A Thought Experiment to Get to the Root of the Argument
Let’s begin with a thought experiment.
Across the Texas District (and in the wider Lutheran Church, Missouri Synod) we hear the divide between “confessional” and “missional” churches and pastors. These categories, though frequently used, often obscure more than they clarify. “Confessionals” insist they are missional. “Missionalists” claim they are faithful to the Confessions. The terms have become loaded, imprecise, weaponized, and unhelpful because neither side will own them. It doesn’t help get to the root of the issue.
There is a division in the pastors and congregations of the LCMS, but to address the issue we need to identify it in a way that all sides can agree, “This is the problem.” We need new labels.
I’d like to suggest that we step back from the “confessional” and “missional” labels and instead try to identify the underlying theological impulses at work. That’s what this essay proposes to do, and I’d appreciate your feedback.
Naming the Impulses
Let’s imagine that the current tension in our church is animated by two fundamental theological instincts:
- One impulse is driven by a deep desire to break down barriers for the sake of the Gospel.
- The other is driven by a sincere desire to maintain theological distinctions for the sake of the Gospel.
We might call those shaped by the first impulse Barrier Breakers and those shaped by the second Distinction Keepers. (Pastor Davis does not like these labels, and he will be so happy if you have better ones.)
Both instincts are theological. Both seek the good of the Church. Both are motivated by the Gospel. Both can be found in the Scriptures and in our Confessions. But both come with certain dangers and temptations, and these two impulses often and naturally conflict with one another.
The Impulse to Break Barriers
The barrier breakers are animated by a missionary zeal. Their concern is that no man-made obstacle, cultural, linguistic, traditional, architectural, whatever, should prevent someone from hearing the gospel of Jesus Christ. They often cite texts like Matthew 28: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations…” (Matthew 28:19) and 1 Corinthians: “I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some.” (1 Corinthians 9:22).
From a confessional perspective, barrier breakers highlight passages in the Lutheran Confessions that talk of our Christian freedom. At its best, this instinct is creative, adaptive, bold, and sacrificial in bringing the Word of God and the preaching of Christ to a lost and hurting world.
The barrier breakers see the different confessions and denominations like flavors of ice-cream, and Lutheran is their flavor, their tribe, if you will. Their basic theological convictions match up with the contours of the Lutheran Confessions, but any heavier use of the Confessions feels constraining to them.
But it also faces temptations: blurring theological lines in the name of accessibility, overlooking important distinctions, downplaying the role of theology, over-simplifying the Biblical message, forgetting the traditions handed over, etc. In its zeal to make the message heard, it can sometimes confuse the message itself.
The Impulse to Keep Distinctions
On the other side, the distinction keepers are driven by a love for theological clarity. They believe that maintaining proper boundaries, between Law and Gospel, between the Church and the world, between true and false doctrine, is essential to preserving the integrity of the faith. They are compelled by passages like: Jude 1:3: “Contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.”, 2 Timothy 1:14: “By the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, guard the good deposit entrusted to you.”
From a confessional standpoint, they look to the careful distinctions laid out on every page of the Book of Concord. They highlight the Formula of Concord, which warns against syncretism and theological ambiguity. This impulse has a noble legacy: preserving the truth of the gospel in the face of error and heresy. In some ways, this is the unique vocation of the Lutheran Church, to hold to the theological distinctions, especially the distinction of Law and Gospel, for the sake of comforting consciences.
The distinction keepers understand the different denominations as theological arguments, holding and promoting divisive errors, and church history as a long debate through which the Holy Spirit has protected the pure Gospel from all errors, and that pure Gospel is the unique possession of the Church of the Unaltered Augsburg Confession.
The temptation here is different: in guarding the boundaries, they may inadvertently erect barriers that keep people out. In prioritizing purity, they can become insular. What was intended to protect the Gospel may end up hiding it from those outside.
Misunderstanding Each Other
Herein lies the conflict.
The barrier breakers sometimes look at the distinction keepers and see gatekeepers—those who are more concerned with rules and order than with people. They worry that excessive caution is choking the missionary impulse of the Church. When you are looking at everything in terms of barriers, then even distinctions look like barriers, and you see those insisting on keeping distinctions as if they are building obstacles to the Gospel.
Meanwhile, the distinction keepers look at the barrier breakers and see theological compromise. They worry that the gospel is being diluted or reshaped to fit the spirit of the age. When you look at the world in terms of careful distinctions, the barrier breakers are blurring those distinctions, and the pure Gospel is being lost.
In some profound ways, both critiques are correct. This is not merely a conflict of practice or style. It is a theological tension, a genuine divergence. Each side believes it is preserving the gospel. And each side suspects the other of endangering it.
I’d like to pause here and check in. If these labels are going to be helpful, then they need to resonate with each side of the debate. So, the question: do you think this will hold? Is this articulation of the two theological impulses accurate?
What Next?
First, we started by acknowledging our own theological impulse, and the temptations that come along with it.
Second, we can begin to see the other as a gift from God.
The barrier breakers need the distinction keepers as partners in the Gospel, to make sure the doctrine and practice are holding forth the pure Gospel, that the necessary distinctions are being kept. The distinction keepers need the barrier breakers to remind them of the evangelistic task before us, and encourage the godly zeal and joy of putting the Gospel before the world, and that we are not building unnecessary barriers that would prevent people from coming into the Lord’s church.
I’ll make this bold suggestion: the Lord has given us these different theological impulses for each other, to serve each other, to help us see the things that we cannot see in ourselves, “until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.”
The barrier breaker impulse has been in the driver’s seat in the Texas District for a long time, so there’s some distinction keeping questions that need urgent visiting. What is the role of the liturgy? How do we faithfully practice closed communion? What do our mission churches look like?
But there is also a distinction keeping contingent that needs to also hear the conviction and joy of the barrier breakers, especially from a few who respect the love of the distinction keepers for theological clarity.
If we can’t see this, then these theological impulses will continue to agitate until the church is divided, and the only way to peace is to split. May God prevent it!
Your feedback, brothers, is requested. Thank you!
Christ is risen! PrBW
