June 2025: District Convention
Happy Summer! June heralds the coming of the official start of summer on June 20th, though to be honest I always think of summer starting right at the beginning of June. I pray that you all have a great start to the summer.
For our church body, specifically the Michigan District of the LCMS, summer 2025 brings our 104th triennial district convention. On June 22nd-24th, Bill (our lay representative of Trinity) and I will go to Ann Arbor to meet with all the other pastors and representatives from LCMS churches in Michigan to elect the district president and vice presidents, as well as have discussions over various topics in the church.
These topics are submitted by pastoral conferences, circuits, or individual congregations in the form of overtures. These overtures are collected and combined into different resolutions that will be offered during the convention, each discussing various issues within the church at large and proposing solutions to said issues. The convention delegates (pastors and lay representatives from each church) then vote on accepting or rejecting the resolution. In general, these resolutions are about the polity of our church body and official actions, though some represent unclear doctrinal issues that need clarification, and still other offer proposals to be “memorialized” to the larger Synodical convention that will be happening next year.
Some topics that will be discussed this year are how to ensure that call documents for pastors are accurately communicated by the congregation and certified by the district, what the future looks like for Concordia Ann Arbor (which will host the convention for the last time this year, unfortunately), how congregations can gain more understanding about pastoral and other called worker candidates for their churches during the calling process, and to clarify different practices and standards concerning how candidates for LCMS schools and other institutions are evaluated.
In case your eyes glazed over a little, yes, there is a lot of work that is done at convention. This work isn’t always the most “fun,” but it is necessary as we seek to walk together as brothers and sisters in our district and promote the mission of Christ here in Michigan. Convention also has the benefit of being one of the largest gatherings of Lutheran pastors and lay people, making a beautiful time of worship together and an opportunity to hear some of our leaders speak and preach. I look forward to my second convention, and the ones to come.
If you are interested in being a lay delegate to the district convention three years from now or even interested in being nominated for the circuit’s lay delegate to the synodical convention next year, please let me know! It would be a blessing to share this opportunity with members of our church! Blessings!