One great thing about our post-denominational age is that it has opened up opportunities to make common cause with other Lutherans who, despite their differences and eccentricities, can agree on some of the most important things.
When my parents were growing up Lutheran in the 1960s and 1970s, they lived in a world in which denominations were important––and not just for Lutherans. As has been frequently observed, and is widely known, this era was the pinnacle of denominational Christianity in America. Church attendance was at its highest levels ever in the years following World War II. The commercial expansion of the country, and enthusiasm for church planting, brought new congregations to rapidly expanding regions like the Pacific Northwest, California, and the Southwest.
The mood and culture of this era catalyzed the development of deep bonds of affinity within congregations and the synods and denominations which served them. Ladies Aid societies, mission societies, bible camps, youth leagues, bible colleges, service projects, conferences, and bible study groups flourished. However, as a child of the 1990s, I have only heard of this apex of church culture from the recollections of my parents and grandparents.
Something worth noticing about this era––in contrast to our own––is that this was a time when denominationalism was ascendant. Americans of different denominations knew each other in public life, of course. But Americans largely kept to their historical church affiliations on Sunday mornings. Unlike our own time, conversion from one tradition to another was rare, and had significant social costs attached to it––especially for recent immigrant groups.
Many Lutherans at the time were desperate to escape the legacy of immigration, which required adoption of English and the broadly Anglo-Saxon culture of the US. But there was also a strong sense that Lutheran unity was a priority, as it had been in the nineteenth century during which time the population of Lutherans on this continent grew rapidly.
It is this tendency, which Mark Granquist, a historian of American Christianity, has called the “urge to merge.” It resulted in several significant events in the second half of the twentieth century. The first was the consolidation of the majority of Lutheran groups into three denominations by the 1960s: The American Lutheran Church (TALC), the Lutheran Church in America (LCA), and the Lutheran Church––Missouri Synod (LCMS). Careful readers will rightly add that the LCMS had existed continuously since its founding in 1847. But it had absorbed several other groups during its early history, leaving it one of the three largest synods in the US by midcentury.
This was a time in which denominations were deeply important, supplying pastors, congregations and lay people with resources for ministry. And despite the longing for Lutheran unity in America, Lutherans still kept to themselves for the most part, holding on tightly to their denominational and synodical affiliations. These connections remained so important because of the significant resources wider church networks provided to pastors and congregations. Such resources included publication of devotional books, hymnals, Sunday school curricula, theological books. Bible camps and church colleges also bound people together with shared experiences of education, athletics, music, and other artistic endeavors. Youth gatherings and national organizations for women and men provided other points of connection beyond the bounds of the local congregation.
A second turning point was the tumult of the 1970s in the Missouri Synod. Eventually, the LCMS’s “moderate” wing departed in 1977. That group would be crucial for the largest merger in American Lutheran history, which was the formation of the ELCA in 1988. At that point, Lutherans in America had split along theologically progressive and theologically conservative lines––no longer having a large, middle of the road denomination like TALC, which was absorbed into the more theologically liberal ELCA.
The push to conglomerate Lutherans into large, diverse bodies has also created the situation we have today. No longer are denominational boundaries as culturally significant as they once were. The push to merge has divided Lutherans along certain social and cultural issues and yet it has also generated factionalism within these groups. Ironically, the urge to merge led to just as much fracture as before. But technological advances in communication have also allowed people to meet likeminded friends in a way that wasn’t possible before.
Compared to my parents and grandparents, I have far more contact with people of other theological traditions than they did. I’ve met Lutherans of various synods and denominations with whom I share a great deal in common. This isn’t to say that synodical institutions will cease to exist, or that they don’t matter. But in post-denominational Lutheranism, numeric decline paired with faster networking and communication has made it easier to sympathize with friends and fellow travelers in a wider swath of church bodies.
Differences of culture and theology will continue to matter, especially given that the secular situation in America requires sincerity of belief and integrity of confession. There will still be Lutheran pietists, charismatics, and many who claim the name “confessional”––and they’ll argue endlessly with each other about what that means. Views of ministry, open communion, and style of worship will remain important.
But one great thing about our post-denominational age is that it has opened up opportunities to make common cause with other Lutherans who, despite their differences and eccentricities, can agree on some of the most important things: the gospel is the justifying promise of forgiveness in Jesus Christ proclaimed to sinners; baptism imparts the saving word of Christ with the water; the Lord’s Supper is the body and blood of Christ given to eat and drink for the forgiveness of sins; the death and resurrection of Jesus form the center of our faith in the Triune God; and Christ’s church persists wherever the gospel is preached purely and the sacraments given in accord with Christ’s command.
For all this, Lutherans across the spectrum should rejoice, and make common cause in the gospel. Where they remain divided, only honesty and charity will do. The same could actually be said for Christians across denominational lines. For both collaboration and clarified disagreement, we can thank in part our post-denominational age. It presents many avenues for witness and confession we should gladly take up.
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