ABOUT US: Background of the church linked with Martin Luther and the Lutheran Church (LCMS) to Evangelical Lutheran Church of Ghana.

As one of the oldest Protestant denominations, Lutheranism traces its core beliefs and practices back to the principles ofMartin Luther , a German friar in the Augustinian order known as the "Father of the Reformation." Luther's major departures from Roman Catholic doctrine were based on these beliefs:

Baptism - Although Luther retained that Baptism was necessary for spiritual regeneration, no specific form was stipulated. Today Lutherans practice both infant baptism and baptism of believing adults.

Individual Access to God - Luther believed that each individual has the right to reach God through Scripture with responsibility to God alone. It is not necessary for a priest to mediate.

The Lord's Supper - Luther also retained the sacrament of the Lord's Supper, but the doctrine of transubstantiation was rejected.

Sacraments - Luther believed the sacraments were valid only as aids to faith (initiating and feeding faith), thus giving grace to those who participate in them.

Salvation by Grace through Faith - Luther maintained that salvation comes by grace through faith alone; not by works and sacraments.

Salvation for All - Luther believed that salvation is available to all humans through the redeeming work of Christ.

Scripture - Luther believed the Scriptures contained the one necessary guide to truth.

Worship - As to the manner of worship, Luther chose to retain altars and vestments and prepare an order of liturgical service, but with the understanding that no church was bound to follow any set order. As a result, there is today no uniform liturgy belonging to all branches of the Lutheran body. However, an important place is given to preaching and congregational singing.

The Lutheran Church is the oldest Protestant Christian tradition, dating back to the Protestant Reformation and the person of Martin Luther. Lutherans are those Christians who choose to accept Martin Luther's teachings. On October 31, 1517, Luther, a Catholic monk, posted his 95 Theses as a challenge to the doctrine and practices of the Roman Catholic Church, hoping to reform the practices he felt were inconsistent with scripture. When the conflict escalated to a distinct separation with the Roman Catholic Church, those who accepted Luther's reforms became "Lutherans." Based on Luther's own writings, Lutherans still uphold Luther's theological teachings such as sola scriptura (scripture as the primary authority for faith and life), justification by the grace of God alone, and salvation

through faith in Christ alone. Luther's many theological ideas have since been collected into the Book of Concord, which is still an authority in Lutheran doctrine and practice. Because of its initial grounding in the Roman Catholic Church, Lutheran worship, more than many other Protestant traditions, has many elements similar to the Catholic style of worship. Lutheranism spread from Germany to most countries across the globe and has become one of the largest Protestant denominations.

Like most mainline Protestant churches, Lutherans have ministers rather than priests. Priests, by definition, are an intermediary between people and the divine. So, for example, in some religions people are required to offer sacrifices to God or the gods, but they are not themselves able to do so and therefore must obtain the services of a priest to sacrifice for them. Martin Luther believed in the priesthood of all believers. In other words, salvation is a gift given directly by God to people, and requires no intermediary. Everyone stands directly before God at judgment, and it would do no good to bring your priest with you. That is why Protestants have traditionally discouraged emergency baptism in cases of infants born sickly. For Roman Catholics, baptism by a priest is required for salvation. For Protestants, baptism is important, but if God wills a certain infant to be saved, the presence or absence of a ceremony performed by a human cannot stand in the way.

That said, most Protestants, including Lutherans, do ordain ministers. All stand equally before God, and the gifts brought by each member of the body of Christ are equally important, but some have the gifts of leadership and preaching, and so those are trained and authorized to fulfill those roles. To avoid anarchy and promote order, most Protestants allow only ordained ministers to administer the sacraments.

Lutherans use the titles of elder and deacon in various ways to indicate lay leadership positions in the church. The offices of elder and deacon have changed over time, and have not always been as uniformly defined as they have been in Reformed churches, where elders are charged (in cooperation with the clergy) with institutional leadership of the church. Lutheran elders typically help ministers with administration and worship duties, while deacons attend to pastoral care and outreach duties.

Like most Christians, Lutherans use the image found in Paul's First Letter to the Corinthians (12:12-31) of the church as the body of Christ. A body has many members, but remains one body. Each member must fulfill its role for the body to be healthy. This image works particularly well for Lutherans because of Luther's doctrine of the priesthood of all believers.

