Lutheran Differences

Q: Can you tell me the main differences between the ELCA and LCMS?

A: Since there are so many facets and factions involved with both the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and The Lutheran Church — Missouri Synod (LCMS), I run the risk of over-generalizing, stereotyping, or ignoring a significant portion of each body unless my comparison approaches book length. While I’ll emphasize official differences, keep in mind that many in the ELCA disagree with some or all of what that body officially professes and the same is true among many members of the LCMS.

The easiest dividing line between ELCA and LCMS is that of liberal and conservative. The LCMS teaches Biblical inerrancy and considers the Lutheran Confessions to be true and normative for faith and life. The ELCA allows members to question the veracity of much of the Biblical record and treats the Lutheran Confessions more as historical documents than as vital expressions of current faith and practice.

Because of its understanding of Scripture and Confessions, the LCMS still has an all-male pastorate and officially rejects the ordination of homosexual clergy. Many in the ELCA don’t even view homosexuality as a “problem” while the LCMS, on the basis of Biblical testimony, considers it a major sin. The LCMS is also much more pro-life, anti-abortion than is the ELCA.

The ELCA is “in communion” with many more church bodies than is the LCMS. This means that pastors of the various bodies may exchange pulpits and members may commune at the others’ altars without impediment. In the LCMS, full communion only takes place after doctrinal differences are resolved. With a much more minimal requirement for intercommunion between ELCA and other bodies, its altars are officially open to thousands who officially deny or openly question basic Lutheran teaching on many topics.

For example, strongly Calvinist Episcopalians who deny the universality of grace, Reformed members of the United Church of Christ who reject the Real Presence of Christ in His Supper, or Methodists who question original sin and the efficacy of infant Baptism all may join their mixed confessions around an ELCA altar. Meanwhile, pastors from these bodies holding and teaching these differing theologies are allowed to preach from ELCA pulpits.

Some might consider our polities to be major differences, since the ELCA uses a system of bishops while the LCMS has a more corporate political structure. However, in the long run, the type of government a church has is not nearly so important as is the type of church that is being governed. Ultimately, a church’s government is only as Lutheran and Christian as is the official teaching and practice of that church. Right is right whether done by a bishop or a voters’ assembly and bad theology remains bad whether issued by episcopal fiat or by a misguided majority vote.

As I noted, these are generalities. The LCMS has many who are much more conservative or confessionally-minded than either our current leadership or many of our official positions show us to be. There are others who are generally much more liberal-minded, many of whom are hoping to bring the Missouri Synod into full communion with the ELCA. Meanwhile, the ELCA also has its polar opposites. Some seem bent upon stripping any remaining Lutheran uniqueness from the ELCA, completing its homogenization into generic American Protestantism. Others are trying to reverse perceived excesses, return to Scriptural fidelity, and reestablish a stronger, Bible-based ethos on their church.

I know this answer was not exhaustive. I hope that it at least helped to frame the general points separating the two largest Lutheran bodies in the United States.

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Walter Snyder is the pastor of Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Emma, Missouri and coauthor of the book What Do Lutherans Believe.

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