by Joshua Salzberg I August 25, 2023

I never imagined I’d find myself at a synodical convention of The Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod (LCMS).

The most charitable descriptions made the event sound like a drag — a deluge of necessary debates about bylaws and bureaucracy that sustain any man-made institution. Less-kind reviews had been relayed to me, in so many words, as a week of political grandstanding dressed up as denominational democracy entertaining a cabaret of heavily orchestrated predetermined outcomes.

Yikes.

So, you can imagine my mixed emotions when I “won” the opportunity to attend the 2023 LCMS Convention in Milwaukee, WI as a voting delegate. And while my first foray into convention (as it’s commonly called) proved the above descriptions to be accurate in many ways, I’m now convinced, much to my own surprise, that participating in the synodical convention is the most vital step an LCMS church worker or member can take to impact our church body’s decision-making.

In what follows, I'm going to do my best to give an overview of the convention highlights that are most relevant to Lutherans for Racial Justice (LRJ), give thanks for the progress that the LRJ community helped achieve, and do my darnedest to convince you (yes, YOU!) to start making plans to attend the 2026 LCMS Convention in Phoenix, AZ.

Prior to being selected as a voting delegate, I knew almost nothing about what convention was or how it worked. So for my fellow noobs, let me try to break it down in the simplest way possible:

• The LCMS Convention is an in-person meeting that happens every three years (four years this time because of Covid), primarily convened to make decisions that govern and guide the church body. The convention is 100% open to the public (and to watch online), but there are three types of delegates who directly participate in the process:

1. Pastoral Voting Delegates (one per circuit)
2. Lay Voting Delegates (one per circuit)
3. Advisory Delegates (every district gets an allotment based on its number of church workers). More on this further down this page…

• Voting sessions happen across five days from 8am-6pm (except the last day which ended at noon) and are broken up with catechism, worship, and guest speakers. Delegates debate and vote on candidates (like Concordia board members and Synodical VPs), LCMS bylaws, theological studies, and decisions that have far-reaching impacts (like changes in the Concordia University governance structure).

• Before and after business on the convention floor, delegates fill their time coordinating efforts with LCMS leaders from their region (called districts), writing amendments, strategizing, networking, and negotiating with floor committees.

I have to admit, participating in this event was way more involved than I thought it was going to be, but as you’ll see in the following recap, it was time well spent.

Nearly two years ago, people across the LRJ community began working on proposals to bring to their district conventions. That hard work led to the creation of task forces in at least five districts, charged to research each district's relationship with communities of color, assess the good and the bad, and develop recommendations for the district’s congregations, schools, and organizations. Those districts were joined by individual congregations in asking The LCMS to do this same study on a national level.

Thanks to the LRJ community’s efforts over the past months, the tireless work and winsome voices of LRJ delegates at the synodical convention, and the diligent work of the presiding convention committee:

I’m thrilled to report that The LCMS will be conducting the most thorough study on racism and multiethnic ministry that our church body has done in decades — perhaps ever.

This will be conducted via two avenues:

#1. A HISTORICAL STUDY will be conducted by The LCMS’ Office of National Mission in collaboration with Concordia Publishing House, and published as “a scholarly book and supporting materials on the successes, failures, and opportunities of the Synod’s ministry and outreach to communities of color, in commemoration of the 150th anniversary of black ministry in the Synod in 2027."

There are LCMS church workers and lay leaders alive today whose experience dates back to the civil rights movement of the 60s and their stories and experience would be invaluable contributions to this book. While I’d love for this project to be done on a tighter time schedule, I understand that these things take time and am hopeful that the time and budget will empower everyone involved to do this well.

Nearly 50 years ago, Concordia Publishing House (CPH) published Rev. Dr. Richard C. Dickinson’s book Roses and Thorns in honor of the centennial of LCMS Black Ministry. It is perhaps our church body’s best effort to paint a portrait of an underrepresented group’s relationship with The LCMS. Either way, it is an undeniably significant contribution to our church and country’s history. As a non-Lutheran historian from UCLA notes in the book’s foreword, Roses and Thorns “speaks lucidly to the contemporary status of all Black Americans.”

Thanks to the hard work of so many in our synod, the book commissioned at convention has the opportunity to be another landmark work, not only for LCMS history, but American history.

#2. A THEOLOGICAL REPORT will be produced by The LCMS’ Commission on Theology and Church Relations (CTCR), examining both contemporary expressions of racism as well as contemporary responses to racism. It has been 30 years since the CTCR was tasked to study racism and an update to the 1994 Report is desperately needed, on which both friends and critics of LRJ agree (unity!). It’s our hope and prayer that these studies will be conducted responsibly in consultation with a diverse group of Lutherans (in ethnicity, age, experience, and gender) as well as credible experts in these fields.

While we were successful in striking some unhelpful language in the preamble to this resolution, the wording still goes too far when it paints some contemporary topics (such as Diversity Equity & Inclusion, Black Lives Matter, Critical Race Theory) with a broad brush. I’m grateful that several in the LRJ community (and new friends as well) took to the floor to argue that these assertions conflict with the 2019 resolution’s definition of racism and should be left to the CTCR to study.