Lutherans have defined themselves doctrinally. Lutheranism originates in a debate with Catholicism about justification by faith. Some other Christian denominations have defined themselves by church polity.

Congregationalists, for example, give each independent congregation a great deal of autonomy. Presbyterians, in contrast, have organized themselves on an elected pyramid model (representatives from each congregation represent the church at the regional synod, representatives from each synod represent the synod at a national general assembly).

Because Lutherans have defined themselves by doctrine rather than polity, there is a fair amount of diversity in the organization of the community. Luther was a conservative reformer who made no compromises on key shifts in theology, but moved slowly and with a great deal of flexibility in matters of ritual, aesthetics, and organization. This flexibility is evident in Lutheran polity. There are Lutheran churches organized on congregational and Presbyterian models. Some operate independently and give the individual congregation self-governing authority. Others associate with fellow Lutheran churches in a governing synod.

In European countries, Lutherans are led by bishops, as in the Roman Catholic Church. In Germany, Lutheranism is, along with Roman Catholicism, the official state religion. In Scandinavia it is the exclusive established religion.(It should be pointed out that in all these countries religious freedom is perhaps the most robust in the world.)But Luther did not set out to alter fundamentally the relationship of church and state as did some other reformers, notably Zwingli and Calvin. In non-European countries, Lutheranism is a voluntary religious organization (you must opt in, rather than being born in automatically).Even in these countries, elected leaders are usually called bishops.

In addition to local congregations, and regional and national churches, many Lutheran denominations belong to The Lutheran World Federation. The headquarters is in Geneva, Switzerland, to facilitate cooperation with the World Council of Churches. The Lutheran World Federation is governed by an Assembly that meets every six years. Between Assemblies it is governed by a Council that meets every 12 to 18 months. Lutherans in general have been enthusiastic participants in ecumenical dialogues.

There have been debates in Lutheranism about the role that works do or do not play in salvation. Luther himself taught that even the saved remain sinners (but forgiven sinners); that works cannot merit forgiveness, which is a free gift from God; but that a saved Christian, free from worries about earning salvation, and eager to glorify God, will out of love perform good works for their neighbors. Unlike John Wesley, Luther did not teach that failure to perform good works would put your salvation at risk. Nonetheless, he did expect a good tree to bear good fruit, and if such fruit was not in evidence the claim to be saved might seem suspect. Before God (coram deo) works played no role in salvation, but before the

neighbor (coram hominibus) they were necessary.

Despite the fact that Luther taught that salvation is a gift that in no way depends on good works, Lutherans have not backed away from engagement in the world. They have been morally active throughout history. While the first use of the law (moral commandments) in the Bible is to teach us that we cannot fulfill it on our own and need God's grace, the law is useful to the saved as a model of God's will for humans and as a means to discipline the body to conform to that will. The goal of Lutheran morality is to be Christ-like.

Like all Christian groups, there is no unanimity among Lutherans regarding the details of what the law in the Bible requires, and what the model of Jesus requires. The tensions have been particularly strained since the modernist controversies of the early 20th century. At this time the twin developments of Darwinian biology and historical criticism of the Bible led to a rift in all Christian denominations.(Historical criticism was a movement coming largely from Germany that argued that the Bible is best understood, most literally understood, as a historical collection of documents in which different authors are addressing particular audiences of their own contemporaries.)

In the United States this rift is partially institutionalized in the largest Lutheran denominations, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) (about 5 million members) and the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod (LCMS) (about 2.5 million members).The LCMS is by far the more conservative. It believes that the Bible is free of error, and that the 16th-century Lutheran confessions (found in the Book of Concord) are in complete harmony with the Bible. This has several results. The LCMS does not enter into fellowship with Reformed churches, but rather rejects and condemns their departure from the Lutheran confessions. They do not ordain women, they oppose abortion, and they condemn homosexual behavior. All, they claim, are unscriptural.

In 1997, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America declared full communion (a relationship of agreement regarding core doctrines) with the United Church of Christ, the Presbyterian Church-USA, and the Reformed Church of America. The ELCA also declared that the major differences between it and Roman Catholicism on justification and salvation had been resolved. The LCMS rejects all these declarations.

