Church, Lutheran Missouri Synod

LUTHERAN CHURCH MISSOURI SYNOD -  The Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod (LCMS), often referred to simply as the Missouri Synod, is a traditional, confessional Lutheran denomination in the United States.  With 2.1 million members, it is both the eighth-largest Protestant denomination and the second-largest Lutheran body in the U.S., the largest being Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.  The LCMS was organized in 1847 at a meeting in Chicago, Illinois, as the German Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Missouri, Ohio, and Other States, a name which reflected the geographic locations of the founding congregations.   The LCMS is headquartered in Kirkwood, Missouri.

The LCMS has congregations in all 50 U.S. states and two Canadian provinces, but over half of its members are located in the Midwest. It is a member of the International Lutheran Council, and is in altar and pulpit fellowship with most of that group's members.  The LCMS is divided into 35 districts—33 of which are geographic and two (the English and the SELC) are non-geographic. The current president is the Rev. Matthew C. Harrison, who took office on September 1, 2010.

One of the signature teachings of the Lutheran Reformation is the teaching named Sola scriptura—"Scripture alone."  The Missouri Synod believes that the Bible is the only standard by which church teachings can be judged.  It also holds that Scripture is explained and interpreted by the Book of Concord—a series of confessions of faith composed by Lutherans in the 16th century.  Missouri Synod pastors and congregations agree to teach in harmony with the Book of Concord because it teaches and faithfully explains the Word of God.   Since the Missouri Synod is a confessional church body, its ordained and commissioned ministers of religion are sworn by their oaths of ordination or installation, or both, to interpret the Sacred Scriptures according to the Book of Concord.

The Missouri Synod believes that justification comes from God "by divine grace alone, through faith alone, on account of Christ alone."   It teaches that Jesus is the focus of the entire Bible and that faith in him alone is the way to eternal salvation.   The Synod rejects any attempt to attribute salvation to anything other than Christ's death and resurrection.

The synod teaches that the Word of God, both written and preached, and the Sacraments are means of grace through which the Holy Spirit gives the gift of God's grace, creates faith in the hearts of individuals, forgives sins for the sake of Christ's death on the cross, and grants eternal life and salvation.  For Missouri Synod Lutherans, sacraments are actions instituted by Jesus and combine a promise in God's Word with a physical element. All agree that Baptism and Communion are sacraments.