To the LRJ community, especially those directly impacted by these condemnations: I’m sorry that we failed to strike the language. That said, we are heartened by the efforts of everyone involved and will encourage the CTCR to be even more precise and nuanced in their work.

The Concordia-related resolutions that passed at convention are broadly summed up as the Synod:

• ESTABLISHING a new CUS governance structure, which will give the Synod more control over Concordias’ decision-making and less responsibility for academic accreditation and other obligations of an educational institution. An additional resolution was passed that will take certain voting privileges away from Concordia Regents who have been appointed to their position. As I understand it, Concordia leaders were cautiously, maybe agreeable to the final resolutions, which were softened from the original proposal.

• CALLING for Concordia University Texas’ (CTX) leadership to repent of the university’s move towards independent governance and for LCMS leadership to pursue disciplinary action and to resolve the matter. Amendments that called for third-party conflict mediation were rejected. For anyone unfamiliar with this situation:

At the 2019 convention, The LCMS voted to form a task force that would create a new governance structure for the CUS (as referenced above). A majority of CTX leadership had concerns about how this new structure would impact students and felt the synod was unresponsive to their concerns, leading to their move away from LCMS governance. At the 2023 convention, a motion was passed that allowed CTX president, Donald Christian, to speak from the convention floor. You can view the motion and his words here.

Most recently, CTX’s Board of Regents has recently declined to seat the new board members that were elected by the synodical convention, saying the election was in conflict with CTX’s bylaws. The Synod has requested a meeting with CTX to pursue further action.

UPDATE: The LCMS has filed a formal lawsuit against several individuals involved with Concordia University Texas' decision to form an independent governance. The CTX President's response can be read here.

This is an unresolved situation that will continue to develop in the coming months. Please keep Concordia Texas students and faculty in your prayers during what is an uncertain time for many.

• GIVING THANKS for Concordia New York & Concordia Portland, two of three CUS institutions to close within a four year period (alongside Concordia Selma, which was memorialized at the 2019 convention). There were proposals for studies of the Concordias’ closures, which were rejected. Rev. Matthew Harrison, who just entered his fifth term as president of The LCMS, spoke to the matter while presiding as convention chair. He interpreted the call for studies as an attempt to blame himself and other Synodical leaders. This may be an example of us talking past each other. From my perspective, the proposed studies were less about blame and more about learning how we might foster more sustainable institutions of higher education.

What do Concordia matters have to do with the concerns of Lutherans for Racial Justice?

As noted in the LRJ article FINDING CONCORDIA, Lutheran schools are increasingly torn between an ever-narrowing concept of LCMS Lutheran identity and their vocational calling to serve increasingly diverse student populations.

There are no easy solutions, but in the meantime, LRJ will continue to advocate for Lutheran school students. If we want to collect their tuition, federal loans, grants, and/or government vouchers, we’ll need to figure out how Lutheran schools can honor our faith tradition while meeting students where they’re at. And let’s not forget: there are so many in our Concordias and broader Lutheran school system who are doing just this! My hope is that we as a church body wouldn’t handcuff our teachers’ and administrators’ witness, but that we’d empower them to continue to be all things to all people for the sake of the gospel.

We'd need a whole other article to do this topic justice, as the convention covered a wide array of topics like The Ethnic Immigrant Institute of Theology, abortion, gender and sexuality, public schools, women in leadership, and many others.

Personally, I found some developments disappointing, such as Floor Committee 5 Chair's decision to pull a resolution affirming the new Annotated Luther’s Catechism, a decision that was reaffirmed by the convention delegates. [1] I found other developments encouraging, such as a movement to bring a resolution about international schools to the floor. While the resolution was not brought to the floor, I’ve heard that the effort prompted LCMS leadership to pursue meetings with the Lutheran Academy in Hong Kong to secure ties after the synod sold $22 million of their property to pay off CUS debt.

For a more detailed look at convention, check out this recap from Rev. Ben Squires. Ben also led a prayer walk to Milwaukee and organized LRJ’s delegate meetings before and during the convention. Susan Squires, Ben’s spouse, organizes LRJ's Thursday night meetups. Huge thanks to this power couple who never sleep (or drive, apparently).

With all this tireless work, the highlights of my convention experience were the LRJ meetups, which were made possible by generous donations from the LRJ Community. 

We had a great showing for two happy hours, which included visits from folks who serve in various LCMS leadership capacities as well as church workers and lay leaders. who were eager to connect with other LRJ-ers. On Sunday morning, we met up for coffee and prayer at a Milwaukee historical site in Cathedral Square that commemorates a key turning point in American history:

Two days later, the anti-slavery Republican Party formed, making Glover's emancipation a turning point that would eventually lead to the Civil War.

While we celebrated Joshua Glover's story, we also mourned a tragic one. Months after the Civil War began, right down the road from where Joshua Glover was freed, a mob of Irish immigrants (who themselves had often been targets of ethnic violence) lynched George Marshall Clark over a feud about racial integration.