There are at least two important intellectual and cultural movements with a strong influence on Luther: Renaissance humanism and nominalism. In addition, there are several historical developments that created a fertile context for Luther's reform.

The Renaissance is a period in western cultural history lasting from roughly the 14th through the 16th centuries. The word literally means

"rebirth."One of the characteristics of the Renaissance is an interest in the classical culture of ancient Greece and Rome, rather than the scholastic tradition that dominated the Middle Ages.

Humanism is an intellectual movement within the Renaissance that takes as its motto ad fontes!-"to the sources!"This "humanism" is associated with what we today call the Humanities, the study of the liberal arts.The idea is that a study of classical texts (in their original languages) can change lives, producing scholars and civic leaders who live a life of virtue for the greater good.

Luther was strongly influenced by humanism. As a Bible scholar, he relied on the critical edition of the New Testament in Greek published by Erasmus (the greatest of the humanists) in 1516, rather than the Church's official Latin version of the Bible (called the Vulgate).An example of the effect of close attention to original languages is Luther's argument that marriage is not a sacrament (eventually Protestants will have two sacraments rather than the Catholics' seven).Paul had written in Greek that marriage was a "mysterion," which had been translated into Latin as "sacramentum."Use of the original Greek convinced Luther that marriage was not sacramental.

Luther was trained at the University of Erfurt in nominalist theology. Nominalism is a development of the theology of Thomas Aquinas (ca. 1225-1274). Nominalism rejected a widely accepted philosophical idea that behind every object is a divine essence and that we know what objects are because our minds contain a complete set of essences by which we recognize the objects. The most famous nominalist is William of Ockham (ca. 1287-1348)."Ockham's Razor" is the principle that, all things being equal, the simplest explanation is the best.Ockham used this "razor" to argue that there is no divine essence "behind" any object; our minds simply lump objects together and we give the groups a name (so, "nominalism").In the world there are just objects and our minds, not objects, minds, and essences.

This impacted theology by arguing that, since there are no divine essences in the world, it is impossible to know anything about God just by looking at the world. Though God created the world, the world does not reveal God. The only things we can know about God are what God chooses to reveal in scripture, and God tells us only what we need to know for our salvation. God is otherwise completely hidden. While Luther rejected some parts of his training in Roman theology, this emphasis on revelation, particularly the revelation conveyed through the Christian scripture, as the only secure route to knowledge of God clearly had a strong influence on him, resulting in his doctrine of "scripture alone" (sola scriptura).

Lutheran Church–Missouri SynodFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod

Official seal of the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod

Classification Protestant

Orientation Lutheran

Theology Confessional Lutheran

Structure national synod, 35 middle level districts, and local congregations

Leader President Matthew C. Harrison

Associations

Member of the International Lutheran Council;In altar and pulpit fellowship with the American Association of Lutheran Churches;Former member of Synodical Conference and Lutheran Council—USA.

Region United States, especially in the Upper Midwest.

Headquarte St. Louis, Missouri

rs

Founder C. F. W. Walther

Origin April 26, 1847Chicago, Illinois

Separated from German Landeskirchen

Absorbed

Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Illinois and Other States (1879),Evangelical Lutheran Concordia Synod of Pennsylvania and Other States (1888),English Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Missouri and Other States (1911),Synodical Conference Negro Mission (1961),National Evangelical Lutheran Church (1964),Synod of Evangelical Lutheran Churches (1971)

Separations

Orthodox Lutheran Conference (1951),Lutheran Churches of the Reformation (1964),Association of Evangelical Lutheran Churches (1976),Evangelical Lutheran Church of Brazil (1980),Evangelical Lutheran Church of Argentina (1986),Lutheran Church–Canada (1988)

Congregations 6,151

Members 2,196,788 baptized1,707,509 confirmed[1]

The Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod (LCMS), often referred to simply as the Missouri Synod, is a traditional, confessional Lutheran denomination in the United States. With 2.2 million members,[1] it is both

the eighth-largest Protestant denomination and the second-largest Lutheran body in the U.S., the largest being Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. The LCMS was organized in 1847 at a meeting in Chicago, Illinois as the German Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Missouri, Ohio, and Other States, a name which reflected the geographic locations of the founding congregations. The LCMS is headquartered in Kirkwood, Missouri.

