The CLC was created primarily (though not solely) from congregations that broke away from the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS) and the Evangelical Lutheran Synod (ELS) in a disagreement about the application of the principles of Christian fellowship (in this context, an agreement of a unity of belief).
While there were joint talks in the 1990s between the CLC and the WELS and ELS to resolve the dispute, no resolution was reached.