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Concordia Seminary is the affiliated seminary of the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod in two locations St. Louis, Missouri and Fort Wayne, Indiana. Like other denominations, the LCMS is not immune to wokeness. However they are reticent to stand up against wokeness and eager to crack down on young Lutherans who oppose the liberal drift in their denomination. As with liberal drift historically, seminaries are often where they start. A former professor of Concordia Seminary write an article on their blog titled “The Future of the Missouri Synod” which reads like an establishment Republicans strategy from 2013. The current Synodical demographics...

When we picture the classic, stereotypical Thanksgiving scene, what are we picturing? The glow of candles, the golden turkey, the large table laid out with the feast, the family gathered in their Sunday best on a Thursday, perhaps with a “kids’ table” in the background—it has always been more of a Norman Rockwell-esque idea than a reality for any particular family. The real pictures of what is going on in tens of millions of homes around the country on Thanksgiving Day would show tens of millions of distinct, unique variations on that theme. They would have a certain, central aspiration...

Churchgoers across the country are reasserting their fundamental rights of conscience—rights that too many political leaders have forgotten or denied. On Friday, President Trump said churches and houses of worship are “essential” and called on governors nationwide to allow them to open this weekend. If they don’t, Trump said he would “override” governors, citing forthcoming guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.In remarks Thursday, the president criticized some governors who have “deemed liquor stores and abortion clinics as essential” but not churches. “It’s not right. So I’m correcting this injustice and calling houses of worship essential.”Trump is right,...

Conservatives may be tempted to wonder whether it’s worth fighting. In this soundbite, instant­dislike, tl;dr, flashsnipe, banal, fractious, impressionistic, politicized culture of ours, our instinct can be to retreat, to separate fully, to disengage. I’ve been there, and when I have, I’ve been wrong. So long as we are alive, there is ground to be gained in the battle for truth. Yesterday’s results from the 2016 Synodical Convention of the Lutheran Church— Missouri Synod are such a gain. In three key resolutions, which passed with remarkable success, delegates to the convention voted to affirm that only pastors may do what...

In yet another stunning attack on freedom of religion, President Barack Obama's Justice Department asked the Supreme Court last week to give the federal government the power to tell a church who its ministers will be. The case involves a former teacher at Lutheran school, who along with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is pushing a claim that a Lutheran congregation should be forced to restore her ministry position. Americans United for Separation of Church and State and American Atheists, Inc. have filed briefs siding with the Obama administration against the church. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, the Church...

Resolved, That the LCMS join with the ILC in declaring “our resolve to approach those with homosexual inclinations with the deepest possible Christian love and pastoral concern, in whatever situation they may be living” (“Same-Gender Relationships,” 2010 CW, p. 66); and be it further Resolved, That the LCMS recognize that “Our Lord’s intentional outreach to those who were marginalized and excluded during His earthly ministry is a reminder that the Scriptural judgments against homosexual behavior must not become the cause for hatred, violence, or an unwillingness to extend the Gospel’s promises of forgiveness and reconciliation to the homosexual or any...

Today is the 480th anniversary of the presentation of the Augsburg Confession, in 1530. It is also the 430th anniversary of the publication of the Book of Concord, in 1580. Both events are special days in the history of the Lutheran Church. These documents define what it means to be, and to remain, a Lutheran. Are the historical relics of the past, or the living confession of Christians today who call themselves Lutheran? Does being Lutheran still matter? There seem to be three types of responses to the question, "Does being Lutheran still matter?" One is, "Are you kidding me?...

Minneapolis, Minn., Nov 20, 2009 / 03:54 am (CNA).- Following the decision of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) to allow sexually active homosexual clergy, an objecting Lutheran group has begun to form a new church body for those Lutherans who want to “remain faithful to the Orthodox Christianity of the last 2,000 years.”Lutheran CORE leaders on Wednesday said their working group would immediately begin drafting a constitution and taking other steps to form the new denomination. They hope to launch the denomination by next August.Rev. Paull Spring, a retired Pennsylvania ELCA bishop and chairman of Lutheran CORE said...