Logo used by the LCMS since 2012.

Approximately half of the LCMS members are located in the Upper Midwest, although it is represented in all 50 U.S. states and two Canadian provinces. It is affiliated with other Lutheran sister churches worldwide, including most of the members of the International Lutheran Council.[2]

The LCMS is divided into 35 districts—33 geographic and two (the English and SELC) non-geographic districts. The current president is the Rev. Matthew C. Harrison, who took office on September 1, 2010.

History

Origins

The Missouri Synod emerged from several communities of German Lutheran immigrants during the 1830s and 1840s. In Indiana, Ohio, and Michigan, isolated Germans in the dense forests of the American frontier were brought together and ministered to by missionary F. C. D. Wyneken. A movement of Confessional Lutherans under Martin Stephan created a community in Perry County, Missouri, and St. Louis, Missouri. In Michigan and Ohio, missionaries sent by Wilhelm Löhe ministered to scattered congregations and founded German Lutheran communities in Frankenmuth, Michigan, and the Saginaw Valley of Michigan.

The Saxon immigrationMain article: Saxon Lutheran Immigration 1838-1839

In the 19th-century German Kingdom of Saxony, Lutheran pastor Martin

Stephan and many of his followers found themselves increasingly at odds with the rationalism, Christian ecumenism, and the prospect of a forced unionism of the Lutheran church with the Reformed church. In the neighboring Kingdom of Prussia, the Prussian Union of 1817 put in place what they considered non-Lutheran communion and baptismal doctrine and practice. In order to freely practice their Christian faith in accordance with the Lutheran confessions outlined in the Book of Concord, Stephan and nearly 1,100 other Saxon Lutherans left for the United States in November 1838.

Their ships arrived January 5, 1839 in New Orleans with one ship lost at sea. After spending some time waiting for the lost ship, most of the remaining 750 immigrants settled in Perry County, Missouri, and in and around St. Louis. Stephan was initially the bishop of the new settlement, but he soon became embroiled in charges of corruption and sexual misconduct with members of the congregation and was expelled from the settlement, leaving C. F. W. Walther as the leader of the colony.

During this period, there was considerable debate within the settlement over the proper status of the church in the New World: whether it was a new church or whether it remained within the Lutheran hierarchy in Germany. Walther's view that they could consider themselves a new church prevailed.

Founding

St. Paul's in Chicago, where the first meeting of the Missouri Synod was held.[3]

Old Lutheran free church leader Friedrich August Brünn sent about 235 men to serve as pastors in the Missouri Synod.[4]

On April 26, 1847, twelve pastors representing 14 German Lutheran congregations met in Chicago, Illinois, and founded a new church body, the German Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Missouri, Ohio and Other

States. Walther became the fledgling denomination's first president.

In its early days, the Synod was conservative on a number of issues. Following Walther's lead, it strongly opposed humanism [5] and religious syncretism.[6] He also advocated practicing church fellowship with only those Lutheran congregations and synods who were in complete doctrinal agreement with the Missouri Synod.[citation needed]

Under the leadership of its second president, F. C. D. Wyneken, the Missouri Synod poured much effort into caring for German immigrants, helping them find a home among other Germans, building churches and parochial schools, and providing pastors and teachers to serve in them. As a result, the new Synod grew quickly during the 19th century, reaching 685,000 members by 1897.

In 1872, it joined the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod and the Norwegian Synod, the two other large conservative Lutheran bodies, in forming the Evangelical Lutheran Synodical Conference of North America.

English transition and mergers

As one scholar has explained, "The overwhelming evidence from internal documents of these [Missouri Synod] churches, and particularly their schools... indicates that the German-American school was a bilingual one much (perhaps a whole generation or more) earlier than 1917, and that the majority of the pupils may have been English-dominant bilinguals from the early 1880s on".[7]

Until the United States' involvement in the First World War, the older members of the Synod remained overwhelmingly German in their language, but younger members had long switched to English. The anti-German sentiment during the war enabled the younger generation to "Americanize" the church's image and switch the remaining German services to English. As a result, over the next half-century the Synod's membership doubled.

