What’s the Most Conservative Lutheran Synod? Get the Facts

The Lutheran tradition has a rich 500-year-old history. In the last century, some Lutheran denominations and churches have adopted liberal doctrines and practices that are more in alignment with modern society than their tradition’s history. This has led many people to wonder which Lutheran denomination is the most conservative today?

The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod is the largest conservative denomination in the Lutheran tradition. The Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod, though one-fourth the size of the LCMS, is also unapologetically conservative in theology and practice. Both synods have resisted progressive movements within the tradition.

What makes the LCMS and WELS conservative compared to liberal Lutheran denominations? What are some of the other Lutheran synods that are conservative or liberal? Keep reading to learn more.

Also see What Denominations Believe in Predestination? for more.

Which Lutheran synods are conservative and which are liberal and progressive?

There are various Lutheran synods around the world. A synod is a group of like-minded churches. The term is generally synonymous with “denomination.” (Also see Lutheran vs Non-Denominational: What’s the Difference?)

Many countries around the world have dozens of synods that serve a region, city, or other geographical area. A synod may be conservative or liberal (defined below). Neighboring synods may even have different views. Some of the largest conservative Lutheran synods around the world include:

Conservative Lutheran Synods	Membership
The American Association of Lutheran Churches	16,000
Church of Australia and New Zealand	30,000
Association of Free Lutheran Churches	41,000
North American Lutheran Church	140,000
Lutheran Congregations in Mission for Christ (charismatic)	300,000
Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod	385,000
Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod	2.2 million

Non-conservative Lutheran synods fall on a spectrum between what they allow and what they affirm and encourage. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America allows congregations to make decisions on issues like same-sex marriage and ordaining women ministers. (Also see What Do Lutherans Believe About Divorce?)

Some in the ELCA make a distinction between allowing these practices and affirming and encouraging them. Critics say the ELCA’s allowances are tantamount to supporting the practices.

Moderate-Liberal Lutheran Synods	Membership
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America	4.2 million
Church of Sweden	5.8 million
Church of Denmark	4.3 million
Church of Iceland	230,000
Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada	95,000

The ELCA supports a wide variety of ministries aimed at welcoming and affirming the LGBT community. [1]

What makes a Lutheran synod conservative or liberal?

The Lutheran tradition, like other mainline Protestant traditions, has experienced infighting over doctrine and practice that has led to division. (Also see Do Lutherans Drink Alcohol?)

The conservative branch of the tradition strives to maintain classic orthodox doctrine based on the Bible, while liberal movements try to push denominations and churches to the left side of the theological and political spectrum. Two fundamental commitments define the contours of “conservativism”:

• The Bible is the authority for doctrine and practice: Churches yield to the Bible; the Bible doesn’t yield churches. Denominations and churches, including their leaders, don’t determine truth and error, orthodoxy and heresy. According to historical Lutheran teaching, the ministry of church leaders, such as minister and theologians, are only valuable and beneficial as long as they reflect the truths revealed in Scripture, which is Spirit-inspired and error-less.

• The Bible must be interpreted literally: Bible readers should interpret Scripture literally. The Bible sometimes uses figurative and symbolic language, but it doesn’t permit the reader to arbitrarily determine when that occurs. For example, the reader may interpret the trees clapping their hands figuratively (Isa. 55:12) because that’s how the prophet intended the description to be understood, but the creation account (Gen. 1-2) can’t be interpreted figuratively because the author was writing a historical narrative.

The LCMS and WELS’ commitment to Scripture leads them to embrace doctrines and practices the Bible affirms and to reject alternatives. Lutheran synods that align with shifting secular worldviews and social values don’t have such a commitment to Scripture. These differences lead to division within the tradition. (Also see What Bible Translation Do Lutherans Use?)

“The authority of Scripture is greater than the comprehension of the whole of man’s reason.”

Martin Luther

What issues divide conservative and liberal Lutheran synods?

Divisions within the Lutheran tradition are the cause of synod, denomination, and church splits. The conservatives’ commitment to Scripture and the liberals’ adherence to progressivism is irreconcilable. Though fundamental differences in worldview and values are evident, they often find expression in individual issues like:

• Restriction and latitude regarding LGBT issues: The LCMS and WELS believe that marriage is between one man and one woman, which is based on the teachings of the Bible. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, for example, allows individual congregations to decide matters like supporting same-sex marriage and ordaining people that don’t identify as heterosexual.

• Ordination of women: Conservative Lutheran synods don’t support the ordination of women because they believe the Bible doesn’t allow for it. Liberal synods ordain female ministers.

• Ecumenical worship services: Ecumenical worship services involve participation from different churches, denominations, and sometimes different religions, for purpose of social and spiritual unity. Liberal Lutherans embrace such services for their promotion of religious tolerance and social unity. Conservative Lutherans believe participation is an expression of compromise.

• Closed communion: Conservative synods like the LCMS and the WELS don’t open the Lord’s Table to anyone, but only people whose faith and lifestyle have been examined through the membership process. Liberal Lutheran churches practice “open communion” and offer the bread and cup to anyone. (Note: some conservative Protestant denominations offer “open communion” because they don’t attempt to police the Lord’s Supper.)

• Creation and evolution: Conservative Lutheran synods embrace the doctrine of creation. They interpret the creation account in Genesis 1-2 literally and reject Darwinian evolution. Liberal Lutheran synods affirm general scientific consensus regarding the universe. This disagreement extends to other issues like abortion, gender identity, and marriage, as those topics are taught in the creation account.

“A layman who has the Scripture is more than Pope or council without it.”

Martin Luther

What is Martin Luther teach about homosexuality?

Martin Luther taught that homosexuality is sin. He criticized same-gender sexual activity as well as those who permitted it. Luther was especially critical of when church leadership practiced or permitted homosexual activity.

When Pope Leo X rejected the request that cardinals restrict the number of boys they kept for sexual exploitation, Luther criticized Roman Catholic church for how “openly and shamelessly the pope and the cardinals in Rome practice sodomy.”

Also, in his teaching on Sodom and Gomorrah from Genesis 19:4-5, Luther wrote:

“I for my part do not enjoy dealing with this passage, because so far the ears of the Germans are innocent of and uncontaminated by this monstrous depravity; for even though disgrace, like other sins, has crept in through an ungodly soldier and a lewd merchant, still the rest of the people are unaware of what is being done in secret.

The Carthusian monks deserve to be hated because they were the first to bring this terrible pollution into Germany from the monasteries of Italy.”

Luther’s views aligned with those in conservative Lutheran synods today. The basis for the agreement, as mentioned above, is the conviction that the Bible is the authority for doctrine and practice, and that it should be taken literally. To this perspective, it doesn’t matter what the issue is the Bible’ straightforward teaching on the topic is paramount:

“We must make a great difference between God’s Word and the word of man. A man’s word is a little sound, that flies into the air, and soon vanishes; but the Word of God is greater than heaven and earth, yea, greater that death and hell, for it forms part of the power of God, and endures everlastingly.”

Martin Luther

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