The WELS and Broken Fellowship With the LCMS

In 1961, the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS) broke fellowship with the LCMS. They understood that there are impediments to church fellowship between our synods. They have a different understanding of the Office of the Holy Ministry than the LCMS - not to mention the whole idea of whether or not it is proper to pray with Christians outside of one’s altar and pulpit fellowship.

I know a lot of faithful WELS members. Some of them even pray with us. Some are Gottesdienst readers. So I don’t write this to attack the WELS, but to offer an honest snapshot of where we are right now.

It is honest for us in both synods to remain out of altar and pulpit fellowship and only cooperate in externals so long as we have such divergent theologies of the Holy Office.

And we do.

Here is an example of a July 18, 2021 WELS Divine Service in which the pastor has the congregation “consecrate” the elements instead of doing it himself. This was posted publicly by the congregation. They wanted people to see it. Anyone on the planet with wifi or a cell connection can watch this. You can fast forward to 44:40 for the “consecration.”

[Note: the video has since been edited so as to only include the sermon. I wonder why. ~ Ed.]

What is the reasoning for this? We Christians have been celebrating Masses for nearly two millennia. We do not see congregational “consecration” in historic Christianity. It is the pastor’s vocation as the steward of the mysteries to administer the sacraments. But of course, if a church body’s theology includes a low view of the Office of the Holy Ministry, then there is nothing wrong with this. The logical conclusion to this theology of the ministry is that the pastoral office becomes optional.

And this is no small difference in theology. Nor is it theoretical. In the aftermath of Covid, we in the LCMS have been wrestling internally with such things as churches carrying out alleged lay-led “communion” and “consecration” ex opere operato by an electronic recitation of the Words of Institution severed from physical proximity to one given the vocation, one who is “regularly called” to “publicly teach in the church or administer sacraments.” Fortunately, these are exceptions and outliers and not the rule and norm.

Of course, I am not a member of WELS, and I have no standing in the affairs of that church body. And without having agreement regarding something as basic as the role of the Office of the Holy Ministry in the consecration of the elements, it needs to stay that way. Let us cooperate in externals, but keep our altars and pulpits separate.

And yes, we have our own issues in our own church body. So let us address those. But let us continue to point out why we are not in fellowship with other church bodies that bear the name Lutheran, such as the ELCA and the WELS. And if the Wisconsin Synod were to correct the practice of this pastor and congregation, that may well be a step toward the path of walking together in restored fellowship.

Otherwise, let us be honest with ourselves, just as the WELS was in 1961, and is today.