wfn.org | A first LCMS convention gives 100 percent approval to fellowship vote

[Worldwide Faith News <wfn@wfn.org>]

The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod
Board for Communication Services
1333 S. Kirkwood Road St. Louis, MO 63122-7295
News Release

61st Regular Convention St. Louis, Mo. July 14-20, 2001

July 16, 2001 #13

Contact: Bruce Kueck (314) 342-5715

A first: LCMS convention gives 100 percent approval to fellowship vote

ST. LOUIS -- It may have been a first: A resolution before a convention of 
The Lutheran Church Missouri Synod was adopted with 100 percent of the vote.

Delegates to the Synod s 61st Regular Convention on Monday, July 16, voted 
1,106 to zero to formalize altar and pulpit fellowship with the Evangelical 
Lutheran Church of Haiti. They spontaneously rose to their feet in applause 
as the numbers came up on video screens, and representatives of the Haiti 
church smiled broadly and hugged each other and Missouri Synod officials on 
the dais.

The church in Haiti was the fourth in two days to be declared in fellowship 
with the Missouri Synod. Earlier Monday, the convention also formalized 
fellowship with the Lanka Lutheran Church of Sri Lanka. The vote in favor 
was 1,029 to 36. On Sunday, the delegates had declared fellowship with 
Lutheran church bodies in Lithuania and Latvia.

The Rev. Dr. Samuel H. Nafzger, executive director of the Synod s 
Commission on Theology and Church Relations, said that never before has an 
LCMS convention declared altar and pulpit fellowship with four church bodies.

The church bodies in Haiti and Sri Lanka are "daughter" churches of the 
Missouri Synod, as they grew out of LCMS-related mission work. The churches 
in Lithuania and Latvia, on the other hand, date to the Lutheran 
Reformation of the 16th century.

"We are grateful for being brought the teaching that brings us to saving 
faith in Jesus Christ," the Rev. Michael Sivalingam told the convention. He 
is one of two members of the church council of the Lanka Lutheran Church 
who represented their church body at the convention. The church has some 
600 members with five pastors and four commissioned evangelists.

The Rev. Israel Isadore, president of the Haiti church, also expressed 
thanks to the Synod, the late Synod President A.L. Barry, and various 
mission societies and other organizations related to the Synod that have 
been working in Haiti. Work began there in 1978, but the church body itself 
is less than three years old. It has more than 14,000 members in 143 
congregations and preaching stations.

"Haiti is a small country, but we need to work hard to save this country 
with the power of the Gospel," Isadore said. He said he dreams of seeing 1 
million Lutheran Christians in Haiti.

PHOTOGRAPHS: Photos of convention coverage are available at 
www.lcms.org/convention/

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