Fifty years ago the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod broke its ties with the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod.  Why did that split happen, and what did it mean for WELS? 

It was August 1961. Delegates of our synod were meeting in convention at Wisconsin Lutheran High School in Milwaukee. Among items on the agenda was one that would have important, long-range implications for our synod. After intense discussion and prayerful voting, the resolution passed overwhelmingly to terminate fellowship with the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS). For almost a century—from 1868 to 1961—WELS had been in fellowship with the LCMS. For almost as long, since 1872, WELS had been partners with the LCMS in the Evangelical Lutheran Synodical Conference of North America. This vote changed that.

Some of us remember that convention with its momentous action. Others have learned about it from history books. All of us as WELS members have lived with its blessings and impact now for 50 years. But how did this split come about?

GROWING CONCERN

In the 1850s our fledgling synod was "somewhat" Lutheran. Though it agreed on the gospel and Scripture, it was lax in its fellowship practices and other areas. The LCMS, under Dr. C. F. W. Walther, helped to bring our fathers to conservative moorings. Fellowship with Missouri followed. The two synods enjoyed pulpit and altar fellowship. They worked together in educational, charitable, and mission activities. A chief factor that brought them together was agreement on the important doctrine of church fellowship. Years later it would be disagreement on this very teaching that would tear them apart.

During the 1930s the church body known as the American Lutheran Church carried on negotiations with the LCMS. As a result of these meetings, the LCMS at its 1938 convention resolved that the Brief Statement (LCMS's faithful doctrinal position paper) together with the Declaration (the statement of the American Lutheran Church) "be regarded as the doctrinal basis for future church fellowship" (Proceedings of the Missouri Synod, 1938, pp. 231–233). Looking back, many now regard these actions of Missouri as the radical turning point in its history.

Our synod objected, calling for a single doctrinal statement covering the contested doctrines so that the burning issues could be discussed and compromising God's truth could be prevented. This led to the LCMS statement entitled Doctrinal Affirmation, then to the better known Part I of the Common Confession in 1949 and Part II of the Common Confession in 1953. Our synod, along with the Evangelical Lutheran Synod, rightly rejected all three of these doctrinal statements as faulty.