LCMS World Mission Blog

Photo: Darin Storkson, left, LCMS regional director for Southern Asia, meets with Bishop Aladin Sitio of the Indonesian Lutheran Christian Church.

The Rev. Dr. Albert B. Collver III, LCMS director of Church Relations, and Darin Storkson, LCMS regional director for Southern Asia and Oceania, recently visited with officials from the Indonesian Lutheran Christian Church (ILCC) to discuss potential church fellowship between the two church bodies.

Collver said that the talks in Indonesia “forge[d] stronger connections between the LCMS and other Lutheran churches” in the area. The Rev. Jon Albert Saragih, secretary general for the ILCC, captured the ILCC’s enthusiasm by noting that fellowship discussions between the two churches took place on a “historic day that will remembered 100 years from now.”

Originally a part of the Protestant Christian Batak Church, the ILCC separated from it in 1965 after the Rev. J. Sinaga raised issues of concern. After attending Luther Seminary in St. Paul, Minn., Sinaga returned home with a heightened awareness of the doctrinal discord in his own church and spoke openly about the issues adversely affecting the church’s ability to remain orthodox.

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Learn more about LCMS witness and mercy work in Indonesia.