WORLD – Near the end of May, the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Ghana celebrated the reception of a large shipment of Lutheran books from Concordia Publishing House (CPH) and the International Lutheran Council (ILC)—an event being repeated in numerous countries around the world.
“These books are valuable gifts that will greatly enrich our individual libraries, enhance our learning, and strengthen our teaching and ministry to our congregations,” said ELCG President John Shadrack Donkoh, noting the works are being distributed to pastors, evangelists, and vicars across the country. The new resources, he said, will contribute “to the growth of theological education and the spiritual development of church workers in Ghana.”
Ghana is just one of many ILC member church bodies to benefit from an ongoing initiative of the ILC and CPH to get faithful Lutheran resources into the hands of Lutheran seminaries and local pastors around the world. Under the program, CPH has provided the ILC with hundreds of thousands of dollars in grants to sponsor the purchase of CPH products for ILC member churches, while the ILC handles administration and shipping. The ILC consults with member churches to identify their specific needs and ensure those are the works they receive.
“We’re delighted to partner with Concordia Publishing House in this endeavour,” said ILC General Secretary Klaus Detlev Schulz. “CPH is the premier English-language provider of books faithful to Scripture and the Lutheran Confessions, and we are deeply grateful for their generosity and partnership in this project. May God bless the ILC member churches who are receiving these resources as they put them to use!”
Popular works selected so far have included Lutheran Study Bibles, Pastoral Care Companions, Lutheran Service Books, Small Catechisms, and Concordia Commentary volumes. Other resources selected have ranged from school curriculum to homiletics to Reformation-era works, among numerous other subjects.
In 2026, the CPH has granted the ILC $200,000 in books and resources to expand the church libraries of parish pastors in ILC member church bodies. This year’s focus is intended to support the ministry of pastors and congregations on the ground level in a meaningful and tangible way.
Books distributed in 2025, meanwhile, focused on supplying additional resources to the seminaries of church bodies participating in the ILC’s Lutheran Leadership Development Program (LLDP), a program which is also supported by Concordia Publishing House. In total, CPH provided $100,000 in books to the ILC in 2025 for seminaries around the world.
ILC member churches which have been recipients under the program so far hail from numerous countries, including Argentina, Canada, Finland, Ghana, Kenya, Korea, Madagascar, Mexico, Norway, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Russia, South Africa, Sudan and South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, and the United Kingdom.
In addition, participants in ILC events—like last year’s World Conference, June’s World Seminaries Conference, and July’s Extraordinary Assembly—have also received CPH resources under the program.
The International Lutheran Council is a global association of confessional Lutheran church bodies dedicated to the proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, grounded in the authority of Scripture and the Lutheran Confessions.
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