The presiding bishop of the nation's largest Lutheran denomination warned Wednesday that withholding financial support to protest a recent gay clergy vote would be "devastating" to the church. Bishop Mark Hanson laid out his concerns in a letter to leaders of the 4.7 million-member Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, which is based in Chicago. The ELCA churchwide assembly voted last month to allow gays and lesbians in committed relationships to serve as clergy, dropping a requirement that gay clergy remain celibate. The Rev. Mark Chavez, director of Lutheran CORE, said the gay clergy vote was the devastating event — "a...

Americans are flocking to confess their sins as Protestant churches have joined their Catholic counterparts in modernising the sacrament of penance.Thousands of people are attending confession at weekends and just as many are posting their repentance on videos that are played back to congregations or shared on websites such as YouTube.New technology is fuelling the boom, but so is clever marketing by Churches that are portraying confession as a form of self-improvement — always popular with Americans — rather than some sort of punishment.Church leaders also attribute the boom to the fashion for self-analysis peddled by daytime television programmes such...

What is happening 2 the LCMS!!! Worshiping other gods along with our God is OK? Teaching Evolution is OK? Firing someone 4 standin up 4 the TRUTH is OK? WAKE UP CONSERVATIVES!!! This is OUR Synod. We're supposto be tied with the Wisconsin Synod 4 bein the most Conservative!!! DON'T LET THE LIBERALS TAKE IT AWAY FROM US!!! My former pastor, Rev. David Ulm, told me after the Liberals (led by Keishnuck) took over that he truly beileves we are majority Conservative & the Liberals just jump at the chance to vote. STAND UP!!! BE PROUD!!! VOTE CONSERVATIVE!!! In His...

Missouri motioning Conservative Lutherans lose elections and power in the LCMS | by Edward E. Plowman This month conservatives in the dissension-racked Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod barely missed ousting Gerald Kieschnick, 61, from the denomination’s leadership. The vote at the triennial meeting of the 2.6-million-member denomination was 52.8 percent for President Kieschnick’s reelection and 47.2 percent for four other candidates. (The three most conservative candidates split 46.5 percent of the vote.) Kieschnick opponents have worked for a change ever since he approved the participation of Rev. David Benke, the church’s Atlantic District president, in a civic interfaith rally. The rally was...

An election Sunday at the 62nd convention of the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod at America's Center in downtown St. Louis will decide whether the embattled president of the church will remain in office for another three years. At his installation in September 2001, Gerald B. Kieschnick said he would try to temper internal disputes that some say have thwarted the real work of the church for decades.Link to full story

When will the conflict in the Missouri Synod come to an end? We must employ a process of peace in the context of trust. This process requires three essential aspects to resolve a conflict or argument about particular issues. Both sides must: 1) Be heard 2) Feel that their concerns have been fairly considered 3) Trust the process of decision-making. Without accomplishing these three things, the conflict will continue, either with simmering frustration or with outright rancor. Good leadership will strive to accomplish these three conditions in order to bring about peace. Over the past three years, the Synod’s president...

MEQUON - His family waited for this moment for four years. And so did Vladimir Carville, who walked from Concordia University’s field house into the arms of his father, Pierre. "We did it Dad," Vladimir said. "We did it." Vladimir wasted no time to turn and embrace his mother, Emmanuelle. "It makes me so proud," she said. "I can say this is my day. I am so proud of my son. This is a great day for all of us to rejoice in." It was also a day that Vladimir, now a graduate in exercise leadership, won’t soon forget. "Some...

<p>Many New Yorkers were stunned when a Lutheran minister was suspended recently for praying alongside non-Christians — called "pagans" in a church statement — shortly after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.</p> <p>This action by the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, a national denomination known for its conservative views, struck some in this wounded and politically correct region as cold and even unchristian.</p>

<p>You would think that the more militant forms of Islam would be enough to worry about these days, for those inclined to anguish over religious extremism. But no. Apparently the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod deserves our special concern. In late June, the church suspended the Rev. David Benke, the president of its Atlantic District and the pastor of a Brooklyn church, for praying with clerics who don't share the Christian faith.</p>