The LCMS national convention that might have been

The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod’s three-year national convention was held from July 18–23, 2026. I was a lay delegate to the convention, so I had my opportunity to vote in the general direction I thought things should go, but the agenda moved along like a giant boulder rolling down hill. It is what it is, and what the national convention currently is is mostly an opportunity to get three years worth of synod business completed in a whirlwind fashion.

But I have an opportunity to contemplate what the convention might have been under different circumstances. The agenda of the convention was shaped ahead of time partially in the form of overtures submitted by church districts, circuits, and individual churches. Decisions had to be made as to how to best use the limited time available and many of these overtures went unconsidered. Some of those were thoughtfully addressing deeper spiritual matters. With this in mind, I plan a series of blog posts highlighting those declined convention overtures that most interest me.

All of the overtures are published in the Convention Workbook which is available as a PDF on the convention website. https://www.lcms.org/convention/national