The group discussed our church body’s roots as a German immigrant church – one that was persecuted and pressured to assimilate. We lamented the unique pains that historic white supremacy has inflicted on African American and European immigrant communities, giving thanks for God's grace which sets us free from greed and glory. We ended in prayer, asking that He, having washed us in the waters of baptism, would by His Spirit lead us in the way of Jesus, setting aside earthly status for selfless service.

That was President Matthew Harrison's reminder to delegates as he expanded on the theme during his opening report.

He gave examples of what it means to give a bold witness of God’s love and work in our contemporary context, which largely involved asserting The LCMS’ positions on cultural issues in the face of attacks from the outside world. This was a common motif across the many guest speakers during the week.

Bishop Juhana Pohjola and Dr. Päivi Räsänen from the Evangelical Lutheran Mission Diocese of Finland were invited to speak about their persecution for denouncing same sex relationships and women’s ordination. Rev. Christian Tiews, a missionary to Iranian immigrants in Germany, spent a good amount of his time talking about what was described as the “hateful religion” of Islam. In a moving gesture, Serge Mechewski of the German Evangelical Lutheran Church in Ukraine gifted President Harrison with a military helmet, dented from gunfire from the Russian invasion. As it turns out, the denomination denies Mechewski is their leader, having voted him out after efforts to bring the church body into alignment with LCMS stances on cultural issues.

“There are more ‘Here I Stand’ moments coming,” President Harrison said, referring to conflicts between the church body’s teachings on cultural issues and those considered outsiders.

Christian affiliation has been on the decline in the U.S., so I understand concerns about what the future holds for the congregations and schools of The LCMS. At the same time, I can't help but wonder what Martin Luther would think about his own stance against religious authorities on behalf of those considered outsiders being repackaged as a stance against outsiders -- and by the religious authorities themselves.

On that note, here is my biggest takeaway from The 2023 LCMS Convention:

Everyone should prayerfully consider participating in The 2026 LCMS Convention.

How can you participate?

#1. ATTEND CONVENTION as your circuit’s pastoral or lay delegate. Generally speaking, every circuit gets one of each (with some exceptions). Start talking with your pastor and circuit about being the next delegate a year before convention (summer 2025). There were many votes that the Lutherans for Racial Justice community cares about that were lost by just a few dozen votes. And beyond the votes themselves, your voice matters. Convention is a place where there are opportunities for your voice to be heard in the writing of resolutions, in meeting with floor committees and other leaders, and on the convention floor. Our church body needs your voice.

#2. ATTEND CONVENTION as an advisory delegate. Commissioned church workers (teachers, DCEs, etc) can’t attend conventions as voting delegates. Many tried to get that changed this year, to no avail,  which is unfortunate as that means there is little voting representation from our Lutheran school system. That said, advisory delegates are still able to speak on the convention floor and meet with floor committees, giving them lots of influence to change resolutions and sway votes. Each district has an allotment of advisory delegates, so reach out to your district the year before convention (summer 2025). 

#3. ATTEND your district convention, which happens the year before every Synodical Convention. The decisions made there can have more of an impact on your local congregation than even those made at national convention. And, again generally speaking, district conventions are easier to attend and cast your vote. Work conflicts prevented me from attending my own district convention last year, but my experience at synodical convention has motivated me to make a greater effort to participate on a local level.

#4. WRITE convention overtures in collaboration with LCMS veterans. LRJ’s successes at convention are credited to folks in the LRJ community, who wrote overtures for their district conventions as well as the national convention. Like it or not, decision-making in a church body like ours is a bureaucratic and political process. It’s just how institutions work.

Look, I’m not going to sugarcoat this: it can be disheartening to know that once resolutions get to the convention floor for a vote, the most you can do is to make them slightly better or less bad. After all, there was not a single resolution on the floor that was rejected by the 2023 convention voters. But we can’t let our cynicism interrupt the need to do what needs doing. Whatever the final outcomes, I can confidently say that this experience helped me form friendships, make allies, and acquire invaluable experience. 

Thanks to all who made LRJ’s efforts at convention a success.

Thanks to all who offered encouragement and support along the way.

Thanks be to God that our faith tradition carries the story of Love Incarnate that sacrifices earthly power for victory on a cross. May the Spirit of Grace leverage whatever worldly influence we have for the sake of others, that all may know they are a beloved image of The Way that heals the brokenhearted and sets captives free.

That’ll preach.

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Originally from St. Louis, MO, Josh is a lifelong LCMS Lutheran, co-founder of Lutherans for Racial Justice, and filmmaker living in Los Angeles, CA.

¹A previous version of this article stated that Floor Committee 5 pulled the resolution affirming the Annotated Catechism due to concerns about violent threats.

As seen in this video, the Floor Committee Chair's only formal comment on the resolution was: "After a great deal of consultation with the floor committee, we have decided to withdraw Resolution 5-14." That concluded business for Floor Committee 5 and there was no mention of violent threats from the Chairperson. The appeals that followed and President Harrison's comments on the matter can be seen in the above video (about 7min total), which gives further context. We apologize to the floor committee and anyone else who may have been impacted by the error.

We'd love to hear your feedback: info@lutheransforracialjustice.com.