On Friday, January 31, 2025, theological educators of the CELC held an online conference hosted by GTEC—the Global Theological Education Commission. The conference was held from 6:00-8:00 am CDT, which put it in the afternoon in Europe and Africa, and in the evening in eastern Asia. 

About forty educators participated, representing about twenty different countries and church bodies. For the major portion of the meeting, participants were divided into five subgroups depending on their area of expertise—Church History, New Testament, Old Testament, Practical Theology, and Doctrinal Theology. 

The purpose of the meeting was to connect theological educators from around the world with others in the CELC who are doing the same thing in order to provide mutual support, growth, and encouragement. Each breakout group, led by a GTEC member, discussed topics pertaining to their area of expertise. 

The feedback received from participants will be considered by GTEC as it considers future events. It seems that participants appreciated the chance to interact with confessional Lutherans from around the world to discuss the blessed work of theological education together. 

Submitted by Prof. Bradley Wordell, Chairman of GTEC

What is the best Christmas song? According to one United States poll, the most popular Christmas song is “All I Want for Christmas Is You” (1994) by Mariah Carey. The most iconic Christmas song is “White Christmas” (1947) by Bing Crosby.

How the real meaning of Christmas is lost for many people!

For a Christmas song that presents the real meaning of Christmas, I suggest the following by our confessional Lutheran hymn writer Paul Gerhardt:

All my heart again rejoices
As I hear far and near sweetest angel voices.
“Christ is born!” their choirs are singing
Till the air everywhere now with joy is ringing.

Hear! The conqueror has spoken:
“Now the foe, sin and woe, death and hell are broken!”
God is man, man to deliver,
And the Son now is one with our blood forever.

See the Lamb, our sin once taking,
To the cross, suffering loss, full atonement making.
For our life his own he tenders,
And his grace all our race fit for glory renders.

Come, then, banish all your sadness!
One and all, great and small, come with songs of gladness;
We shall live with him forever
There on high in that joy which will vanish never.
(Christian Worship, 329:1,2,4,6)

What we celebrate at Christmas is God’s marvelous plan of salvation, which makes it possible for sinners like us to be reconciled to God and to live with him forever. This plan of salvation involves God becoming one of us in the person of Jesus—all so that Jesus can later die on the cross, taking the punishment of sin that we deserve. 

Here is a true reason to “rejoice” and to “banish all sadness!” Our eternal salvation has been accomplished by the grace of God who sent his own Son to earth as our Redeemer. On behalf of the CELC Planning Committee, I wish you and your church a blessed celebration of the birth of our Savior. May the good news of the gospel put joy in your hearts.

I also can share a few pieces of information about the CELC.

The dates for the 2026 international CELC convention have been set. God willing, we will meet in Lusaka, Zambia on Friday, May 29, 2026, through Monday, June 1, 2026 (arrive on Thursday, May 28 and leave on Tuesday, June 2). Mark your calendars, and look for more information in the new year.

The Global Theological Education Commission is planning an online conference for CELC theological educators on January 31, 2025. The registration form can be found here.

As announced earlier, we are looking for invitations to host the 2029 international convention. If your church is interested in being considered as the host, please let the CELC president know by September 2025.

God bless your Christmas and your new year.

Submitted by Thomas Nass, CELC President

In the coming months, the CELC Planning Committee will be giving thought to the location of the 2029 international convention of the Confessional Evangelical Lutheran Conference (CELC). Member churches of the CELC are encouraged to submit an invitation to be the host.

The Planning Committee is pleased to have received one invitation already—from the Lutheran Mission of Salvation in India. The Committee is hoping to receive more invitations since it usually likes to have multiple options to present to the CELC for consideration.  

If your church would like to be considered as a possible host for the 2029 convention, please inform the CELC president by September 2025. The Planning Committee intends to bring the matter to the 2026 convention.

It is a special honor to host the convention. The churches that have hosted in the past are:

• 1993, 2017 – Germany
• 1996 – Puerto Rico
• 1999, 2011 – ELS/WELS
• 2002 – Sweden
• 2005 – Japan
• 2008 – Ukraine
• 2014 – Peru
• 2023 – South Korea
• 2026 – Zambia (God willing)

At one time, the Planning Committee proposed Israel as a possible location for 2029. Due to the ongoing war involving Israel and its neighbors, that possibility has now been dismissed. 

