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Matthew Harrison
Photo: Kris Bueltmann, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons12

Matthew Harrison

21st-century American Lutheran Church official

Matthew Carl Harrison (born March 14, 1962) is the 13th and current president of the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod (LCMS). As president, he is the chief ecclesiastical supervisor of the Synod and is responsible for the national program ministries of the LCMS, including the Office of International Mission, which calls and employs some 150 missionaries globally.2

From Wikipedia’s article on Matthew Harrison (this version), CC BY-SA 4.0.

Born Mar 14, 1962.1

About

Harrison was first elected to the presidency on July 13, 2010, at the synod's 64th regular convention in Houston, Texas. Harrison officially took office on September 1, 2010, and was formally installed in a service on September 11, 2010, at Concordia Seminary in St. Louis. He was elected by a 54–45% margin on the first ballot. He was elected to a second three-year term following a first ballot victory in the church body's first online presidential election in July 2013. He was elected to a third three-year term in June 2016, having received 56.96 percent of the vote on the first ballot. In June 2019, Harrison was elected to a fourth three-year term with 51.76 percent of the vote on the first ballot. In June 2023, he was elected to a fifth term with 52.32% of the first ballot vote. He was the first LCMS president elected to a fifth term since 1947. In June 2026, he was elected to a sixth term on the third ballot with 50.1% of the vote.

He had previously served as the Executive Director of the Department of LCMS World Relief and Human Care, and as founding president of the LCMS Housing Corporation (also known as Lutheran Housing Support).

From Wikipedia’s article on Matthew Harrison, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.2

Companies

Early life and education

  • 1989Concordia Theological Seminary Master of Divinity3
  • 1991Concordia Theological Seminary Master of Sacred Theology3
  • Date not recordedMorningside University3

Harrison was born in Sioux City, Iowa, on March 14, 1962. He was baptized at Bethel Lutheran Church in Lawton, Iowa, and grew up in Sioux City, where his family belonged to Redeemer Lutheran Church. He graduated from Sioux City East High School in 1980 and Morningside College in 1987. Harrison then attended Concordia Theological Seminary in Fort Wayne, Indiana, from which he earned a Master of Divinity in 1989 and a Master of Sacred Theology degree in 1991. In 2011, he received honorary doctorates from Concordia Theological Seminary and from Concordia University Ann Arbor in Michigan.

From Wikipedia’s article on Matthew Harrison (this version), CC BY-SA 4.0.

Career

Occupation: protestant clergyman, pastor, Christian theologian.7

Personal life

  • BornMar 14, 1962, Sioux City8
  • CitizenshipUnited States9

Awards

  • 2011Doctor of Divinity10
  • 2011Doctor of Laws10

Sources

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