Lutheran Churches. We discussed the theology, practice, and path for church fellowship with the LCMS and look forward to working together toward this goal. The highlight of the conference was the concluding Sunday Divine Service, when the LCMS and ELCSS/S (South Sudan/Sudan) gave thanks to God for their altar and pulpit fellowship. LCMS
President Harrison and the ELCSS/S Bishop Peter Anibati Abia read their respective letters of church fellowship and celebrated fellowship at the altar—thought to be a first for the LCMS. Over 60 archbishops, bishops, presidents, and lay representatives from LCMS partner churches around the world communed together, receiving the holy body and blood of Christ, for their forgiveness, life, and salvation, and in testimony of a united confession in His name. Many communicants commented that it was the most moving Divine Service they had ever experienced.
Asia At an April 2022 meeting in St. Louis between LCMS President Harrison and Rev. Eun Seob Kim, President of the Lutheran Church in Korea (LCK), the LCMS received the happy news of LCK internal church unity and peace but also word of an LCK 2021 convention action to study women’s ordination (WO). In response, a fraternal LCK–LCMS dialogue on WO was convened in January 2023 at Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, Ind. Two other topics were also discussed at President Kim’s request: recovering the historic Church practice of diakonia (by President Harrison) and documenting church history in Korea (by Dr. Daniel Harmelink, Executive Director, Concordia Historical Institute). The dialogue addressed WO in terms of the Apostles’ Creed, First Article (“The Ordination of Women and God’s First Article Gifts of Human Sexuality and Order in Creation,” Rev. Dr. Adam Hensley, Lutheran Church of Australia), Second Article (“Women’s Ordination: Government and Culture Ruling in the Place of Christ and His Apostles,” Rev. Dr. David Scaer), and Third Article (“Women’s Ordination and the Doctrine of Scripture,” Rev. Dr. Roland Ziegler). This successful dialogue led to an LCK invitation for a November 2023 LCMS theological education conference with LCK clergy to discuss these matters. As of the writing of this report, the Rev. Michael Frese will travel to Seoul, South Korea, as an observer of the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS) at their 2023 Confessional Evangelical Lutheran Conference (CELC) Convention in June 2023. CELC has 34 member churches and is a worldwide fellowship of confessional Lutheran church bodies. Like the ILC, the CELC exists to encourage confessional Lutherans, but unlike the ILC, it is a church fellowship, not an association. Following the CELC conference, Rev. Frese will meet LCK leaders and Luther University faculties, and will discuss plans for the upcoming LCMS–LCK November 2023 theological education conference. In May and June 2022, Dr. Shaw joined a number of LCMS leaders in a combined effort with international missions (Rev. Charles Ferry, Rev. Dr. Arthur Just, Rev. Dr. Charles Cort wright, and Rev. Steven Mahlburg), the Concordia Historical Institute (Rev. Dr. Daniel Harmelink), LCMS Disaster Response (Rev. Dr. Ross Johnson), and CTSFW pastoral ministry and missions (Rev. Dr. Detlev Schultz). The team visited Concordia Theological Seminary in Nagercoil, of the India Evangelical Lutheran Church (IELC), to dedicate the seminary’s four-year rebuild following an enormously destructive hurricane, to discuss fellowship and theological development, to conduct a “Theology of the Cross” refresher course for 200 IELC pastors, to review IELC historical documentation, and to support the seminary graduation. Afterward, leaders traveled north for an initial visit to Bible Faith Lutheran Church, with 43 congregations located in remote villages in a 70-mile radius of Guntur. The purpose of the visit was to meet with Bishop Shalem, Bishop Bhanu, and other BFLC pastors; visit congregations; and get to
know the church better for church relations. May God bless this confessional Lutheran church body. Regarding the Japan Lutheran Church (JLC) and the 2023 Synod convention consideration of the dissolution of fellowship with the JLC, please review the CTCR Convention Report (Report R14). Significantly, on Sept. 16, 2022, in Kisumu, Kenya, Rev. Tatsuomi Yoshida, president of Japan Lutheran Church (JLC or NRK), met with Dr. Shaw, LCMS CR director. Dr. Shaw arranged the meeting, seeking a possible positive way to address church relations with the JLC in light of the JLC’s Apr. 29, 2021, decision at its 18th General Convention to ordain women to the pastoral office. Dr. Shaw asked President Yoshida if there might be a possibility of the JLC limiting its ordination of women—perhaps allowing those currently ordained to continue serving, but ordaining no more women—or reassessing its practice of ordaining women, or later ending the ordination of women. After a period of silent contemplation, President Yoshida responded, “No, this is what we decided and are practicing—women’s ordination—now and for the foreseeable future.” What a sad, adamant rejection of the Father’s order of creation, its applicability within the office of the pastoral ministry as established by Christ through His apostles, and the authoritative, Spirit inspired Word of God which establishes male-only ordination to the pastoral office. The LCMS continues its outreach to invigorate a confessional Lutheran presence in Japan through its missionaries, through Pastor Manubu Wakabayashi, and others. In February 2023, Dr. Shaw attended the 20th Convention of the General Synod of the Lutheran Church of Australia (LCA) at the invitation of LCA Bishop Paul Smith. The convention passed a resolution “to work through various theological, constitutional, and governance requirements to operate as one church with two different ordination practices … with the expectation of women’s ordination” beginning as early as 2024. The plan would seek a subsequent two-thirds majority vote at the 2024 convention to change the LCA Constitution to allow for women’s ordination, although Bishop Smith allowed that a decision for women’s ordination might be achievable with a simple majority. The convention also dismissed the 1875 Galesburg Rule, “Lutheran pulpits and Lutheran altars for Lutherans only,” citing it as too restrictive. (The LCMS never accepted the rule, judging it to be too loose and accommodating of those who were “Lutheran” in name only.) The LCMS is working to sustain confessional Lutheranism in Australia.