Photos from the forthcoming WELS anniversary book, Christ Through Us

In 2025, WELS will celebrate 175 years of God’s undeserved grace and blessings—175 years of God at work through Word and sacraments, faithfully preached and handed from one generation to the next. As part of the WELS anniversary celebration in thanksgiving to God, Northwestern Publishing House has been commissioned to produce Christ Through Us: A Pictorial History of the Wisconsin Synod, 1850–2025.

Christ Through Us is more than a history book. It tells the stories of 175 years’ worth of faithful Christians and their efforts in the United States and throughout the world to spread the life-changing gospel message, which we treasure and preach to this day. The central, unifying thread woven throughout all these stories is Christ. To him be the glory in all things!

Click here to learn more and preorder Christ Through Us. Please note: Preorders must be submitted by October 15, 2024, for guaranteed availability.

Submitted by Mark Buske, Marketing Director for Northwestern Publishing House

 

                 Seminary graduates of the Gereja Lutheran Indonesia

Saturday, August 3, 2024, was a joyful day for Sekolah Tinggi Teologi Lutheran (STTL), the seminary of the Gereja Lutheran Indonesia (GLI). That day also became an important historical milestone for STTL, because this was the first graduation recognized by the Indonesian government. After waiting for quite a long time, finally, STTL managed to get accreditation status for the first time.

STTL was founded in 1979 by missionaries from the GLI’s sister church, WELS, in Pejompongan, DKI Jakarta. Initially, STTL was founded to equip God’s servants who became the first leaders of the Gereja Lutheran Indonesia. STTL has also experienced several name changes and location changes, until finally God blessed STTL with a new and strategic location for the spread of the gospel—a location which is increasingly equipped with faithful people in the training program to become pastors.

In the end, after years of this seminary’s existence, 2024 became a special year for STTL because it officially received accreditation status for the first time. This is also one of the reasons why STTL is now permitted to hold graduations in accordance with seminary regulations in Indonesia.

Citing God’s sure and perfect promise to God’s people in the Old Testament about their uncertain future (Jer. 29:11) as the theme, this verse also becomes the basis for every graduate who is declared to have completed the Academic Theology Bachelor’s program for their journey of service in this world. This verse also becomes a testimony for every guest who attends—not only from our Lutheran denomination, but even from different beliefs—that the certainty of a bright future can only be obtained through the definite work of God. In his sermon, Pastor Medi Sutrisno said firmly, “The certainty of the end of everything in this world can only be obtained from God in the Old Testament who is the God revealed in the incarnation of Christ in the New Testament.”
In addition to being a day of celebration, the graduation also introduced to the public that in Indonesia there is a Lutheran seminary that teaches the Bible purely based on Sola Gratia, Sola Fide, and Sola Scriptura, and that trains prospective servants of God who will serve God and his people with the principles of Oratio, Meditatio, and Tentatio.

This graduation was held by graduating 19 students, 11 of whom had graduated in previous years, some of whom had even become pastors in local churches. This graduation was also special for the Gereja Lutheran Indonesia because it included a calling service for 8 students who had just graduated and were appointed as vicars. Each of them was so happy after hearing the new place they would go to in their ministry. One of the vicars said, “This is a very special day for me, not because I succeeded in completing the 4-year Academic Theology program, but because God entrusted this beautiful work to me who is not worthy. However, I believe that the God who called me, he is also the God who will equip me.”

The entire STTL community feels proud and grateful to God, who never forgets or neglects to help us in the mission of spreading the gospel and training God’s servants at STTL, Indonesia. We are also very happy to have fellow believers who always help us in prayer and help us in other needs. The accreditation status that we have obtained and the graduation ceremony that we have held are not the end of our work, but this is a new chapter that will motivate us to do the best we can for the glory of God. Soli Deo Gloria!

Submitted by Pastor Michael Simarmata