By David Van Rooy Not by the Easy Road “The crucible is for silver, and the furnace is for gold, and the LORD tests hearts” (Prov. 17:3). We could not have known what lay ahead when we stepped off the aircraft into the humid Okinawan night in early March 2020 — tired, disoriented, but hopeful. Like many before us, our family accepted orders to this island in East Asia, knowing a multi-year military assignment would come with sacrifice. What we did not yet understand was that we had also...| The Lutheran Witness
By Shauen Trump Greetings in Christ from Nairobi, Kenya. I am Pastor Shauen Trump, the regional director for Africa for the LCMS. My family and I are grateful to have served the church in Africa for many years. We feel privileged to be raising our children here in the midst of these rich and vibrant cultures where talk about spiritual and religious matters is welcomed. We get to tell people about Jesus — and they want to talk about Him! Today in Africa, we have a problem — a good problem!...| The Lutheran Witness
The October 2025 issue of The Lutheran Witness provided definitions and explanations of nine different words we use often as Lutherans — and unpacked how other denominations use those terms differently. We are sharing several of these online throughout the month of October. Definition: Pastoral ministry is the office of preaching the Gospel and administering the Sacraments instituted by Christ for the forgiveness of sins. Lutherans Confess: The core responsibility and purpose of the Office ...| The Lutheran Witness
The October 2025 issue of The Lutheran Witness provided definitions and explanations of nine different words we use often as Lutherans — and unpacked how other denominations use those terms differently. We are sharing several of these online throughout the month of October. Definition: Good works are actions in accordance with God’s will, taken by the Christian not from fear of punishment or for worldly gain, but as an intrinsic part of the Holy Spirit’s work of sanctification. Lutheran...| The Lutheran Witness
The October 2025 issue of The Lutheran Witness provided definitions and explanations of nine different words we use often as Lutherans — and unpacked how other denominations use those terms differently. We are sharing several of these online throughout the month of October. Definition: Inspiration is God’s divine action whereby the Holy Spirit breathed into the biblical authors not only the ideas but the very words of Holy Scripture, making every part of the Bible the infallible, inerrant...| The Lutheran Witness
The October 2025 issue of The Lutheran Witness provided definitions and explanations of nine different words we use often as Lutherans — and unpacked how other denominations use those terms differently. We are sharing several of these online throughout the month of October. Definition: To be saved is to receive God’s act of setting Christians free from bondage to sin, death and the devil; declaring them righteous on account of the work of Christ; and giving them eternal life with Him in h...| The Lutheran Witness
The October 2025 issue of The Lutheran Witness provided definitions and explanations of nine different words we use often as Lutherans — and unpacked how other denominations use those terms differently. We are sharing several of these online throughout the month of October. Definition: Grace is God’s undeserved, free gift of mercy and forgiveness to sinners, by which He declares them righteous solely on account of the works and merit of Christ. Lutherans Confess: Since the fall into sin, ...| The Lutheran Witness
This is the latest installment of “Life in the Church Year,” a series by Dr. Kristen Einertson and Tessa Muench of All the Household. This series will provide guidance for living out the seasons of the Church Year at home with your families. Find month-by-month lists of Lutheran feasts, festivals and commemorations here. Each October, the Church Year gives Lutherans something to look forward to. The Festival of the Reformation is a highlight, both commemorating the day on which Dr. Martin...| The Lutheran Witness
by Matthew C. Harrison Just over a month ago, as we’ve all seen in the news, a badly demented and disordered individual committed and attempted murder at Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis. There’s obviously mental illness involved — gender dysphoria and many other issues. And as with a number of public shootings recently, there was a manifesto left behind. Then, just two weeks later, we received the shocking news of the tragic murder of Charlie Kirk, a confessing Christian m...| The Lutheran Witness
