Lutheran Church Missouri Synod
The Lutheran Church Missouri Synod is the second largest of the Lutheran church bodies in the United States. It is a conservative and confessional Lutheran Christian denomination.
They have their immigrant’s roots in Germany. They are many different elements in their worship service, yet the congregations hold to the Lutheran Confession and the Holy Scripture.
This new church strongly opposes humanism, the thought that human behavior is based on values, and individual characteristics that comes from inside a person rather than from the authority of God. They also oppose the religious syncretism, which is the attempt to combine different systems of philosophical and religious belief and practices. For instance, they believed the Bible taught to neither approve nor condemn slavery so they opposed abolitionism, the campaign against slavery.
The Lutheran Church Missouri Synod was formed in 1847. There were twelve pastors that represented fifteen congregations who then established the German Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Missouri, Ohio and Other States. The name was changed to The Lutheran Church Missouri Synod in 1947. They met in Chicago, Illinois to form a new church body and are made up of individuals from many backgrounds. They are people who believe they are called by God to live their Christian faith together as one church.
The Lutheran Church Missouri Synod is a congregational ran church. It is not run by the Bishop. The congregations operate by a full time professional clergy. The congregation owns their own church buildings and properties and can both call and fire their own clergy.
The synod is divided into districts usually according to geographic locations. The congregations elect the district president who is the one who ordains the clergyman.
The Lutheran Church Missouri Synod requires their pastors to have a four year bachelor’s degree and a four year Master of Divinity degree from Concordia Seminary in St. Louis or the Concordia Theological Seminary in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Those holding a Master of Divinity degree from any other seminaries must take colloquy classes at either the Concordia Theological Seminary or Concordia Seminary.
There have been many struggles and disputes over theological, doctrinal, and social perceptions. One of the disputes came in 1970 over scriptural interpretation and scholastic freedom. This disagreement caused many students and the faculty at Concordia Seminary in St. Louis to walk out and leave the school. They formed a rival institution and called it the Concordia Seminary in Exile or Seminex. It wasn’t just the faculty and students who left the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod but many other congregations left as well forming the association of Evangelical Lutheran Churches.
This dispute over scriptural interpretation and scholastic freedom rematerialized again the 1990, so once again the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod is divided into two informal organized groups. One side calls themselves “Conservative” and calls the other side “Liberal”.
The “Liberal” side considers themselves conservatives when it comes to doctrine. Probably a more accurate description of the two sides would be “Traditionalists” and “Evangelicals”. There are still disputes concerning the inter faith worship service, ecumenical fellowship with other church congregations, the life of the church, and the role of women in the leadership role in the church. These separations are beginning to be reconciled; however there are still issues to be agreed upon.
The Lutheran Church Missouri Synod is headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri.
History
Twelve pastors, which represented fifteen congregations, established the German Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Missouri, Ohio and Other States on April 26, 1847. The name was shortened to The Lutheran Church Missouri Synod in 1947.
One of the first of the Lutheran Missouri Synods began with the Saxon Lutherans in German in early 1800. The 1800’s was a time of increased rationalism, which is the belief that reason and logic are the only source of knowledge and truth and these should be relied on to search and test the things of truth. The Lutheran pastor Martin Stephen and his followers disagreed with this idea and the state sponsored Lutheranism in Saxony. They were forced to leave Saxon Germany in order to practice what they considered to be a pure Lutheranism in the United States. They left for the United States in November 1838.
They were determined to live faithful lives according to the Word of God. They lived through persecution because of their beliefs and their confession of the Lutheran Church. They landed at New Orleans January 5, 1839, and traveled by steamer up the Mississippi river to Missouri. They settled in Perry County, Missouri. Martin Stephan was their bishop of their new settlement. Unfortunately he was accused of corruption and sexual misconduct with members of the congregation and was expelled from the settlement.
- F. D. Walther took over the leadership position of the Lutheran Missouri Synod in the new homeland. He showed his followers how it was the Word of God that made them a church. Walther told them it was not the place they live or the type of church structure or any particular form of government within the church that made them a church, but rather their adherence to Scriptures that ruled them into a life of faith. The Lutheran Missouri Synod considered the Lutheran Confessions as being a faithful and trustworthy teaching to follow in their lives. Eventually C. F. Walther became the first president of the Missouri synod.
The first cabin college was established in 1839 the Concordia Seminary of St. Louis, Missouri and then in 1846 a seminary was established in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Wilhelp Loehe from Bavaria, Germany came to the United States to see to the training of twenty two pastors to preach and teach in the newly established Seminaries. The Concordia Publishing House was established in 1870 and still exists today.
