This week PJ is off at the LCMS National Convention. Which begs the question, what on earth is a convention? 
Convention is a triennial business meeting of delegates from the different circuits of the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod. These delegates attend to examine, discuss, and vote on both the elected officials of the Synod as well as discuss items of business that will help guide the church body over the next three years. The first convention occurred in 1847 in Chicago, IL and was the event of the founding of the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod (at that time named “The German Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Missouri, Ohio and Other States.” This first convention also elected C.F.W. Walther as the President of this new church body at the 1947 meeting, a role which he held until the next convention, and then again from 1864 to 1878. This Convention is ending today and ran from July 20-25 in Tampa FL. This is the first time that the convention has been hosted by our District, FLGA.
The Convention attempts to represent the congregations of the Synod without having every pastor or layperson in the District show up in Tampa. Each District of the Synod will send a delegation of 1 pastor and 1 layperson from each circuit of the District (Circuits are gatherings for 7-20 churches representing at least 1500 members up to 10,000 members, for example, Florida Georgia has 22 Circuits). In addition, each District will send a percentage of their commissioned workers and retired/non-voting pastors as well as a youth representative, a Board of Directors advisor, and a District Staff advisor.
The Convention addresses all sorts of issues. The following are some big ticket items at the Convention: Discussions that surround pastoral recruitment and how we get pastors since our clergy base is shrinking at a quick rate due to older pastors retiring. Calls for better approaches to people with mental and emotional health challenges. The ways in which pastors and professional church workers are supported as well as held accountable. And much much more.
PJ will have a review of the business passed at the Convention this coming Sunday during the normal Bible study hour at 10am to 10:45am. Please consider coming and hearing what is going on in our church body. If you’re interested in a deeper dive into the things that were proposed for this Convention, look in our sermon archives ( universitylutheranchurch.org/sermons ) for “Joyfully Lutheran” and you’ll find 4 discussions of the early proposed business.