The October issue provides definitions and explanations of nine different words we use often as Lutherans — and unpacks how other denominations use those terms differently. From the President: The Kingdom of Heaven Suffers ViolenceLife in the Church Year: Reformation Day: Lutheran Celebration and Reformationbrötchen Features: “Faith” — The gift of knowledge, assent and confidence“Grace” — The gift of mercy and forgiveness“Saved” — Set free and declared righteous“Repenta...| The Lutheran Witness
Faith is the gift of knowledge, assent and confidence in Christ worked in us by the Holy Spirit, which receives the grace, mercy and salvation of God, by which we are restored to a right relationship with Him.| The Lutheran Witness
By John W. Kleinig I am fascinated by the slogans that people wear on their sweatshirts. They tell us a lot about them and their convictions. There are two that caught my eye at an airport some years ago. The first, which has since become quite common, was: “My body, my choice!” The second, which is far too long to become popular, was even more telling. It ran: “Your body may be a temple, but mine’s an amusement park!” These slogans show how many people regard their bodies in our so...| The Lutheran Witness
The September issue provides a Lutheran view of the theology of the body. From the President: Our Bodies: Created Good, Redeemed for EternityLife in the Church Year: Holy Cross Day & St. Michael and All Angels: Home Altars and Blackberry Crumble Features: Gifted Bodies: A Lutheran Theology of the Body — John W. KleinigA New Creation: The Image of God in a Broken World — Christopher S. EsgetA GPS for Difficult Conversations: Speaking Out With Compassion and With God’s Word — Beverly Ya...| The Lutheran Witness
This is the latest installment of “Life in the Church Year,” a series by Dr. Kristen Einertson and Tessa Muench of All the Household. This series will provide guidance for living out the seasons of the Church Year at home with your families. Find month-by-month lists of Lutheran feasts, festivals and commemorations here. In September, the church changes her focus to the End Times and our Lord’s final victory over sin, death and the devil for us on the cross. These themes are reflected i...| The Lutheran Witness
This is the latest installment of “Life in the Church Year,” a series by Dr. Kristen Einertson and Tessa Muench of All the Household. This series will provide guidance for living out the seasons of the Church Year at home with your families. Find month-by-month lists of Lutheran feasts, festivals and commemorations here. As summer wanes and August greets us, the church finds herself deep in the season of Trinitytide. During this season, our church body commemorates the lives of many Chris...| The Lutheran Witness
The August issue walks through the Christian’s “Life in the Sacrament.” From the President: Lutherans and the Lord’s Supper: Holding to the Words of ChristLife in the Church Year: St. Mary Lavender Cookies and Garden Features: ‘With All the Company of Heaven‘: Angels, Saints and Our Departed Loved Ones at the Lord’s Table — Arthur A. Just‘Given and Shed for You’: What does the Sacrament do? — Jeffrey Hemmer‘Let a Person Examine Himself’: Preparing for the Lord’s Su...| The Lutheran Witness
by Matthew C. Harrison We are “Book of Concord Lutherans.” Every rostered church worker in the LCMS; every congregation, district and LCMS institution; every school and LCMS university has defined itself as a Book of Concord Lutheran endeavor. It’s on display most vividly when a pastor is ordained and installed in a congregation. He swears to believe and teach in complete accord with the divinely inspired Scriptures and the Book of Concord. The Book of Concord was ratified in 1580 on ...| The Lutheran Witness
By Arthur A. Just On the Mount of Transfiguration, heaven and earth came together in the glorified body of Jesus. Peter, James and John, three of Jesus’ disciples, came up the mountain with Him for this encounter with Moses and Elijah, two heavenly beings. In this communion between heavenly and earthly bodies around the dazzling white body of Jesus, we see a picture of what happens in the Divine Service around the bodily presence of Jesus in the liturgy of the Word and the Lord’s Supper. ...| The Lutheran Witness