Franz Pieper, June 27, 1852 – June 3, 1931

In 1947, the church body shortened its name from "Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Missouri, Ohio, and other States" to the present one, the

Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod. On January 1, 1964, the National Evangelical Lutheran Church, an historically Finnish-American Lutheran church, merged with the LCMS. In 1971, the Synod of Evangelical Lutheran Churches, an historically Slovak-American church, also merged with the LCMS, forming the SELC District.

Beginning in the 1950s, the LCMS became somewhat friendlier to the more liberal Lutheran bodies, despite the opposition of the other members of the Synodical Conference. This culminated in the break up of the Synodical Conference in 1963. Six years later, the LCMS formed the Lutheran Council in the United States of America (LCUSA) with several moderate-to-liberal Lutheran bodies.

However, with the election of J. A. O. Preus II as LCMS president in 1969, the LCMS began a sharp turn towards a more conservative direction. A dispute over the use of the historical-critical method for biblical interpretation led to the suspension of John Tietjen as president of Concordia Seminary; in response many of the faculty and students left the seminary and formed Seminex (Concordia Seminary in Exile), which took up residence at the nearby Eden Theological Seminary in suburban St. Louis. In 1976 about 250 of the congregations supporting Seminex left the Synod to form the Association of Evangelical Lutheran Churches, which became part of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America in 1988. The LCMS pulled out of LCUSA shortly after the AELC schism, only a few years after the organization's formation. The entire controversy marked an instance of a conservative religious body resisting theological change rather than incorporating its tenets, something relatively rare among American religious bodies, with the only other analogous scenario being the fundamentalist resurgence in the Southern Baptist Convention from the late 1970s to the early 1990s.

Beliefs

Doctrinal sources

One of the signature teachings of the Lutheran Reformation is the teaching named Sola scriptura—"Scripture alone." The Missouri Synod believes that the Bible is the only standard by which church teachings can be judged. It also holds that Scripture is explained and interpreted by the Book of Concord—a series of confessions of faith composed by Lutherans in the 16th century. Missouri Synod pastors and congregations agree to teach in harmony with the Book of Concord because it teaches and faithfully explains the Word of God. The Missouri Synod also teaches biblical inerrancy,[8] the teaching that Bible is inspired by God and is without error. For this reason, they reject much—if not all—of modern liberal scholarship. Franz August Otto Pieper's Brief Statement of the Doctrinal Position of the Missouri Synod provides a summary of the major

beliefs of the LCMS.

Lutherans of the United States

Salvation

The Missouri Synod believes that justification comes from God "by divine grace alone, through faith alone, on account of Christ alone." It teaches that Jesus is the focus of the entire Bible and that faith in him alone is the way to eternal salvation. The Synod rejects any attempt to attribute salvation to anything other than Christ's death and resurrection.

Means of grace

The synod teaches that the Word of God, both written and preached, and the Sacraments are means of grace through which the Holy Spirit gives the gift of God's grace, creates faith in the hearts of individuals, forgives sins for the sake of Christ's death on the cross, and grants eternal life and salvation. For Missouri Synod Lutherans, sacraments are actions instituted by Jesus and combine a promise in God's Word with a physical element. All agree that Baptism and Communion are sacraments.[9]

Confession and absolution is called a sacrament in the Apology of the Augsburg Confession and so is also considered by many Lutherans to be a sacrament, because it was instituted by Christ and has His promise of grace, even though it is not tied to a physical element.

Unlike Calvinists, Lutherans agree that the means of grace are resistible; this belief is based on numerous biblical references as discussed in the Book of Concord.

Sacramental Union and the Eucharist

Regarding the Eucharist, the LCMS rejects both the Roman Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation and the Reformed teaching that the true body and blood of Christ are not consumed with the consecrated bread and wine in the Eucharist. Rather, it believes in the doctrine of the sacramental union, Real Presence, that the Body and Blood of Christ are truly present "in, with, and under" the elements of bread and wine. Or, as

the Smalcald Articles express this mystery: "Of the Sacrament of the Altar, we hold that the bread and wine in the Supper are Christ's true body and blood."[10] It is occasionally reported that the LCMS and other Lutherans teach the doctrine of consubstantiation. Consubstantiation is generally rejected by Lutherans and is explicitly rejected by the LCMS as an attempt to define the holy mystery of Christ's presence.[11]

Eschatology

The Missouri Synod flatly rejects millennialism [12] and considers itself amillennialist. [13] This means that they believe there will be no literal 1000-year visible earthly kingdom of Jesus, a view termed as "realized millennialism" in which the "thousand years" of Rev 20:1–10 is taken figuratively as a reference to the time of Christ's reign as king from the day of his ascension. Hence, the millennium is a present reality (Christ's heavenly reign), not a future hope for a rule of Christ on earth after his return (the parousia)[14] (cf. Mt 13:41–42; Mt 28:18; Eph 2:6; Col 3:1–3).

