u/solobackpack

Here's a great resource on the Day: https://allthehousehold.com/st-mary-mother-of-our-lord/

For those clergy and laity faithful in local parishes who do evangelism in their community whether door-to-door, in the mall, at the park, on the university campus, etc. I would love to hear from you what has been your experience as an LCMS Lutheran engaging others in the public square.

Understanding that we do not use the same evangelism tactics as the Evangelicals. What have you found that works well in your LCMS Lutheran context?

God bless you!

PS: This is not a confessional vs. missional debate; our parish is high church confessional and we still do evangelism in the community. :)

Let me start this by saying as a life-long Lutheran (theologically; getting confirmed was another story as my parents are against Christianity [they refused to sign that permission slip after I completed confirmation class]... although, they did hedge their bets and baptize me as a baby?), and since the age of four (believing God created the Earth in six days and Jesus died to save my from my sins), that I absolutely love our precious church and am currently at the parish I grew up in still. So that's my context, growing up high church LCMS.

That being said, I am curious if anyone else who grew up in the LCMS in the 90s and 2000s got caught up in the satanic panic (realizing the Church can be slow to work through cultural issues and that satanic panic started in the 1980s).

For example, I remember not being able to read Lewis (Narnia), Rowling (Harry Potter), or Tolkien (LoTR)*; being taught that Apple and rocket fuel (among other things) were invented through witchcraft**; not being able to listen to Relient K, et al because they were "secular music."***

This was back when it was controversial to use a guitar during youth group because "church isn't camp."

Anyways, no I did not deconstruct my faith, and yes, I still deeply cherish our beloved Church.

But I am curious to hear of other's experiences, thanks!

*I still haven't read them to this day (nor watched the films).

**I thought I was misremembering until I recently heard Bro. Noah Hahn talk about that with Rev. Stecker on the OTL podcast a few weeks ago (and I don't even necessarily disagree with him).

***I ended up attending a PCA youth group sometimes as a "Lutheran rebel" and I had a whole playlist.

On one hand he says that the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod is Mainline but then refuses to tell all the ELCA people to leave and join the LCMS. Make it make sense!

Reconquista ELCA parishes, clergy, and laity faithful, may be interested to look into the LCMS.

Does Synod or Districts have sport leagues for non-parish K12 youth (or can homeschool youth join parish school leagues?)?

And beyond CUS, are there adult sport leagues across much of the church? Or do most adults form parish teams and join community leagues?

I know some local parishes do have circuit basketball, softball, volleyball, and pickleball leagues. Does yours?

I wanted to ask if anyone has heard of yourhomeschoolally.com? It appears to be a fairly nondescript website that is clearly lcms and geared to serve homeschool families across the Synod.

This does seem to be a new online resource and website, from my research, having been created in May or June of this year, 2026, possibly. Having said that, it's fairly extensive already.

Also, it may have previously been called homeschoolcoopvault.com, based on the notes that are found in the curriculum packs they have posted on their website.

Does anyone know more about this resource? Thank you!

In my search for LCMS homeschool resources, I recently found the Confessional Lutheran Homeschool League: https://holycrosscarlisle.org/clhl

Thank you!

Does anyone know why during the celebratory hymn sing during National Convention this past Tuesday, for the languages represented across the Synod (German, English, Slovak, and Spanish [from what I recall]), that they chose to honor the SELC by singing in Czech and not Slovak?

Ďakujem a Boh vám žehnaj. 🇸🇰

Before Mass this Sunday, I was visiting our local parish church library and was able to speak with the librarian, we got to wondering how many other local parishes within the LCMS have church libraries. Do you?

Then we got to thinking, are there inter-library loans within Synod? We're trying to figure that out, and if it doesn't exist then we are thinking about figuring out how that would work practically to implement it. But it would require participating parishes to opt their church libarires into such a system, so I thought I would start my reserach here.

I was just talking with the founder of this website, it is kind of like an updated version of our Church's Encyclopedia: https://cyclopedia.lcms.org/.

The guy behind LutheranAnswers.com is AALC, so they are in fellowship with us, and he said they are looking for others within the communion who can help write articles. I thought it would be great to have some LCMS folks pitch in and help him out.

