 | This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page . (Learn how and when to remove these template messages)
|
A Lutheran school is a school associated with Lutheranism. They were common amongst Lutherans who migrated to the United States and Australia from Germany and Scandinavia.
The first Lutheran school in Australia opened in 1839. [1] At 2013, there were twenty-seven Lutheran-run primary and secondary schools in Queensland, thirty-three in South Australia and sixteen in Victoria, with a much smaller number in each of the other states and territories. The body overseeing these is Lutheran Education Australia, which has a branch in each State. [1]
There has been a very significant growth in Australian Lutheran school enrolments over the twenty-five years and particularly in the decade up tp 2011. [1] As of August 2011, 37 313 Australian children attended Lutheran schools, with another 3 600 in early childhood centres. [1] At this time, there were 3 249 teachers employed at Lutheran schools around Australia. [1]
When the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod (LCMS) was founded in 1847, this tradition of Lutheran education was continued. The synod was started by twelve churches that operated a total of nineteen schools. Several of the churches operated a number of schools in the rural countryside so that students would not have to walk too far to school each day.
For the most part, Lutheran schools are operated by individual congregations. Some schools are operated by groups of congregations, or associations. The schools are autonomous in that they hire their own teachers, select their own curriculum, and set their own fees. In the past most of the costs were paid by the operating congregations. With the economic situation that exists today more and more of the operating funds come from tuition and fees.[ citation needed ]
The LCMS operates the largest Protestant school system in the United States. As of the 2017-18 school year, the LCMS operates 1,127 Early Childhood Centers, 778 elementary schools, and 87 high schools. [2] [3] The LCMS also operates ten universities and two seminaries. [2] These schools educate more than 180,000 students and are taught by almost 22,000 teachers. [3] Lutheran schools operated by the LCMS also exist in Hong Kong, mainland China, and Vietnam. [3]
The Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS) currently operates 393 early childhood education centers (largely preschools), 304 elementary schools, and 29 high schools. [4] The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) operates 1,573 early childhood programs, 296 elementary schools, and 14 high schools as of December 31, 2018. [5]
In 2011, Valparaiso University recorded 140 Lutheran high schools in operation of various denominations. [6]
The Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod (LCMS), also known as the Missouri Synod, is a traditional, confessional Lutheran denomination in the United States. With 1.8 million members, 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, Illinois, 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 Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS), also referred to simply as the Wisconsin Synod, is an American Confessional Lutheran denomination of Christianity. Characterized as theologically conservative, it was founded in 1850 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
A Christian school is a religuous school run on Christian principles or by a Christian organization.
Seminex is the widely used abbreviation for Concordia Seminary in Exile, which existed from 1974 to 1987 after a schism in the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod (LCMS). The seminary in exile was formed due to the ongoing Fundamentalist–Modernist Controversy that was dividing Protestant churches in the United States. At issue were foundational disagreements on the authority of Scripture and the role of Christianity. During the 1960s, many clergy and members of the LCMS grew concerned about the direction of education at their flagship seminary, Concordia Seminary, in St. Louis, Missouri. Professors at Concordia Seminary had, in the 1950s and 1960s, begun to utilize the historical-critical method to analyze the Bible rather than the traditional historical-grammatical method that considered scripture to be the inerrant Word of God.
The Evangelical Lutheran Synod (ELS) is a US-based Protestant Christian denomination based in Mankato, Minnesota. It describes itself as a conservative, Confessional Lutheran body. The ELS has 130 congregations and has missions in Peru, Chile, India, South Korea, Ukraine, Czech Republic, and Latvia.
Confessional Lutheranism is a name used by Lutherans to designate those who believe in the doctrines taught in the Book of Concord of 1580 in their entirety. Confessional Lutherans maintain that faithfulness to the Book of Concord, which is a summary of the teachings found in Scripture, requires attention to how that faith is actually being preached, taught, and put into practice. Confessional Lutherans believe that this is a vital part of their identity as Lutherans.
