Skip to content

Doctrinal Statements and Synodical Resolutions

Doctrinal Statements

Doctrinal statements are useful because they organize particular teachings of the Bible and assist in teaching those timeless truths of God’s Word.
Contained here are statements of doctrine adopted by the Evangelical Lutheran Synod and its predecessor church bodies.  The present-day ELS subscribes to all these adopted statements and confessions, and continues to teach and confess them as true and biblical.

The Public Ministry of the Word   
Adopted 2005

The Lord’s Supper   
Adopted 1997

Roles of Men and Women in the Church  
Adopted 1990

Doctrine of the Church
Adopted 1980

Unity, Union, and Unionism
Adopted 1936

An Accounting
Adopted 1884

Absolution
Adopted 1874

The Third Commandment and the Christian Sunday
Adopted 1863

Lay Preaching
Adopted 1862

Joint Statement Regarding Termination of Fellowship
In June of 2016, the ELS approved the Joint Statement Regarding Termination of Fellowship as a correct presentation regarding the biblical doctrine of the termination of fellowship.

 

Synodical Resolutions

Position Statement on Sex and Gender Identity
Affirmed by convention in 2018

Agreement in Our Practice of Closed Communion
Affirmed by convention in 2017