Law and Gospel

The LCMS believes that the Holy Scriptures contain only two teachings—the Law and the Gospel. The Law is all those demands in the Bible which must be obeyed in order to gain salvation. However, because all people are sinners, it is impossible for people to completely obey the Law. Therefore, the Law implies an inevitable consequence of God's wrath, judgment, and damnation. The Gospel, on the other hand, is the promise of free salvation from God to sinners. The Law condemns; the Gospel saves. Both the Law and the Gospel are gifts from God; both are necessary. The function of the law is to show people their sinful nature and drive them to the Gospel, where the forgiveness of sin is promised for the sake of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.[15][16]

The LCMS holds that the Old Testament and the New Testament both contain both Law and Gospel. The Old Testament, therefore, is valuable to Christians. Its teachings point forward in time to the Cross of Christ in the same way that the New Testament points backward in time to the Cross. This Lutheran doctrine was summarized by C. F. W. Walther in The Proper Distinction Between Law and Gospel.

Other doctrine

Antichrists

The LCMS holds that all "false teachers who teach contrary to Christ's Word are opponents of Christ" and, insofar as they do so, are anti-Christ.[17] The LCMS does not teach, nor has it ever taught, that any individual Pope as a person is to be identified with the Antichrist.[17] However, to the extent that the papacy continues to claim as official dogma the canons

and decrees of the Council of Trent, the LCMS position is that the office of the papacy is the Antichrist.[17]

Creationism

The LCMS officially supports literal creationism, but does not have an official position on the precise age of the earth.[18] An official publication of the synod, the well known "Brief Statement of 1932," states under the heading "Of Creation": "We teach that God has created heaven and earth, and that in the manner and in the space of time recorded in the Holy Scriptures, especially Gen. 1 and 2, namely, by His almighty creative word, and in six days." [19] According to the recent 2004 LCMS synodical resolution 2-08A "To commend preaching and teaching Creation," all LCMS churches and educational institutions—including preschool through 12th grade, universities, and seminaries—are "to teach creation from the Biblical perspective."

Baptism and other doctrine

The LCMS believes in the baptism of infants, based on Acts 2:38–39 [20]

and other passages of Scripture. It also subscribes to the statement of faith found in the Apostles' Creed, the Ten Commandments and the Lord's Prayer to be applicable to daily life. These doctrines are emphasized in Luther's Small Catechism.

Practices

Worship and music

The Missouri Synod's original constitution stated that one of its purposes is to strive toward uniformity in practice, while more recent changes to those documents also encourage responsible and doctrinally-sound diversity. The synod requires that hymns, songs, liturgies, and practices be in harmony with the Bible and Book of Concord. Worship in Missouri Synod congregations is generally thought of as orthodox and liturgical, utilizing a printed order of service and hymnal, and is typically accompanied by a pipe organ or piano. The contents of LCMS hymnals from the past, such as The Lutheran Hymnal and Lutheran Worship, and those of its newest hymnal, Lutheran Service Book, highlight the synod's unwavering stance towards more traditional styles of hymnody and liturgy. More traditional LCMS Lutherans point to the Lutheran Confessions in their defense of liturgical worship.[21]

Towards the later parts of the twentieth century, and up until present day, some congregations have adopted a more progressive style of worship, employing different styles such as contemporary Christian music with guitars and praise bands, and often display song lyrics onto screens instead of using hymnals. While this shift in style challenges the

traditionalism of hymnody that the LCMS holds strongly, the LCMS has released a statement on worship admitting that, "The best of musical traditions, both ancient and modern, are embraced by the Lutheran church in its worship, with an emphasis on congregational singing, reinforced by the choir."[22]