South America
The December 2021 ILC Latin America Regional Conference in Mexico City allowed good LCMS CR coordination with a myriad of South American partners and strengthening of the bonds of confessional unity. Rev. Geraldo Walmir Schüler, president of our sister church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Brazil (IELB), provided important bishop support for Bolivian ordinations (see next paragraph). In March 2022, Dr. Shaw accompanied the team of Rev. Ted Krey (OIM Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean, LAC) for meetings with the Christian Evangelical Lutheran Church of Bolivia (ICEL). OIM support and 10 years of theological education have well tilled the theological soil of ICEL. This meeting, scheduled as OIM’s first FORO in Bolivia, allowed time for CR dialogue with the Rev. Limberth Fernández, ICEL president. IELB Vice-President Rev. Airton S. Schroeder conducted ICEL ordinations with a quia subscription oath, the ICEL standard. ICEL has adjusted its constitution and bylaws as a confessional Lutheran church body. On July 18, 2022, ICEL officially requested the beginning of dialogue with the LCMS aimed at eventual recognition of altar and pulpit fellowship. Toward that end, an LCMS–ICEL theological dialogue is planned for April 2023, prior to President Fernández and other ICEL representatives meeting with the CTCR in its April 13–15, 2023, meeting. The June 2022 visit to the 63rd National Convention of the IELB held at Guarapari, Espírito Santo, Brazil, was momentous. Rev. Schüler was elected to a second term as president; the convention affirmed historic, Christian teaching on homosexual relations and the ordination of women; and the IELB and LCMS signed a working agreement for clergy calls between the two church bodies in support of our 1980 protocol document. The working agreement puts pulpit fellowship into action, addresses the ministry needs of the Portuguese-speaking diaspora in the U.S., and honors calling authorities and processes in both church bodies. The IELB is the oldest and largest sister church of the LCMS. CR looks forward to collaborating with Rev. Krey at the May 2023 OIM symposium for Central and South America church leaders to be held in the Dominican Republic. Current plans include a Church Relations Day to address protocol agreements, faithful confession, and emerging needs which flow from church body relations.
North America On conversations held with the Evangelical Lutheran Synod (ELS), the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Church (WELS), the North American Lutheran Church (NALC), and the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA), please see the CTCR Convention Report (Report R12). LCMS CR is thankful for the CTCR’s superb leadership in shepherding these past conversations, with CR assuming LCMS responsibility in July 2021. On Nov. 21–22, 2022, Lutheran Church—Canada (LCC) and LCMS representatives met in Windsor, Ontario, Canada, to discuss the work and scope of the LCMS English and SELC Districts in Canada. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss improving mission outreach, especially regarding new ethnic-specific congregations and mission starts, in light of the May 1988 protocol document between the two church bodies. For more information see the “LCMS and LCC Joint Statement on Mission and Ministry in Canada” posted on the lcms.org website. In accord with the “Joint Statement,” both church bodies met Feb. 26–28, 2023, at Christ Our King Lutheran Church (LCC) in Mississauga, Ontario, for a Koinonia meeting where the church body presidents, the English and SELC district presidents, the LCC regional leadership, and all affected pastors met with the “aim to enhance understanding of perspectives on mission and ministry, and to empower lively Word and Sacrament ministry in LCC and LCMS congregations in Canada.” On Jan. 31, 2023, the Rev. Dr. Cary Larson, presiding pastor of The American Association of Lutheran Churches (AALC), and the Rev. Dean Stoner met with Dr. Shaw and Rev. Frese to discuss the 2007 AALC–LCMS protocol document, two operating agreements, and forums for continued mutual support. In this CR meeting, the first since Dr. Larson was elected presiding pastor, he expressed his desire to strengthen our relationship for the sake of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. How pleasing it is for brothers to dwell together in unity in Christ! Jonathan E. Shaw, Director
