Ad Crucem NewsLCMS 2026 ConventionThe archive
Prior Conventions of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod.
From the first synodical meeting in 1847 through the 2023 convention. Every workbook, proceedings volume, and handbook on record — 58 documented conventions across 180 calendar years, totalling 1.07 GB, free to read. Structured data drill-downs (overtures, reports, named delegates) are coming year by year as the corpus is ingested.
- Conventions581847–2026
- Workbooks16
- Proceedings48
- Handbooks33
1940s
4 conventions1930s
4 conventions1920s
5 conventions1910s
1 convention1870s
1 convention1860s
1 convention1840s
3 conventionsAd Crucem NewsLCMS 2026 ConventionOn the cadence
How the convention schedule has shifted.
The Synod has not always met on the same cadence. From 1847 to 1854 conventions were annual; through the late 19th and early 20th centuries the schedule was triennial with occasional emergency sessions; since 1969 the convention has met every three years.
Proceedings coverage is now complete for every recovered convention, including the recently-added 1959, 2013, 2019, and 2023 volumes. Workbook coverage is the remaining gap — we’re missing the printed workbooks for 1971, 1977, 1979, 1986, 1989, and 1992. Handbooks span 1873 (the first edition, in German) through 2016.
The earliest documents are in German Fraktur and will require dedicated OCR + translation work before they enter the structured data layer. They’re available here as PDFs now.
The active 2026 convention has its own primary navigation elsewhere on this site. This archive covers everything before it.