This is the latest installment of “Life in the Church Year,” a series by Dr. Kristen Einertson and Tessa Muench of All the Household. This series will provide guidance for living out the seasons of the Church Year at home with your families. Find month-by-month lists of Lutheran feasts, festivals and commemorations here. When attempting to live out the Church Year at home, figuring out how to celebrate the long season of Trinity, which includes the summer months of June and July, can be p...| The Lutheran Witness
The June/July issue of The Lutheran Witness, “Christian Endurance,” focuses on the theme of the 2025 LCMS Youth Gathering, which is drawn from Hebrews 12:1–3. From the President: Suffering Produces EnduranceLife in the Church Year Series: Two Saints of Summer: J.S. Bach Kugelhopf Features: Endurance in Jesus: ‘Do not lose heart’ — Bryan WolfmuellerEndurance as a People: ‘Build one another up’ — Bryan Wolfmueller Endurance to the End: ‘Be faithful unto death’ — Bryan Wo...| The Lutheran Witness
By Bryan Wolfmueller Christians have need of endurance: that mix of courage and patience that presses on to the end. We are tempted to weariness. Our flesh is discouraged. Thanks be to God, the Scriptures are full of passages that spur us on to faithful endurance. The Bible sets the joy of the Gospel, the hope of eternal life, and the strength of the Holy Spirit before our weak and weary hearts. The Bible encourages us on the way. Through the prophet Isaiah, the Lord says: “Fear not, for I ...| The Lutheran Witness
by Matthew C. Harrison “We rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame” (Rom. 5:3–5). Do you ever feel like quitting? Quitting friends? Quitting family? Quitting a class? Quitting sports? Quitting school? Quitting church? Quitting life? Of course you have. We all have, and the reasons vary. Life is painful and complicated. It’s a good thing to get out of toxic s...| The Lutheran Witness
By Joel Elowsky 1,700 years ago, there was a newly united Roman Empire headed by a young emperor from Serbia named Constantine. The horrific persecution of Christians under Diocletian (A.D. 303–313) had just ended, and decrees pronouncing toleration of Christians had been issued by Galerius in 311 and by Constantine I and Licinius with the Edict of Milan in 313. In 312, Constantine had made his famous defeat of Maxentius at the Milvian Bridge: During the battle, “he saw with his own eyes ...| The Lutheran Witness
The May issue of The Lutheran Witness, “Councils and Conventions,” recognizes the 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea and discusses our own LCMS conventions. From the President: Very God of Very God: The Nicene Creed’s Faithful TestimonyLife in the Church Year Series: Eastertide: Lamb Cake and Ascension Picnicking Features: The Council of Nicaea: How the Early Church sought unity with the help of an emperor — Joel ElowskyThe Nicene Creed: Biblical foundations — Jonathan Mumm...| The Lutheran Witness
by Matthew C. Harrison We live in strange times of exploding scientific knowledge and deep ignorance of the Bible and Christianity. Our young people are taught the Bible is myth. They are told that the books included in it were selected for political and prejudicial reasons, while the “gospels” excluded from the canon of Scripture (the “Gospel of Thomas,” for example) were rejected for their broader, more open views of women, sexuality and so on. In reality, these other “gospels...| The Lutheran Witness
By Brian T. German Read Isaiah 2 and 13:6–13 and Luke 23:26–56. The Old Testament is saturated with special days. The creation of humanity certainly makes the list (Gen. 1:26–27), as does God’s day of rest (Gen. 2:2–3). The day the Israelites were brought out of Egypt was to be remembered throughout the generations (Ex. 13:3), along with the day that the temple was consecrated (1 Kings 8) — and rebuilt (Ezra 3). And who could forget the day the sun stood still (Joshua 10:14)? But ...| The Lutheran Witness
By Geoffrey R. Boyle Read Exodus 12:1–28 and John 13:1–15. When we talk about figures in the Old Testament, we’re not just talking about things that are like other things. Nor are we imposing later things onto earlier things, as if forcing the Old Testament to say something it doesn’t want to say. Instead, when we turn to the Old Testament — the people, places, institutions and events — we’re looking at real things that actually happened, real people who actually did what is rec...| The Lutheran Witness
