The Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod (LCMS), also known as the Missouri Synod, is an orthodox, traditional, confessional Lutheran denomination in the United States. With 1.7 million members as of 2022 it is the second-largest Lutheran body in the United States, behind the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. The LCMS was organized in 1847 at a meeting in Chicago, as the German Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Missouri, Ohio, and Other States, a name which partially reflected the geographic locations of the founding congregations.
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) is a mainline Protestant Lutheran church headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. The ELCA was officially formed on January 1, 1988, by the merging of three Lutheran church bodies. As of 2022, it has approximately 2.9 million baptized members in 8,640 congregations.
The American Association of Lutheran Churches is a Lutheran church body based in the United States. It was formed on November 7, 1987, as a continuation of the American Lutheran Church denomination, the majority of which merged with the Lutheran Church in America and the Association of Evangelical Lutheran Churches to form the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. The AALC offices were originally in Bloomington, Minnesota. The national office moved to Fort Wayne, Indiana, in 2007, and to Saint Paul, Minnesota, in 2022. In 2008, it had 67 congregations, with about 16,000 members. In 2020, the denomination listed 59 congregations. Its current Presiding Pastor is the Rev. Dr. Cary G. Larson.
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada is Canada's largest Lutheran denomination, with 95,000 baptized members in 519 congregations, with the second largest, the Lutheran Church–Canada, having 47,607 baptized members. Together with the LCC and the Canadian Association of Lutheran Congregations, it is one of only three all-Canadian Lutheran denominations. It is a member of the Lutheran World Federation, the Canadian Council of Churches, the World Council of Churches, and the Anglican-Lutheran North American grouping Churches Beyond Borders. According to the 2021 Canadian census, a larger number of 328,045 adherents identify as Lutheran.
The Lutheran Confessional Synod (LCS) was a Confessional Lutheran church, characterized by a strict interpretation of the Lutheran Confessions and a historical liturgy. Organized in 1994, when Christ Lutheran Church in Decatur, Illinois, broke away from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, it initially declared doctrinal agreement with the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod and the Evangelical Lutheran Synod, but broke fellowship with those two synods on June 14, 1997, because of differences in the doctrine of the ministry and the Lord's Supper. The LCS organized the Johann Gerhard Institute and St. Anselm Theological Seminary in 1996.
The Lutheran Student Movement - United States of America (LSM-USA) is a student-led organization of Lutheran college students. The movement's staff and resources are housed at the Churchwide Office of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America in Chicago, Illinois.
The Slovak Zion Synod is a group of 20 Lutheran congregations and one of the 65 synods that make up the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. It is the only non-geographic synod in the ELCA, the only ELCA synod to have a congregation in Canada, and the only synod defined by its mission and outreach, instead of geography. The synod was founded by Slovak immigrants in 1919 as the Slovak Evangelical Lutheran Zion Synod and joined with the United Lutheran Church in America, remaining as a separate synod in that denomination. The policy continued when the ULCA merged into the Lutheran Church in America (1962) and later the ELCA (1988).
The Lutheran Church has, from the time of the Reformation, continued the remembrance of saints. The theological basis for this remembrance is understood as being connected to the words of the Epistle to the Hebrews 12:1. The Apology of the Augsburg Confession states that the remembrance of the saints has three parts: thanksgiving to God, the strengthening our faith, and the imitation of the saints' holy living.
The Rev. Juan Čobrda was a bishop of the Lutheran church, heading a national church body in Argentina and the Slovak Zion Synod in the United States. He was born in Príbovce, near Martin, Slovakia on 11 August 1930. After World War II his family immigrated to Argentina. He was ordained by the United Evangelical Lutheran Church of Argentina in 1958 and served as that church's bishop from 1966 to 1976.
Rev. Marie C. Jerge is a former bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.
The Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia (LTSP) was one of eight theological seminaries associated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the largest Lutheran denomination in North America. It is located on Germantown Avenue in the Mount Airy neighborhood of northwestern Philadelphia. Founded in 1864, it has its roots in the Pennsylvania Ministerium established in 1748 in Philadelphia by Henry Melchior Muhlenberg.
Herbert W. Chilstrom was an American religious leader, who served as the first Presiding Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). He was re-elected to a four-year term at the 1991 ELCA Churchwide Assembly in Orlando, Florida. He served as bishop of the Minnesota Synod of the Lutheran Church in America, one of the three church bodies which merged to form the ELCA on Jan. 1, 1988.
First United Lutheran Church is a congregation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), located in San Francisco, California. Formed in 1886 as the Women's Memorial Church, it was the first Lutheran congregation in California to use English as its primary language for worship. In 1990, First United was suspended, and later expelled from the ELCA for ordaining an openly gay pastor, against the wishes of the denomination. The ELCA Churchwide Assembly voted to approve openly gay clergy in 2009, and in 2012, First United rejoined the denomination. Presently a "church without walls," First United meets in St. Cyprian's Episcopal Church, located at 2097 Turk Street, near the main campus of the University of San Francisco.
herchurch is another name used for the Ebenezer Lutheran Church in San Francisco, a congregation within the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). The church is a member of the San Francisco Council of Lutheran Churches. The church was founded on August 10, 1882, by Augustana Lutheran minister Johannes Telleen, who served as its pastor until 1890. The construction of the first church building was completed in 1895. For many years, the church primarily served the Swedish population; the original church building was designed by Swedish American architect August Nordin.
In Lutheranism, the Eucharist refers to the liturgical commemoration of the Last Supper. Lutherans believe in the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist, affirming the doctrine of sacramental union, "in which the body and blood of Christ are truly and substantially present, offered, and received with the bread and wine."
The 2009 ELCA Churchwide Assembly was the eleventh biennial Churchwide Assembly of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. It convened in the city of Minneapolis, Minnesota, from August 17–23, 2009. The Churchwide Assembly is the 'highest legislative authority' of the ELCA.
Dave Scherer, better known by his stage name Agape, is an American rapper and musician. He has been touring full-time since 2000, performing in the United States and in six other countries. He has recorded six CDs, including Many Rooms with producer Ant. On his recent CD Rise Up he worked with Chris Brown's producer Ra Charm as well as Grammy-award-winning singer Billy Steele. He has performed in front of Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Toby Mac, David Crowder, Tony Campolo, and gospel singer Kirk Franklin. In 2001, he co-founded "JUMP", a ministry dedicated to helping urban youth unleash their leadership skills through the arts. In 2009, he received the Tom Hunstad Award for excellence in youth ministry and his contribution to the lives of young people.
The Sierra Pacific Synod is one of the 65 synods of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). It covers central and northern California and northern Nevada and supports ELCA congregations throughout that region. It was headed by bishop Megan Rohrer who resigned on June 6, 2022.
April Ulring Larson is an American retired Lutheran bishop. In 1992, she became the first woman to be elected to serve as a bishop by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA).
