The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod Archives - International Lutheran Council

Posts tagged:

The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod

Bolivian Lutherans celebrate fellowship with LCMS

by Mathew Block | Jul 24, 2025

*ICEL President Limberth Fernández preaches for a Divine Service celebrating the recognition of fellowship between the ICEL and the LCMS. Photo: LCMS/Sarah Hjulberg*.

Dominican Republic – The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS) and the Evangelical Christian Lutheran Church of Bolivia (Iglesia Cristiana Evangélica Luterana de Bolivia – ICEL) recently celebrated the recognition of altar and pulpit fellowship between the two churches with their first joint Divine Service. The service was held May 24 in Palmar Arriba in the Dominican Republic, following the conclusion of this year’s symposium of LCMS partners in the Latin America and Caribbean region.

Formal fellowship talks between the two church bodies began in 2022 and concluded earlier this year. While fellowship agreements in the LCMS are formally recognized during the church’s triennial conventions, the LCMS authorizes its president to recognize fellowship with small church bodies in between conventions, provided the church’s Commission on Theology and Church Relations also gives its approval.

ICEL President Limberth Fernández preached for the joint Divine Service, while Rev. Ted Krey (LCMS Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean) led the Service of the Word in Spanish and Rev. Dr. Jonathan E. Shaw (LCMS Director of Church Relations) conducted the Service of the Sacrament in English.

A more extensive report on the recognition of fellowship between the two churches is available from the LCMS here.

The LCMS and the ICEL are both member churches of the International Lutheran Council, a global association of confessional Lutheran churches which proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ, grounded in the authority of Scripture and the Lutheran Confessions.

———————

Finland hosts Nordic bishops’ conference

by Mathew Block | Feb 28, 2025

*Participants in meetings of the Communion of Nordic Lutheran Dioceses.*. Back: LCMS Regional Director for Eurasia, Rev. David Preus; ELMDF Bishop Juhana Pohjola; and ELMDF Dean Joel Kerosuo. Front: ELMDF Bishop Emeritus Risto Soramies; DELSIN Bishop Thor Henrik With; Lutheran Foundation Bishop Emeritus Maati Väisänen; and MPS Bishop Bengt Ådahl.

FINLAND – On February 5, the Evangelical Lutheran Mission Diocese of Finland (Suomen evankelisluterilainen Lähetyshiippakunta – ELMDF) hosted a meeting of bishops from the Communion of Nordic Lutheran Dioceses.

Participating in the meetings were Bishop Thor Henrik With of the Evangelical-Lutheran Diocese in Norway (Det evangelisk-lutherske stift i Norge – DELSIN); Bishop Bengt Ådahl of the Mission Province in Sweden (Missionsprovinsen i Sverige – MPS); and ELMDF Bishop Juhana Pohjola, as well as his predecessors Bishop Emeritus Risto Soramies and Bishop Emeritus Maati Väisänen.

Also participating in the meetings were the ELMDF’s Diocesan Dean Joel Kerosuo and Rev. David Preus, Regional Director for Eurasia for The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS).

*Conversations during meetings of the bishops from the Communion of Nordic Lutheran Dioceses.*

“Gatherings like these are an important way to keep each other apprised of current events in our church bodies and to pray for each other and express the unity we have in shared confession,” said ELMDF Bishop Pohjola. “May God continue to strengthen our ties as we bear witness to the Gospel of Jesus Christ in this part of the world.”

Among other business, Bishop Pohjola noted, the meeting saw the church leaders discuss the office of bishop in the light of their churches’ shared Lutheran confession, as well as how the extra-congregational ministry of oversight is all about the Word and Sacrament ministry—sending men through ordination to serve at the pulpits and altars of local congregations, and to shepherd by visitation those who already serve. Discussion also noted how the office has sometimes become a cause of division in the Church for the sake of personal ambition or tolerance of false doctrine. It is important that bishops—through the office entrusted to them—support the common mission and unity of the Church across national borders, remaining faithful to the words of the OverShepherd.

The ELMDF, DELSIN, MP, and LCMS are all member churches of the International Lutheran Council (ILC), a global association of Lutheran church bodies and groups, dedicated to proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ on the basis of a shared commitment to the authority of Scripture and the Lutheran Confessions.

———————

News