Reception of communion

The LCMS endorses the doctrine of close or closed communion [23] —the policy of sharing the Eucharist ordinarily only with those who are baptized and confirmed members of one of the congregations of the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod or of a congregation of one of its sister churches with which it has formally declared altar and pulpit fellowship (i.e., agreement in all articles of doctrine). Missouri Synod congregations implement closed communion in various ways, requiring conformity to official doctrine in various degrees. Usually, visitors are asked to speak with the pastor before coming to that congregation's altar for the first time. Most congregations invite those uneducated on the subject of the Eucharist to join in the fellowship and receive a blessing instead of the body and blood of Christ. This is because, as Bonhoeffer emphasizes in his book Life Together, Christ comes to us and sustains us through community. Some congregations, however, do not implement the synod's policy, celebrating open communion and welcoming all to their altars. The existence of such divergent practice of doctrine challenges the monolithic unity of the LCMS.[24]

Ordination

Ordination is seen as a public ceremony of recognition that a man has received and accepted a divine call, and hence is considered to be in the office of the public ministry. The Treatise on the Power and Primacy of the Pope agrees that "ordination was nothing else than such a ratification" of local elections by the people.[25] The LCMS does not believe ordination is divinely instituted[26] or an extension of an episcopal form of apostolic succession but sees the office grounded in the Word and Sacrament ministry of the Gospel, arguing that Scripture makes no distinction between a presbyter (priest) and a bishop (see Treatise on the Power and Primacy of the Pope, paragraphs 63,64, citing St. Jerome). The Augsburg Confession (Article XIV) holds that no one is to preach, teach, or administer the sacraments without a regular call.

LCMS pastors are generally required to have a four-year bachelor's degree (in any discipline), as well as a four-year Master of Divinity degree which is usually obtained from one of these institutions: Concordia Seminary in St. Louis or the Concordia Theological Seminary in Fort Wayne, Indiana or at the two seminaries run by the Lutheran Church–Canada. Candidates may earn their Master of Divinity degree at other seminaries, but may then be required to take colloquy classes at either

St. Louis or Ft. Wayne. Seminary training includes classwork in historical theology, Biblical languages (Biblical Greek and Hebrew), practical application (education, preaching, and mission), and doctrine (the basic teachings and beliefs of the synod).

The Missouri Synod teaches that the ordination of women as clergy is contrary to scripture. The issue of women's roles in the church body has continued to be a subject of debate within the Synod. During the Cooperative Clergy Study Project in the year 2000, 10% out of 652 LCMS pastors surveyed stated that all clergy positions should be open to women, while 82% disagreed.[27] Congregations were permitted to enact female suffrage within Missouri Synod congregations in 1969, and it was affirmed at the Synod's 2004 convention that women may also "serve in humanly established offices" as long as those offices do not include any of the "distinctive functions of the pastoral office." Thus in many congregations of the LCMS, women now serve as congregation president or chairperson, etc. This is the cause of contention within the LCMS, with some congregations utilizing women in public worship to read lessons and assist in the distribution of holy communion. Other traditional Lutherans reject such practices as unbiblical, with a minority of congregations continuing the historic practice of male suffrage, similar to the Wisconsin Synod.

LCMS National Youth Gathering

The National Youth Gathering is held every three years. The 2016 gathering will happen in New Orleans, Louisiana. The theme for the 2016 gathering is "In Christ Alone". The most recent gathering took place in 2013 in San Antonio, Texas from July 1–5, 2013. It was based on the theme, "Live Love(d)." The 2010 gathering in New Orleans was based on the theme "We Believe". In both 2007 and 2004, The LCMS National Youth Gatherings were held at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Florida. The gathering's theme in 2007 was "Chosen." The gathering in 2007 was originally planned to be held in New Orleans, Louisiana, but due to Hurricane Katrina, the location was changed to Orlando, Florida. Around 25,000 youth attend each gathering. Many Christian bands and artists perform at gatherings.

Church structure

The LCMS has a form of congregational polity. This is different from some other Lutheran bodies which have maintained episcopal polity; however, this is not considered to be a point of doctrine, as the Synod is in fellowship with some Lutheran church bodies in Europe that have an episcopal structure.

