The Rev. Dr. Matthew Harrison, president of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, visited St. Paul Lutheran Church in Bonduel last weekend with some strong words for its 150th anniversary celebration.
Harrison presided over the Saturday evening church service and both services on Sunday, and he was the keynote speaker at a sold-out dinner celebration in the early afternoon. He promised that he would finish well before the Packers game started at 3:30 p.m., and he delivered.
“You’ve got wonderful gospel leadership, and you’re real salt of the earth people,” Harrison said.
Harrison said the LCMS system is facing some challenges, as church members are marrying later in life and having fewer children, especially in Wisconsin, Minnesota and Iowa. The number of high school youth in the Missouri Synod has dropped about 52 percent since he graduated from high school, he said.
Harrison noted that most of the decline is in urban centers, but added, “Rural America is hardly immune.”
However, Harrison said membership might increase because some Evangelical Lutheran Church of America churches have turned to the Missouri Synod in light of the ELCA’s more accepting stance on gays and same-gender relationships. He described it as a “fundamental, tectonic shift” for Lutherans.
“This really caused a lot of consternation around the world, especially in the global south,” he said. “There are far more Lutherans in Africa than there are in America. They have sought out the help of the Missouri Synod and are now formally asking us for discussions for church fellowship. It’s a very interesting moment.”
The president said the Missouri Synod recognizes it has a tough road ahead defending its beliefs. One example he pointed out was that Lutheran adoption agencies in Illinois are being targeted for lawsuits by same-sex couples who wish to adopt children.
“Our churches are being targeted. If you let your church be used for a certain function for the public and then close it down to gay couples, you’re potentially legally at risk,” Harrison said.
He said the Missouri Synod will not turn away parishioners who have same-sex attractions if they are willing to work on their issues. But Harrison has a problem with the ones who refuse to change.
“Church is for sinners,” he said. “If somebody says, ‘Hey, I have same-sex attraction and I’m going to live this way. I’m moving in, and you can’t change me,’ then we have a problem with that.”
Harrison reported that the Missouri Synod’s financial decline, which had been averaging $1 million annually, has bottomed out, although funding is not on the upswing yet. According to the LCMS website, the church system’s annual budget is $81.8 million.
“We’ve had to eliminate about 70 positions over time, and that’s because the dollars coming in from the plate to the district to the synod have been declining about $1 million a year for 20 years,” Harrison said.
The Rev. Timothy Shoup, St. Paul’s pastor, said that Harrison prefers his liturgy high and his culture low. The high liturgy meant Harrison’s words were steeped in Gospel, and the low culture meant that Harrison did not take himself too seriously.
Shoup said that was reflected in the services Harrison presided over.
“It’s been a real joy to meet him,” Shoup said. “I said to him last night (Saturday) that it was an honor to have a man with his ability to hold the highest position in our denomination. He spent his life with books but has his feet firmly planted on the ground and is down to earth.”
Harrison is the 13th man to serve as the church’s chief ecclesiastical officer, supervising the doctrine taught by almost 9,000 ordained ministers and overseeing the LCMS’ agencies. There are more than 6,100 congregations worldwide, and Wisconsin has one of the highest numbers of LCMS members with 221,704, as of July, according to the church’s website.
Out of 46 Lutheran churches in Shawano County, 18 are affiliated with the LCMS.
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