Church Bodies with Whom the LCMS Has Active Church Relations
7
American Association of Lutheran Churches, AALC (U.S.) Lutheran Church of Uruguay, ILU
Lutheran Church of Venezuela, ILV Partner Churches (sister church bodies, in altar and Friends (church bodies cooperating with the LCMS in pulpit fellowship with the LCMS) Evangelical Lutheran Church of Argentina, IELA Evangelical Lutheran Church in Belgium, ELKB Evangelical Lutheran Church of Brazil, IELB Lutheran Church—Canada, LCC Confessional Lutheran Church of Chile, ILCC Evangelical Lutheran Free Church in Denmark, ELFCD The Evangelical Lutheran Church of England, ELCE Evangelical Lutheran Mission Diocese of Finland, ELMDF [1] Evangelical Lutheran Church—Synod of France, EEL—SF Independent Evangelical Lutheran Church, SELK (Germany) Evangelical Lutheran Church of Ghana, ELCG Lutheran Church of Guatemala, ILG The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Haiti, ELCH The Lutheran Church—Hong Kong, LCHKS India Evangelical Lutheran Church, IELC Japan Lutheran Church, JLC [2] Evangelical Lutheran Church in Almaty, ELCA (Kazakhstan) Evangelical Lutheran Church in Kenya, ELCK Lutheran Church in Korea, LCK Evangelical Lutheran Church of Latvia, LELB Evangelical Lutheran Church of Liberia, ELCL Evangelical Lutheran Church of Lithuania, LELB Lutheran Synod of Mexico, SLM Lutheran Church of Nigeria, LCN Lutheran Church in Norway and Iceland, LKNI Gutnius Lutheran Church, GLC (Papua New Guinea) Evangelical Lutheran Church of Paraguay, IELP The Lutheran Church in the Philippines, LCP Portuguese Evangelical Lutheran Church, IELP Siberian Evangelical Lutheran Church, SELC (Russia) Evangelical Lutheran Church of Ingria in Russia, ELCIR Free Evangelical Lutheran Synod in South Africa, FELSISA Lutheran Church in Southern Africa, LCSA Confessional Lutheran Church of South Africa, CLCSA Evangelical Lutheran Church in South Sudan and Sudan, ELCSS/S [3] Evangelical Lutheran Church of Spain, IELE, active OIM Mission [4] Ceylon Evangelical Lutheran Church, CELC, active OIM Mission (Sri Lanka) [5]
theological dialogue, education, and /or mercy) Lutheran Church of Australia, LCA
Lutheran Church in Africa—Synod of Benin, ELA—SBE Christian Evangelical Lutheran Church of Bolivia, ICEL Evangelical Lutheran Church of Burkina Faso, EELBF Lutheran Church in Africa—Synod of Burundi, ELA—SBU Cambodian Lutheran Church, CLC Evangelical Lutheran Church in East Congo, CELCE Evangelical Lutheran Confessional Church in the Congo, EELCC Evangelical Lutheran Church in Congo, EELC Lutheran Church in Africa—Synod Cote D’Ivoire, ELA—SCI (Ivory Coast) Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession in the Czech Republic, ECAV Silesian Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession, SCEAV (Czech Republic) Evangelical Lutheran Church of Eritrea, ELCE Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus, EECMY Ethiopian Evangelical Lutheran Church, EELC The Lutheran Church of The Gambia, LCG Evangelical Lutheran Church of Guinea, EELG Manipur Evangelical Lutheran Church, MELC (India) The Indonesian Lutheran Christian Church, GKLI West Japan Evangelical Lutheran Church, WJELC Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Republic of Kazakhstan, ELCRK Lutheran Church Concordia, LCC (Kyrgyzstan) Malagasy Lutheran Church, FLM (Madagascar) Confessional Lutheran Church—Malawi Synod, CLC—MS Evangelical Lutheran Church in Malaysia, ELCM Lutheran Church Synod of Nicaragua, ILSN Evangelical Lutheran Diocese in Norway, DELSIN Evangelical Lutheran Church of Panama, IELPA Evangelical Lutheran Church—Peru, IEL—P Lutheran Mission in Africa—Synod of Thousand Hills, LMA— STH (Rwanda) Christ Evangelical Lutheran Church—Sierra Leone, CELC—SL South Sudan Evangelical Lutheran Church, SSELC Mission Province in Sweden, MPS Confessional Lutheran Church in Switzerland, CLCS
China Evangelical Lutheran Church, CELC (Taiwan)
Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania, ELCT
Lutheran Church of Togo, ELT
Lutheran Church of East Africa, LCEA (Tanzania)
Istanbul Lutheran Church, ILK (Turkey) Lutheran Church of Uganda, LCU [6] Evangelical Lutheran Church of Ukraine, ELCU [7]
7. In accord with , recognition of LCMS–ELCU fellowship is under consideration at the 2023 Synod convention.