The corporate LCMS is formally constituted of two types of members: autonomous local congregations that qualify for membership by mutual

agreement to adhere to stated principles, and clergymen who qualify by similar means. Congregations hold legal title to their church buildings and other property, and call (hire) and dismiss their own clergy. Much of the practical work of the LCMS structure is as a free employment brokerage to bring the two together; it also allows the congregations to work together on projects far too large for even a local consortium of congregations to accomplish, such as foreign mission work.

Synod

The LCMS as a whole is led by an ordained Synodical President, currently the Rev. Dr. Matthew C. Harrison. The President is chosen at a Synod convention, a gathering of the two membership groups (professional clergymen and lay representatives from the member congregations). The convention is held every three years; discussions of doctrine and policy take place at these events, and elections are held to fill various Synod positions. The next Synod convention will be in 2016. Local conventions within each circuit and district are held in the intervening years.

DistrictsThe entire synod is divided into districts, usually corresponding to a specific geographic area, as well as two non-geographical districts, the English and the SELC, which were formed when the formerly separate English Missouri Synod and the Slovak Synod, respectively, merged with the formerly German-speaking Missouri Synod. Each district is led by an elected district president, who must be an ordained clergyman. Most district presidencies are full-time positions, but there are a few exceptions in which the district president also serves as a parish pastor. The districts are subdivided into circuits, each of which is led by a circuit counselor, who is an ordained pastor from one of the member congregations.

Congregations

Peace Lutheran Church (built 1905) near Baldwin, Wisconsin

Congregations are served by full-time professional clergy. The LCMS is congregationalist with regard to polity.

Organizations

In addition to its two seminaries, the LCMS operates ten universities known as the Concordia University System. Among the LCMS's other auxiliary organizations are the Lutheran Laymen's League (now known as Lutheran Hour Ministries), which conducts outreach ministries including The Lutheran Hour radio program; and the Lutheran Women's Missionary League. The synod also operates Concordia Publishing House, through which it publishes the official periodical of the LCMS, The Lutheran Witness.

Relationship with other Lutheran bodies

Maintaining its position as a confessional church body emphasizing the importance of full agreement in the teachings of the Bible, the LCMS is not associated with ecumenical organizations such as the National Council of Churches, the National Association of Evangelicals, the World Council of Churches or the Lutheran World Federation. It is, however, a member of the International Lutheran Council, made up of over 30 Lutheran churches worldwide that support the confessional doctrines of the Bible and the Book of Concord. At the 2007 convention, the delegates voted to establish altar and pulpit fellowship with the American Association of Lutheran Churches (AALC).

Although its strongly conservative views on theology and ethics might seem to make the LCMS politically compatible with Protestant evangelicals and fundamentalists in the U.S., the LCMS largely eschews political activity, partly out of concerns to keep the denomination untainted with potential heresies and also because of its strict understanding of the Lutheran distinction between the Two Kingdoms (see above), which repudiates the primarily Calvinist presuppositions about the totalizing rule of God that informs much, if not most, of U.S. evangelical understanding of politics and Christianity. However, both LCMS and Evangelicals share the common belief that life begins and should be protected by law since conception.[28]

The LCMS is distinguished from the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS) by three main theological beliefs:

1. The biblical understanding of fellowship: the LCMS believes in a distinction between the altar, pulpit fellowship, and other manifestations of Christian fellowship (i.e., a prayer fellowship). The WELS does not.

2. The doctrine of the ministry: the LCMS believes that the Pastoral

office is divinely established, but all other offices are human institutions and hence are not divinely established. The WELS believes that the Ministry of the Word is divinely established and that congregations and the synod may choose the forms of public ministry they wish to use.

3. The role of women in the church: Although both the LCMS and WELS agree that Scripture reserves the pastoral office for men, the WELS also believes that Scripture forbids women's suffrage in the congregation.

Membership and demographics

Membership growth was substantial in the first half of the 20th century. According to the Yearbook of American & Canadian Churches,[30] the LCMS had 628,695 members in 1925. By 1950 the number of members had grown to over 1.6 million. Membership peaked in 1970 at just under 2.8 million. In 2014 the LCMS reported 2,196,788 members and 6,151 churches, with 6,431 active clergy.[1] LCMS membership continues to be concentrated in the Upper Midwest. The five states with the highest rates of adherence are Nebraska, Wisconsin, South Dakota, Minnesota, and Iowa.[31]