Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod


The Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod, also referred to simply as the Wisconsin Synod, is an American Confessional Lutheran denomination of Christianity. Characterized as theologically conservative, it was founded in 1850 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
As of 2022, it had a baptized membership of 340,511 in 1,250 congregations, with churches in 47 US states and 4 provinces of Canada. The WELS also does gospel outreach in 40 countries around the world. It is the third, or fourth, largest Lutheran denomination in the United States. The WELS school system is the fourth largest private school system in the United States.
The WELS is in fellowship with the Evangelical Lutheran Synod and is a member of the Confessional Evangelical Lutheran Conference, a worldwide organization of Lutheran church bodies of the same beliefs.

Belief and practice

Doctrinal standards

The WELS subscribes to the Lutheran Reformation teaching of Sola scriptura—"by Scripture alone." It holds that the Bible is the final authority by which church teachings can be judged. The WELS holds to a quia subscription to the 16th century Lutheran Confessions; that is, they teach that the confessions are valid because they are faithful to the Bible. As such, WELS pastors agree to teach in accordance with it.
The WELS also agrees with the doctrine of Biblical inerrancy, the doctrine that the Bible is inspired by God and is without error. For this reason, they reject much of modern liberal theology.

Differences from Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod

The main facets of doctrinal difference between the WELS and the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod include:
  • Fellowship – The WELS teaches that all forms of Christian fellowship require a complete unity in matters of doctrine. The LCMS, meanwhile, teaches that there are different levels of fellowship among Christians, so that altar fellowship, pulpit fellowship, and other manifestations of Christian fellowship, are distinct. Thus, according to LCMS doctrine, members of different church bodies can engage in greater or lesser degrees of fellowship depending on the extent of their doctrinal disagreement.
  • Doctrine of the ministry – The WELS believes that there are many different forms of one, divinely established Ministry. These forms of the Ministry include pastor, Christian day-school teacher, and others. The LCMS teaches that only the pastoral office is divinely established, while all other church offices are human institutions.
  • Role of women in the church – The LCMS and WELS agree that Scriptures reserve the pastoral office for men. In "This We Believe," published in 1999, WELS states that "women may participate in offices and activities of the public ministry except where that work involves authority over men. This means that women may not serve as pastors nor participate in assemblies of the church in ways that exercise authority over men." WELS does not allow women suffrage in congregational matters that would exercise authority over men. LCMS teaches that women may take on roles of lay authority in the church, such as voting in church elections and serving in "humanly established offices" such as congregation president, reader, or member of church councils, including elected executive roles in the church.

    Differences from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

  • Scriptural interpretation – The WELS confesses that the Bible is the inspired, inerrant and infallible Word of God and follows a historical-grammatical approach to interpretation. The meaning of a portion of Scripture is discerned by paying careful attention to grammar, syntax, vocabulary and context. In this regard, the historical setting forms part of the context of Scripture, the text itself indicating how important a part. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, on the other hand, has been open to historical-critical methods of Biblical interpretation which seek to understand the scriptures with primary reference to historical and social context. Most other specific doctrinal differences between the two churches stem from this overarching disagreement.
  • Creation – The WELS teaches that the account of creation given in Genesis 1–3 is a factual, historical account, while the ELCA has not enforced an official position, allowing members to embrace positions ranging from strict creationism to theistic evolution.
  • Sexuality – The WELS teaches that extramarital sex and homosexual relations are sins, while the ELCA and its predecessor churches are open to multiple viewpoints on these matters.
  • Fellowship – The WELS teaches that churches must agree on all doctrines of Scripture before they can enjoy any form of fellowship with each other, while the ELCA teaches that agreement on all aspects of doctrine is not necessarily required as a prerequisite for fellowship. It thus practices fellowship with a handful of other mainline Protestant denominations.
  • Role of women in the church – The WELS holds that, according to Scripture, women may not serve as clergy nor vote within their congregations where authority is exercised over men, while the ELCA's three predecessor churches began ordaining women into the ministry in the 1970s, according to their interpretation of Scripture.
  • Communion – The WELS practices closed communion ; it holds that the Eucharist is reserved for confirmed members of the WELS, any sister church in fellowship with WELS, and other individuals found upon examination to be in doctrinal agreement with the WELS.