The Lutheran Missouri Synod accepts their confessions are the symbols that are contained in the Book of Concord dating back to 1580. They do not make doctrines, but they can and should profess the doctrines that are revealed in the Holy Scripture. All doctrinal decisions must be consistent with the Holy Scripture. They reject any doctrine which does not accept the Church of the Reformation and the teachings of Martin Luther. They also reject any doctrine which bases the forgiveness of sin, or the justification on infused grace or the quality of men or any established work doctrine from Papacy of the Roman Catholic Church.
The Lutheran Missouri Synod drew up a constitution and worked toward uniformity in practice, while keeping their doctrine sound according to the Holy Scriptures, the Book of Concord and according to the teachings of Martin Luther. They required hymns, rituals, and all practices to be in harmony with their teachings. They kept to traditional hymns and traditional worship.
Belief
The Lutheran Church Missouri Synod believe the Holy Scripture is different from all other books in the world because they are the Word of God. They believe holy men of God wrote the Scriptures. They believe the Holy Ghost communicated with the holy men to inspire them and verbal inspiration of the Scriptures should be taught by the Scriptures. They believe the Holy Scriptures contains no errors or contradictions and that they are the infallible truth, the foundation of faith and the sole source for all proclaimed doctrines. They reject any doctrines that do not accept the infallibility of the Holy Scriptures and consider these doctrines erroneous and blasphemous.
The Lutheran Church Missouri Synod believe the Bible is inerrant and have believed in the Scripture alone ever since the Lutheran Reformation. They believe the Bible is the only standard of teachings and all doctrine must be Biblically sound. They reject most of the modern liberal scholarship teachings. They believe the Holy Scriptures is explained as well as interpreted by the Book of Concord, which is a series of Confessions of faith that was composed by Martin Luther. The Book of Concord is used because they believe it explains the Word of God.
The Lutheran Church Missouri Synod believe the Bible consists of two teachings, the Law and the Gospel. They believe the Laws are all the parts of the Bible that provide the commandment, statutes and instructions and they believe these are impossible to obey completely. They believe the Law is a statement of the wrath of God, His judgment, and damnation. They believe the Gospel is that portion of Scripture that promises free salvation from God given to even sinners. They believe the Law condemns and the Gospel saves and both gifts from God. They believe the Gospel is where the forgiveness of sin is promised and it is given for the sake of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
The Lutheran Church Missouri Synod believe in the Holy Trinity and teaches there is one true God who is the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost, three distinct persons, of one and the same divine essence, equal in power, eternity and in majesty. They believe anyone who denies the existence of the doctrine of the Holy Trinity are not part of the true Christian Church.
The Lutheran Church Missouri Synod believe in creation and are opposed to the teaching of evolution. They believe the first men were created in the very image of God, in full knowledge of God in the true righteousness and holiness. They believe it was because of the fall of Adam that sin came into the world. They believe because of his fall, man lost the knowledge, righteousness and the holiness of God and became sinners and subject to the wrath of God. They teach man cannot reconcile themselves to God.
The Lutheran Church Missouri Synod believe the Son of God was made man by assuming, from the Virgin Mary through the operation of the Holy Ghost and the nature of Jesus Christ is like all humans, but without sin. They believe Jesus Christ is also true God, as well as true man, in one undivided and indivisible person. They believe the reason for this miraculous incarnation of the Son of God was to become the Mediator between God and man, which they believe would fulfill the divine Law of suffering and dying in the place of mankind.
The Lutheran Church Missouri Synod believe God has reconciled the whole sinful world unto Himself. They believe this reconciliation has been effected by Jesus Christ so man might believe. Faith in Christ is the only way for men to obtain personal reconciliation with God and the forgiveness of sins. They believe justification is fully earned for us by Christ and is offered in the Gospel. Faith justifies, not as a work of man, but as the grace offered as well as the forgiveness of sins.
The Lutheran Church Missouri Synod rejects the popular Christian doctrine that human will and the Holy Spirit work together to bring about spiritual regeneration or salvation, which is called synergism. They also reject the doctrine that man is able to decide for conversion through the powers imparted by grace, which they believe teaches that man had spiritual powers before their conversion. They also reject the Calvinistic doctrine of conversion, which states God does not desire to convert and save all hearers of the Word but only the predestined ones.
