Matthew Harrison

Rev. Matthew C. Harrison is the 13th person to serve as president of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod. Harrison graduated with a bachelor’s degree in religious studies from Morningside College in Sioux City, Iowa, in 1984. Following his graduation, he and his wife, Kathy, spent a year as missionaries in a remote Canadian Cree Indian village with the Lutheran Association of Missionaries and Pilots. Harrison went on to earn a Master of Divinity in 1989 and a Master of Sacred Theology in 1991, both from Concordia Theological Seminary in Fort Wayne. He has pursued additional graduate study at Concordia Seminary in St. Louis. In 2011, he received two honorary doctorates: a Doctor of Laws from Concordia University in Ann Arbor Michigan, and a Doctor of Divinity from Concordia Theological Seminary in Fort Wayne. Before becoming president, Harrison served for nine years as the executive director of LCMS World Relief and Human Care. Harrison and his wife live in Ballwin, Missouri, and are members of Village Lutheran Church in Ladue, Missouri, where Harrison also serves as assistant pastor. They have two sons. Harrison is an avid banjo player and instrumentalist who makes guitars, banjos, and mandolins.