Church Fellowship
Fellowship between the WELS and other church groups is established only upon investigation and confirmation that both church groups hold complete unity in scriptural doctrine and practice. The WELS is in fellowship with the members of the Confessional Evangelical Lutheran Conference, all of which meet this requirement.
In 1959 the WELS formally issued its Statement on the Antichrist, a doctrinal statement that declared, "we reaffirm the statement of the Lutheran Confessions, that 'the Pope is the very Antichrist'". This identification of the Antichrist with the Pope is part of traditional Protestant amillennial historicism. The Roman Catholic Church is also amillennialist, but, unlike the WELS, holds to the view that the Antichrist will come near the end of the world. Mark Schroeder, president of WELS, affirmed in 2011 that "WELS does hold to the historic Lutheran position that the Roman Catholic papacy fits the biblical characteristics of the Antichrist." He also stated that "While WELS continues to see the characteristics of the Antichrist in the Roman Catholic papacy, it is wrong and dishonest to portray this belief as stemming from anti-Catholic bigotry. We do have strong convictions, and we identify what we believe are teachings that depart from the Word of God. But we hold no animosity toward Christians who hold the Roman Catholic faith, and we respect the right of people to hold beliefs different from ours even as we point out the error. Furthermore, we rejoice that even in the Roman Catholic Church, where we believe that the gospel has been distorted, there are many Catholics who hold to a simple faith in Jesus Christ as their Savior and who will ultimately be saved. Testifying to the errors that still exist in Catholic doctrine is itself an expression of love; remaining silent or glossing over doctrinal differences would express the opposite."
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