Strangers to Sisters - Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary Library: Essays

Chapter 2
Relations confirmed and strengthened (1935-1955)
I. A United Reply to the ULC; a united rejection of LCMS-ALC discussions (‘35-‘38)
1935 was a year of union overtures. First, there was the call for increased
cooperation between all synods by Fredrick Knubel of the United Lutheran Church.
Second, there was the invitation made by the ALC to the LCMS for renewed fellowship
discussions. It was also a year that saw an increase of inter-synodical communication
between the ELS and WELS due to their common rejection of Knubel’s call for
cooperation and their common concern of the LCMS’ renewed discussions with the ALC.
United Rejection of ULCA’s Call for Cooperation
The WELS and ELS stood on common ground in their rejection of the ULCA’s
call for cooperation. But what is not so well known is the extent to which the two synods
coordinated their answer to the ULCA. President Brenner of the Wisconsin Synod tasked
Pastor Edmund Reim to formulate a reply to the ULCA. 220 In preparing the WELS reply,
Pastor Reim reached out to Pastor George Lillegard of the ELS. On March 20 th , 1935,
Pastor Edmund Reim, wrote the following to Pastor George Lillegard, then secretary of
the ELS,
Dear Pastor Lillegard,
Rev. John Brenner, President of our Joint Synod of
Wisconsin, has delegated to me the drafting of a reply that
our Synod shall make at the time of its convention next
220 Pastor Reim served St. Paul’s Evangelical Lutheran Church, Mount Calvary, WI, and would later be
called to Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary as its president. He would leave the WELS to found the Church of
the Lutheran Confession for conscience sake. He was assisted in 1935 by Pastor Harold Kleinhans of
Martin Luther Evangelical Lutheran Church, Oshkosh, WI and Pastor J. Schultz, another pastor from the
Oshkosh area.
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