God bless the LCMS!

Good morning!

I look forward to seeing many of you at the LCMS National Convention in Phoenix this coming week.

As we get to packing and thinking through all that the days ahead hold for us, I wanted to start a close-in collab thread so that those who may be attending can comment below and connect.

Let's get to know each other irl, see you guys soon in the coolest city in the desert!

#GodBlessTheLCMS
#LCMSinPHX

If we have 1 convert each per month, that is 19,800,000 converts per year as there are about 1,650,000 of us.

It would then take 16 years (ETA: 18 months if converts also converted!) for all 318,000,000 Americans to become Lutheran.

What do you think about this?

What should our strategy be?

I recently saw someone in one of the church's online groups post about our encyclopedia: https://cyclopedia.lcms.org/

This looks like a pretty good resource, is it open source like Wikipedia or closed like Britannica and World Book?

Enjoy, brothers and sisters!

From the Journal of Rev Henry Muhlenberg (founder of the colonies' first Lutheran Synod and her first President; father to America's first Speaker, Rev Frederick Muhlenberg), translated to English by Tappert:

"July 4 [1776]. Today the Continental Congress openly declared the united provinces of North America to be free and independent states. This has caused some thoughtful and far-seeing melancholici to be down in the mouth; on the other hand, it has caused some sanguine and short-sighted persons to exult and shout with joy. It will appear in the end who has played the right tune. This remains as a comfort to believers: There is One who sits at the rudder, who has the plan of the whole before him, to whom all power in heaven and on earth is given, and who has never yet made a mistake in his government. He it is who neither sleeps nor slumbers and who has asked his people to pray, "Hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done."

As a young man who grew up high church LCMS, and is still in the same parish I started in at a very young age, I wanted to write to my fellow young men who have recently converted to Missouri.

We welcome you into Synod with fraternity as brothers in arms of the church militant.

But might I caution those who may feel compelled to use their newfound freedom to condemn clergy in our Church: we, as laity faithful, must resist the temptation to be Popes in our own hearts.

Does cowo need to be dealt with? Undoubtedly. And may you have had a negative experience outside of confessional Christianity? Most likely.

But cage stage confessionalism isn't the path to route cowo.

May I graciously invite you instead to use your passion and zeal for tradition to build upon our ancient faith that which is transcendent truth and stability.

This is my invitation for you to comment and engage with productive advancement of building up confessional Christianity within the Evangelical Lutheran Church.

Feel free to shoot me a DM.

Do you belong to, or are you interested in, any of the Fraternal Orders within the Evangelical Lutheran Church? Do you know of any others besides these two?

Ordo Lutheri et Melanchthonis sub Rosa Aurea

Primary purpose: Cultivate Lutheran identity, liturgical life, and fraternity around the Lutheran Confessions and historic practice

Focus: Lutheran order, tradition, worship, theology, vocation

Inspiration: Historic Lutheran societies and orders

Audience: Confessional Lutherans interested in a deeper liturgical and theological fraternity

Emphasis: Ecclesiology, liturgy, confession, fraternity, formation

---

Memento

Primary purpose: Build disciplined Christian habits and accountability for men

Focus: Daily prayer, Scripture, fasting, discipline, brotherhood

Inspiration: Inspired in part by the Roman Catholic Exodus 90 model, but intentionally adapted to Lutheran theology

Audience: Lutheran men of all backgrounds seeking spiritual discipline

Emphasis: Spiritual disciplines, accountability, habits, prayer, Bible reading

What are our thoughts on the tradition of the Roman Catholic Church being so clear in that someone in Leo XIV's position cannot excommuniation the SSPX or our own faithful such as Saint Martin Luther?

While Luther stood against heresies such as papal supremacy, witholding the cup, indulgences that were seen as salvific and meritorious, the sale of said indulgences, and church dogma not traceable to Scripture, a council of the heads of the monsatic orders determined that Luther was not heretical and his priesthood was retained in the Western Church.

Yet the Pope went on with unilaterally excommuniating our brother, therefore, leading to an invalid excommunication such as the SSPX is currently facing.