The Lutheran Church Missouri Synod believe the Scripture teaches that God has already declared the whole world to be righteous in Christ. They believe the whole world is righteous because of grace and for the sake of Christ. They believe it is Jesus Christ that justifies all those who believe, accept and rely on Him. They believe it is the sake of Christ that sins are forgiven. They believe there is no differences since all have sinned and all come short to the glory of God, and they are justified freely by the grace of God, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, and that man is justified by faith, without the deeds of the Law. They do not accept Christian’s religions that teach and promise the grace of God to men on the basis of their moral efforts, or good works are necessary to obtain justification.
The Lutheran Church Missouri Synod believe only works done for the glory of God and the good of mankind is considered works according to the rule of the Divine Law. They believe man must first believe that God has forgiven them from sins and must be given eternal life by grace, for the sake of Christ, without any works of his own. They believe good works never comes before faith, and are always the result of faith in the gospel.
The Lutheran Church Missouri Synod believe and teaches the Word of God, which is both written and preached, as well as the Sacraments are means of grace given through the Holy Spirit. They believe the Holy Spirit gives these gifts from the grace of God, when the Holy Spirit creates faith in the hearts of man, and forgives sins for the sake of the death on the cross by Jesus Christ. They believe the Holy Spirit grants eternal life and salvation.
The Missouri Synod believe the sacraments are instituted by Jesus Christ. The Synod considers the sacraments to be Baptism and the Lord’ Supper, Confession and Absolution.
The Lutheran Church Missouri Synod believes Baptism is applied for the remission of sins and is the washing, regeneration and a renewing by the Holy Ghost.
The Lutheran Church Missouri Synod believe the Lord’s Supper is more that a symbolic act. They believe the Body and Blood of Christ are present in, with and under the elements of bread and wine but they reject the Roman Catholic doctrine of Transubstantiation performed by the priests.
The Lutheran Churches Missouri Synod is conservative in the worship services. They have a closed communion policy. They only share the communion with Christians who believe that everything the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod teaches about the Christian faith is true.
The Lutheran Church Missouri Synod believe ordination is a public ceremony of recognition when a man accepts the divine call to the office of the ministry. They do not believe ordination is an extension of apostolic succession. They believe and teach that the ordination of women as clergy is contrary to the teachings of the Holy Scriptures. They believe woman may serve in humanly established offices like congregational president, readers, or even ushers.
The Lutheran Church Missouri Synod believe there is only one holy Christian Church on earth and the Head of that Church is Christ and is governed by Christ through the Gospel. They believe the members of that Church are Christians who have anguished before God and believe that God has forgiven their sins for the sake of Christ. They believe the church is built only on believers. They believe no person whom the Holy Ghost has faith in the gospel and the doctrine of justification can be dissociated from membership in the Christian Church. They believe faith in the Gospel alone can bring men to become members of the Christian church. They believe only God alone knows who has faith.
The Lutheran Church Missouri Synod rejects any kind of Millennialism. They believe the teachings in the Scripture stating the kingdom of Christ on earth will remain under the cross until the end of the world. They do not accept any teaching stating the visible return of Christ, nor do they believe there will be a period of time of special prosperity, nor the general resurrection on Judgment Day where there will be a number of Christians departing nor martyrs being raised again to reign in glory in this world which they call the “secret rapture”. They do not believe the end of the world will produce the conversion of the Jewish nations will take place.
The Lutheran Church Missouri Synod believe the Millennialism is contradictive to the Scripture and is a false conception of the Kingdom of Christ. They further believe this concept gives Christians earthly goals. They chose to focus on immediate salvation and not on the end times.
The Lutheran Church Missouri Synod believe the prophecies of the Holy Scriptures concerning the antichrist. They believe this has been fulfilled in the Pope of Rome, and in the dominion of the Pope of Rome. They believe the antichrist denounces the very heart of the Gospel of Christ and only recognizes the members of the Christian Church who bow to his authority and has spread the whole Churches with his antichristian doctrines. They believe this movement of the antichrist continued unabated until God revealed these false doctrines during the Reformation by Martin Luther.
Cite Article Source
MLA Style Citation:
Holstein, Joanne “Lutheran Church Missouri Synod:.” Becker Bible Studies Library Jan 2006.<https://guidedbiblestudies.com/?p=2735,>.
APA Style Citation:
Holstein, Joanne (2006, January) “Lutheran Church Missouri Synod:.” Becker Bible Studies Library. Retrieved from https://guidedbiblestudies.com/?p=2735,.
Chicago Style Citation:
Holstein, Joanne (2006) “Lutheran Church Missouri Synod:.” Becker Bible Studies Library (January), https://guidedbiblestudies.com/?p=2735, (accessed).