    History

Beginning

The WELS's direct predecessor, known as The German Evangelical Ministerium of Wisconsin was founded in 1850 by several churches in and around Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Many of the early pastors were educated and trained by mission societies in Germany. The early churches in the Wisconsin Synod had a strong German background; services and church business were conducted in German. Many of the pastors and congregations brought with them a tolerance towards forming joint congregations with the Reformed, similar to the Union Churches they left behind in Germany. In 1864, the German Evangelical Lutheran synod of Wisconsin was incorporated by an act of the state legislature.

General Council

In the 1860s, the Wisconsin Synod became increasingly conservative along the Lutheran viewpoint and against the Reformed. In the synod convention of 1867, the synod joined the General Council, a group of Neo-Lutheran synods that left the General Synod because the latter body sought to compromise Lutheran doctrine in order to join with non-Lutheran American Protestantism. However, some pastors in the Wisconsin Synod agreed with the "open questions" position of the Iowa Synod that some doctrines could be left unresolved and good Lutherans could agree to disagree about them.
The 1868 convention witnessed a meaningful discussion on the topic of pulpit and altar fellowship, one of the Four Points in American Lutheranism. Although there were several dissenting opinions, most of the pastors and lay delegates realized that they could not in good conscience exchange pastors with non-Lutherans or invite them to commune at their altar. They felt that the position the General Council took on this subject was inadequate. They resolved that, unless it changed course, they would withdraw from the General Council.

Synodical Conference

Following the 1868 convention, representatives of the Wisconsin and Missouri Synods held a meeting in Milwaukee during October 21–22, 1868. They discussed various points of doctrine, writing an agreement recognizing the Missouri and Wisconsin synods as orthodox Lutheran church bodies and that they have fellowship. The agreement noted that in the event a doctrinal error arose in one of the two synods, they would not question each other's orthodoxy as long as they both used all Christian means at their disposal to resolve the problem. This agreement was later adopted by each of the synods in convention.
The Ohio Synod invited the Wisconsin Synod, Illinois Synod, Missouri Synod, and Norwegian Synod, to Chicago on January 11–13, 1871. There the synods drew up a document of association for the synods to vote on at their next convention. They also invited the entire membership, both teachers and pastors, of all the synods to attend a general convention the next year. This first meeting of the Evangelical Lutheran Synodical Conference of North America, commonly called the "Synodical Conference", was held in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on July 10–16, 1872. They wrote the constitution to the Synodical Conference, which arranged the synods together as a federation and did not vest any real authority with the Synodical Conference, either at the convention or board level. The fellowship union included full communion among members, the sharing of educational facilities, joint mission and benevolence work, and open pulpit between pastors of the different synods.

Reorganization

The first convention of the Synodical Conference also endeavored to reduce the severe competition between synods. The delegates planned to reorganize all Synodical Conference Lutherans into separate state synods, although allowing for separate organization along the lines of the three languages—German, Norwegian, and English. The 1876 and 1877 conventions also took up this cause, and added to it the goal of providing centrally located ministerial and teacher education campuses. The Minnesota Synod favored the approach of organizing state synods, but only if they would be independent of the larger Ohio and Missouri Synods. Likewise, the Wisconsin Synod desired organization along state lines, but only on the condition that they would be prohibited from joining any larger synodical body, that is, the already existing Ohio and Missouri Synods. The Wisconsin Synod also did not think that it could derive any benefit out of a centrally run seminary. In response to this strained relation between the Wisconsin Synod and the other synods, the Synodical Conference elected a committee made up of Wisconsin Synod delegates and other synods' representatives to repair relations with the Wisconsin Synod in time for the next convention in 1878.
In 1878, the Wisconsin Synod withdrew its demand that the state synods had to be independent of the Missouri or Ohio Synods. The Missouri Synod needed to build a new seminary, since location at its current campus was strained. Although there was considerable plans to build a new joint Synodical Conference seminary near Chicago, because of the hesitance of the Wisconsin Synod on this subject and the inability of any of the other members besides Missouri to contribute financially to the new project, it was tabled, and ultimately never happened.
The 1878 convention voted in favor of establishing state synods. These state synods were to organize into two or three larger synods, one for the east, one for the southwest, and one for the northwest. This formed three larger synods, which solved the longstanding concern that if either the Missouri or Ohio synods were allowed to keep their identity, they would dominate the rest of the Synodical Conference, or, even worse, the Minnesota or Wisconsin Synods would be forced to join one of them. This new organization did not apply to congregations speaking Norwegian, and English speaking congregations were to organize as separate district synods within one of the larger synods.