the LBW was started in 1965 when the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod (LCMS) invited other North American Lutheran denominations to join it to work on a common service book. Together with the LCMS, the Lutheran Church in America, the American Lutheran Church, and the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Canada formed the Inter-Lutheran Commission on Worship to undertake this project. The commission conducted its work through four sub-committees: Liturgical Text Committee, Liturgical Music Committee, Hymn Text Committee, Hymn Music Committee. The work of the committees was validated via provisional liturgical and hymn materials, questionnaires, conferences, and dialogs. The Rev. Dr. Eugene Brand was named project director for the development work and The Rev. Leonard Flachman was named publishers' representative and managing editor. The LBW was published in 1978. The LCMS pulled out of the ILCW just prior to the publication of the LBW, but having been a participant in the development of the materials its name appears on the title page. The LCMS published its own hymnal, Lutheran Worship (LW), in 1982. Although the LW liturgies are very similar to those in the LBW, there are differences which reflect differing theologies. For example, LW lacks the option for a Eucharistic Prayer. The Lutheran Book of Worship has remained in service for more than forty years. There are a couple reasons for that longevity. The first is the careful, forward-looking, inclusive work of the ILCW and the four subcommittees. The second is the careful work done by the staff of Augsburg Publishing House in selecting and testing the materials with which the book was manufactured; the books did not wear out. The first printing of the LBW was one million copies and required 19 semi-trailers to carry the book from the printer to 14 distribution points around the United States. While it is in its twenty-seventh printing and widely used by the ELCA and the ELCIC, the LBW was replaced in October 2006 as the primary worship resource in the two denominations by Evangelical Lutheran Worship. The new book is intended to reflect the changing demographic of the church bodies and the subsequent changes in language and ritual practice. See also List of English-language hymnals by denomination References Lutheran hymnals 1978 books Christian prayer books 20th-century Christian texts 1978 in music 1978 in Christianity Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod Evangelical Lutheran Church in America