The process of “Americanization” within the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod began at its very formation. One of our founders, Wilhelm Loehe, noticed as much when he stated our constitution showed signs of Americanization, which he likened to “mob rule.”
Even so, despite the initial Americanization that had already taken place, further inroads were held at bay as German immigration kept increasing into the 1880s and the LCMS took measures to keep its German heritage, such as parochial schools in the German language. Such was broadly the case until World War I, which was the most-decisive occurrence Americanizing the LCMS. It was then we could no longer deny that we were Americans, since being German in America was then disdained. It was then that the American flag began to adorn God’s house, His Church, intermingling Church and State. It was then we self-consciously began to relate ourselves to American Protestantism, and so patterned our public worship and viewed ourselves on that basis.
Previously, Divine Services in German kept the traditional practices in liturgy, chant, and vestments. But now in English, pastors who had earlier chanted the liturgy and wore Eucharistic vestments now wore Geneva gowns and never chanted. (Traditional vestments did not begin to take hold again until the liturgical renewal movement spearheaded by A. C. Piepkorn.) English-language translations of the liturgies quickly gave way to the Common Service, and kneeling for prayer and making the sign of the cross stopped being typical Lutheran practices.
The amazingly rapid transition to English in the 1920s required enormous labors among our pastors. Yet, this is what parishioners wanted: they liked being “fully American”: they wanted to go mainstream, be fully American, and wanted to be actors on a larger stage. And, thus, the transition to being “fully American” was largely made by the end of the 1920s in most of our parishes.
In the 1930’s, the LCMS began to change–not only linguistically, but culturally and doctrinally. It didn’t happen all at once, but the direction was clear. The LCMS experienced politicking for the first time in the 1935 convention, where those within American Lutheran Publicity Bureau tried to unseat the sitting synod president. Their efforts, however, could not get Paul Lindemann elected as synodical president, but they were successful enough to unseat Frederick “Photie” Pfotenhauer. John Behnken was then elected, the first American-born synod president. So the Americanization that had taken place in most of our congregations finally took place, in full, at the synodical level.
Coinciding with this robust Americanization, one could detect a new openness to such things that were earlier avoided, like the boy scouts and military chaplaincy. What was previously the LCMS being an immigrant body afraid of change and what was doctrinal? At what point was buying health insurance not trusting in God’s providence? If not, then what other LCMS doctrinal positions and practices should be questioned? Slowly, the LCMS began to change in its confession of the truth (although we claimed that we were not doing so). Even truth, in a sense, became negotiable and doctrinal discipline was no longer practiced with any serious rigor. Lack of doctrinal discipline first showed itself forthrightly in dealing with “The Statement of the 44” in 1945; it was simply withdrawn from discussion and the issues were never resolved. If the synod now had “two camps” without the doctrinal unity our constitution mandated, what was to prevent three or more positions developing unchecked, and being tolerated, over time? And that is what happened: as time moved onward, rationalistic methods were even adopted for a time at our St. Louis Seminary.
Therefore, what are the implications for us today that the process of Americanization has wrought? It is that we must be able to discern what is American and what is Lutheran. Having adopted the outward characteristics of the dominant culture, we now are no longer completely sure of who we are or where we stand. We are suffering from an identity crisis. We have willingly drunk from the wells of our greater American Protestantism and have been duly influenced, often without even realizing it. Thus, we now must recoup what is Lutheran, so we simply do not become another Protestant denomination in America. Yet, how is this reclamation to be done?
First, LCMS pastors, district Presidents, etc., must themselves know that being Lutheran is a doctrinally correct expression of the Church catholic, not simply being a Protestant denomination. We must know what is true to Lutheranism, so legitimate cultural and societal expressions of it can develop; this we have very poorly or not at all. In our hubris, we have come believe that we can “Lutheranize” practices that are at their core anathema to Lutheran theology and a Lutheran worldview. Second, pure preaching and catechesis must again predominate; this must be in place of the pep-rally, “contemporary worship” that characterizes much of what we call worship today. Such worship makes the experiences of the participants its focus and not Christ; such anthropocentric-centered worship is antithetical to the Lutheran understanding of worship. Third, we must use truly catholic hymns and liturgies, lest we lose the deposit of what we have received from Christ, through His Apostles, and through His Church.