By Kevin Golden Read Zechariah 9 and John 12:12–19. In their accounts of Palm Sunday, both Matthew (21:5) and John (12:14) report that Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem is a fulfillment of Zechariah 9:9: “Behold, your king is coming to you.” Mark (11:10) and Luke (19:38) also reflect the Lord’s promise through Zechariah in their narratives, reporting the joyful words of the people: “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord!” It is rather straightforward, after all. Read Z...| The Lutheran Witness
The April issue of The Lutheran Witness provides “An Old Testament Walk Through Holy Week” — discussing how the events of Palm Sunday through Easter Sunday are prefigured in the Old Testament. From the President: Most Righteous God, Most Kind FatherLife in the Church Year Series: Holy Triduum & Hot Cross Buns Features: Introduction: How to use this issueBehold, Your King Will Come To You: A reflection for Palm Sunday — Kevin GoldenThe Anointed Prophet, Priest and King: A reflection fo...| The Lutheran Witness
This letter was published in the April 2025 issue of The Lutheran Witness. by Matthew C. Harrison It’s LCMS district convention season and time is at a great premium. Seven down, and 28 to go! This month, I share with you a striking devotion from the great Lutheran scholar Johann Gerhard (1582–1637). He wrote an enormous series of books on Christian doctrine that brim with the Bible and faithful scholarship. The English translations have recently been published by Concordia Publishing H...| The Lutheran Witness
Robin Phillips and Joshua Pauling, Are We All Cyborgs Now? Reclaiming Our Humanity from the Machine. Basilian Media, 2024. 453 pages. Order here. By Stacey Eising This new book, co-authored by an LCMS student of theology, offers a solution to our digital technology predicament: life together in the church. Perhaps you also saw this rather disturbing ad on TV recently: A man is sitting in a diner designing a new website on his laptop. As he types, the bodies of those sitting around him are vio...| The Lutheran Witness
By Jon Furgeson If you have listened in the last several years to Oprah Winfrey or heard interviews with Ariana Grande or dipped into the world of spiritual social media influencers, then you will have heard about “manifestation.” It is the power we have within, they say, to send out positive energies into the cosmos to manifest the positive persons and events we want in our lives. Rhonda Byrne’s bestseller, The Secret, popularized the idea and is one of many popular trends in American ...| The Lutheran Witness
This is the third installment of “Life in the Church Year,” a series by Dr. Kristen Einertson and Tessa Muench of All the Household. This series will provide guidance for living out the seasons of the Church Year at home with your families. Find month-by-month lists of Lutheran feasts, festivals and commemorations here. This year, March brings the end of Epiphanytide, officially closing out the Christmas cycle. Immediately afterward, the church shifts its eyes to Easter, as it embarks on ...| The Lutheran Witness
For many Christians around the globe — as noted in the Snippets this month — life is a daily struggle as they face persecution and even death for the sake of the Gospel. The culture that surrounds them is actively hostile toward them for their faith. In the U.S., our feature writer Aaron Renn contends, Christians now face a “negative world” — while we do not have to fear death or even outright persecution for our faith, for the first time in our nation’s history Christians do face...| The Lutheran Witness
The March issue of The Lutheran Witness discusses how we can live faithfully in a culture increasingly hostile toward the Christian faith. From the Editor: The Sanctified Life in a Hostile World Features: The Negative World: Facing a new social reality as Christians — Aaron M. RennOur Youth Are Ready to Serve: A ‘Set Apart to Serve’ feature — James BaneckLutheran Life in ‘the Negative World’: Holding to the Gospel in a Shifting Culture — Scott AdleChristians in Enemy Territ...| The Lutheran Witness
By Scott Adle Aaron Renn’s Life in the Negative World has spurred many Christians and Christian leaders to think again about a question that is old, yet perennial. Perhaps it could be summarized as: “What is the way forward in this culture for the church, and for us as Christians?” The italicized bit is what has gotten Renn traction. His framework posits that something has changed in our culture over the last few decades, and that the ways we do things should perhaps change too. An Age ...| The Lutheran Witness
