ILC welcomes new member church

Bishop Hans-Jörg Voigt and President Ralph W. Spears

NIAGARA FALLS, Ontario – On the afternoon of Monday, September 17, the International Lutheran Council (ILC) passed a resolution to accept the Lutheran Ministerium and Synod–USA (LMS–USA) as a member of the ILC.

“The ILC is the most important body of confessional Lutheran fellowship today,” said President Ralph W. Spears of the LMS–USA. “I rejoice and give thanks for our acceptance into membership.”

Vice-Chairman Robert Bugbee of the ILC (and President of Lutheran Church–Canada) brought the resolution before the assembly, noting that the LMS–USA has been long interested in membership with the ILC and has been a consistent supporter of the organization. The motion passed unopposed.

“I want to say a warm welcome to our brothers and sisters from the Lutheran Ministerium and Synod–USA as new members of the ILC,” said Chairman Hans-Jörg Voigt of the ILC (and Bishop of the Independent Evangelical Lutheran Church in Germany). “It is a great pleasure as a worldwide organization to welcome this church among us. May God give His grace to our fellowship.”

The LMS–USA is an American Lutheran church body with about five hundred congregants and 22 pastors.  The ILC is a worldwide association of established confessional Lutheran church bodies which proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ on the basis of an unconditional commitment to the Holy Scriptures as the inspired and infallible Word of God, and to the Lutheran Confessions contained in the Book of Concord as true and faithful expositions of that Word. The ILC is currently holding its international triennial convention in Niagara Falls, Canada. The conference runs through Friday, September 21. More information on the conference is available in a previous Canadian Lutheran report.

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