# LCMS Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1956_S509
# Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

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INTERSYNODICAL AND DOCTRINAL MATTERS 509

sought out the fellowship of other Christian men and women who
are of the same mind and the same spirit as themselves. And
likewise it has always been the case that such fellowship has
been highly prized and treasured by all who call themselves by
the name of Christ.

Thus it was that when the founding fathers of our Norwegian
Synod migrated to these American shores 100 years ago, they began
to search for other Christians in their new homeland who held
the same doctrines and shared the same convictions as themselves,
a search which was particularly difficult and unrewarding at the
time. All of the older and larger American Lutheran groups they
found to be quite un-Lutheran in both doctrine and practice. In-
difference to sound doctrine and apathy to the Lutheran Confes-
sions was the rule rather than the exception. Unionism, rationalism
and Reformed theology had brought the various Lutheran groups
to such a state that true confessional Lutheranism had all but
disappeared — with few exceptions — among them the little band
of Saxon immigrants in Perry County, Missouri, under the leader-
ship of C. F. W. Walther. Here they found a group of truly kindred
souls, Christians of a different nationality, it is true, but of a like
precious faith.

Thus it was that the fortunes of the Missouri Synod and the
Norwegian Synod were thrown together for the first time, an asso-
ciation which has brought abundant blessings to both groups over

*the years. Shoulder to shoulder they fought to establish a strong,
sound, orthodox Lutheranism in America. Shoulder to shoulder
they contended for a verbally-inspired Bible, for the purity of the
doctrine of objective justification and all the other distinctive
Lutheran doctrines. Shoulder to shoulder they testified against
the evils of indifference and unionism.

In 1872 these two synods, who had grown to love and respect
each other so much, were joined in an even closer association as
charter members of the Synodical Conference, an organization
which was founded to be an avowed bulwark against unionism
and liberalism among church groups bearing the Lutheran name.
Shortly thereafter — in the ’80’s — both synods, Missouri and Nor-
wegian, were rocked by the controversies on the doctrine of con-
version and election. Our Norwegian Synod in particular suffered
grievous losses, but those who remained in the synod clung to their
treasured association with their Missouri brethren.

Again in 1917 our Norwegian Synod was torn asunder by con-
troversy and division — this. time over the question of unionism —
and brought almost to the point of extinction. But again the