Lutheranism

====Western Hemisphere and Australia====
[[File:Ministerium Hymnal.jpg|thumb|The Pennsylvania Ministerium published this hymnal in 1803.<ref>This website has [https://hymnary.org/hymnal/HELC1865 text and midi files] for the 1865 Pennsylvania Ministerium hymnal.</ref>]]
[[File:Lighthouse Lutheran Church in Freedom.jpg|thumb|Lighthouse Lutheran Church, an LCMC congregation in [[Freedom, Pennsylvania]]]]
During the period of the emigration, Lutherans took their existing ideas about polity with them across the ocean,<ref>Abdel Ross Wentz (1954), ''A Basic History of Lutheranism in America'', Philadelphia, Pa., p. 41</ref><ref>Clifton E. Olmstead (1960), ''History of Religion in the United States'', Englewood Cliffs, N.J., pp. 6, 140</ref> though with the exception of the early Swedish Lutherans immigrants of the New Sweden colony who accepted the rule of the Anglican bishops and became part of the established church, they now had to fund churches on their own. This increased the congregationalist dynamic in the blended consistorial and presbyterian type synodical governance. The first organized church body of Lutherans in America was the [[Pennsylvania Ministerium]], which used Reformed style synodical governance over the 18th and 19th centuries. Their contribution to the development of polity was that smaller synods could in turn form a larger body, also with synodical governance, but without losing their lower level of governance. As a result, the smaller synods gained unprecedented flexibility to join, leave, merge, or stay separate, all without the hand of the state as had been the case in Europe.

During their 19th-century persecution, Old Lutheran, defined as scholastic and orthodox believers, were left in a conundrum. Resistance to authority was traditionally considered disobedience, but, under the circumstances, upholding orthodox doctrine and historical practice was considered by the government disobedience. However, the doctrine of the [[lesser magistrate]] allowed clergy to legitimately resist the state and even leave. Illegal free churches were set up in Germany and mass emigration occurred. For decades the new churches were mostly dependent on the free churches to send them new ministerial candidates for ordination. These new church bodies also employed synodical governance, but tended to exclude Hegelianism in their constitutions, due to its incompatibility with the doctrine of the lesser magistrates. In contrast to Hegelianism where authority flows in from all levels, Kantianism presents authority proceeding only from the top down, hence the need for a lesser magistrate to become the new top magistrate.

Over the 20th and 21st centuries, some Lutheran bodies have adopted a more congregationalist approach, such as the [[Protes'tant Conference]] and the [[Lutheran Congregations in Mission for Christ]], or LCMC. The LCMC formed due to a church split after the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America signed an [[Called to Common Mission|agreement]] with the Episcopal Church to start ordaining all of their new bishops into the Episcopalian apostolic succession. In other words, this meant that new ELCA bishops, at least at first, would be jointly ordained by Anglican bishops as well as Lutheran bishops so that the more strict Episcopalians (i.e., Anglo-Catholics) would recognize their sacraments as valid. This was offensive to some in the ELCA at the time because of the implications this practice would have on the teachings of the [[Theology of Martin Luther#Universal priesthood of the baptized|priesthood of all believers]] and the nature of ordination.

Some Lutheran churches permit dual-rostering.<ref>For example, the single Lutheran church on [[Guam]] is a member of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod and the Lutheran Congregations in Mission for Christ. See [http://www.lutheranchurchofguam.org/blog/?page_id=890 Lutheran Church of Guam History] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200717115937/http://www.lutheranchurchofguam.org/blog/?page_id=890 |date=17 July 2020 }}</ref> Situations like this one where a church or church body belongs to multiple larger organizations that do not have ties are termed "triangular fellowship". Another variant is independent Lutheran churches, although for some independent churches the clergy are members of a larger denomination. In other cases, a congregation may belong to a synod, but the pastor may be unaffiliated. In the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the Lutheran Church of Australia,<ref>[https://researchbank.acu.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1222&context=theses Legitimacy, authority and transition in the public office of the ministry in the Lutheran Church of Australia] by Grulke, David. 2 vols. (2007), thesis, [[Australian Catholic University]]</ref> the Wisconsin Synod, the Evangelical Lutheran Synod, the Church of the Lutheran Confession, and the Missouri Synod, teachers at parochial schools are considered to be ministers of religion, with the latter defending this before the [[Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church & School v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission|Supreme Court in 2012]]. However, differences remain in the precise status of their teachers.<ref>One example of these differences are those [[Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod#Relationship with other Lutheran bodies|between the Missouri and Wisconsin Synods]].</ref>