More moderate members of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod have clashed with conservatives before. In 1974, conservative Lutherans accused John Tietjen, then president of Concordia Seminary, St. Louis — an institution that trains future synod leaders — of failing to insist on a literal instruction of the Bible, especially the Old Testament.The controversy led the majority of Concordia’s faculty and students to walk out of the school in protest. Many eventually formed Seminex, a “seminary in exile,” at St. Louis University and Eden Theological Seminary. Seminex has since disbanded.
Tietjen helped organize in 1976 the Association of Evangelical Lutheran Churches, a collection of congregations that opted to leave the Missouri Synod.
As a leader of the group, Tietjen helped merge it in 1987 with the Lutheran Church in America and the American Lutheran Church. That merger created the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the largest Lutheran denomination in the U.S.
Some argue the 1970s schism left the church bereft of more moderate members, setting the stage for leaders such as Harrison. In a surprise defeat of a more liberal three-term incumbent — the Rev. Gerald Kieschnick — delegates of the denomination elected Harrison president in 2010.
Harrison’s victory represented a conservative ideological shift for the denomination, which has come with its set of challenges.
In 2013, for example, Harrison made headlines when in the wake of the tragic shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., he asked a church pastor to apologize for participating in an interfaith vigil.
The church’s constitution prohibits members from taking part in worship services that blend the beliefs and practices of Lutherans with those of other faiths and Christian denominations.