The Association of Evangelical Lutheran Churches (AELC) was a U.S. church body that existed from 1976 through the end of 1987. The AELC formed when approximately 250 dissident congregations withdrew from the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod (LCMS) in 1976, and ended as an independent body when it became part of the new Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) on January 1, 1988.
Lutheran Congregations in Mission for Christ (LCMC) is an association of Lutheran congregations located primarily in the United States. It describes itself as an affiliation of autonomous Lutheran churches and not a denomination. It began in 2001 in response to some liberal views of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). LCMC is characterized by the stances it takes on Lutheran polity, biblical authority, and human sexuality. The group describes itself as "centrist" or "mainstream", noting that it stands between the more liberal ELCA and the more conservative Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod (LCMS) and other Lutheran church bodies in North America.
The Evangelical Lutheran Synodical Conference of North America, often known simply as the Synodical Conference, was an association of Lutheran synods that professed a complete adherence to the Lutheran Confessions and doctrinal unity with each other. Founded in 1872, its membership fluctuated as various synods joined and left it. Due to doctrinal disagreements with the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod (LCMS), the Evangelical Lutheran Synod (ELS) and the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS) left the conference in 1963. It was dissolved in 1967 and the other remaining member, the Synod of Evangelical Lutheran Churches, merged into the LCMS in 1971.
The English District is one of the 35 districts of the Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod (LCMS). It is one of the Synod's two non-geographical districts, along with the SELC District. The district presently has congregations in the states of Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Kentucky, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Utah, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, and Wisconsin, as well as the Canadian province of Ontario.
Lutheranism is present on all inhabited continents with an estimated 80 million adherents, out of which 74.2 million are affiliated with the Lutheran World Federation. A major movement that first began the Reformation, it constitutes one of the largest Protestant branches claiming around 80 million out of 920 million Protestants. The Lutheran World Federation brings together the vast majority of Lutherans. Apart from it, there are also other organisations such as the International Lutheran Council and the Confessional Evangelical Lutheran Conference, as well as multiple independent Lutheran denominations.
The Indiana District is one of the 35 districts of the Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod (LCMS), encompassing the state of Indiana and most of western Kentucky; the remainder of Kentucky is divided between the Mid-South District and the Ohio District. However, one Kentucky congregation and ten Indiana congregations are in the non-geographic English District, and two congregations in Lake County are in the SELC District. The Indiana District is home to Concordia Theological Seminary in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and includes approximately 236 congregations and missions, subdivided into 24 circuits, as well as 53 preschools, 49 elementary schools, and 3 high schools. Baptized membership in district congregations is approximately 102,000.
Protestantism is the largest grouping of Christians in the United States, with its combined denominations collectively comprising about 43% of the country's population in 2019. Other estimates suggest that 48.5% of the U.S. population is Protestant. Simultaneously, this corresponds to around 20% of the world's total Protestant population. The U.S. contains the largest Protestant population of any country in the world. Baptists comprise about one-third of American Protestants. The Southern Baptist Convention is the largest single Protestant denomination in the U.S., comprising one-tenth of American Protestants. Twelve of the original Thirteen Colonies were Protestant, with only Maryland having a sizable Catholic population due to Lord Baltimore's religious tolerance.
India Evangelical Lutheran Church (IELC) is a Christian denomination in India. Its headquarters is in Tamil Nadu. It belongs to the International Lutheran Council and the Lutheran World Federation. It has three synods, named Ambur Synod, Nagercoil Synod, and Trivandrum Synod. The IELC was founded through the missionary efforts of the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod (LCMS), with whom it remains in altar and pulpit fellowship.
Concordia College was a Lutheran college and high school in Conover, North Carolina. Founded as a high school by members of the Evangelical Lutheran Tennessee Synod in 1878, it added college courses in 1881. The English Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Missouri and Other States took over control of the school in 1893. Control passed to the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod when the English Synod merged with it in 1911. In April 1935, a fire destroyed the main building, and the school closed permanently at the end of the spring semester.
The following is a timeline of significant events in the history of the Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod.
