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The Evangelical Church in Germany, also known as the Protestant Church in Germany, is a federation of twenty Lutheran, Reformed, and United Protestant regional Churches in Germany, collectively encompassing the vast majority of the country's Protestants. In 2022, the EKD had a membership of 19,153,000 members, or 22.7% of the German population. It constitutes one of the largest Protestant bodies in the world. Church offices managing the federation are located in Herrenhausen, Hanover, Lower Saxony. Many of its members consider themselves Lutherans.
The International Lutheran Council (ILC) is a worldwide association of confessional Lutheran denominations. Member bodies of the ILC hold "an unconditional commitment to the Holy Scriptures as the inspired and infallible Word of God and to the Lutheran Confessions contained in the Book of Concord as the true and faithful exposition of the Word of God." The member church bodies are not required to be in church-fellowship with one another, though many of them are.
The Lutheran World Federation is a global communion of national and regional Lutheran denominations headquartered in the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva, Switzerland. The federation was founded in the Swedish city of Lund in the aftermath of the Second World War in 1947 to coordinate the activities of the many differing Lutheran churches. Since 1984, the member churches are in pulpit and altar fellowship, with common doctrine as the basis of membership and mission activity.
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 Evangelical Lutheran Church of Latvia is a Lutheran Protestant church in Latvia. Latvia's Lutheran heritage dates back to the Reformation. Both the Nazi and communist regimes persecuted the church harshly before religious freedom returned to Latvia in 1988. In contrast to Estonia, where state atheism reduced the once 80% Lutheran majority to barely 10% by 2011, the Latvian Lutheran church saw its membership drop to around 20% but has recovered and now includes approximately 30% of the population. The church reports having 250,000 members according to the Lutheran World Federation.
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 Federation of Evangelical Lutheran Churches in Switzerland and Liechtenstein is an organization of five Lutheran churches in Basel and Northwestern Switzerland, Bern, Geneva, Zurich, and Vaduz (Liechtenstein). It was founded in 1967 and represented 6500 baptized members in 1999, decreasing to 3,794 baptized members by the end of 2019. It is a member of the Lutheran World Federation since 1979.
The Evangelical-Lutheran Church in Hungary is a Protestant Lutheran denomination in Hungary. In 2019, there were 176,000 baptized members.
The India Evangelical Lutheran Church (IELC) is a confessional Lutheran Christian church body of India headquartered 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 US-based Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod (LCMS), with whom it remains in altar and pulpit fellowship.
The Lutheran Church in Singapore (LCS) is a Lutheran denomination in Singapore. Constituted in 1997, it currently has approximately 2,834 members in 7 congregations nationwide.
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Zambia is an Evangelical Lutheran church in Zambia. It has a membership of 5,600 in 30 congregations and has been a member of the Lutheran World Federation since 2002. It is also affiliated with its regional expression, the Lutheran Communion in Southern Africa, and with the Christian Council of Zambia. The church's head is Rev. Alfred Chana, senior pastor.
The United Protestant Church of France is the main and largest Protestant church in France, created in 2013 through the unification of the Reformed Church of France and the Evangelical Lutheran Church of France. It is active in all parts of Metropolitan France apart from Alsace and Moselle, where the Union of Protestant Churches of Alsace and Lorraine is established. It has 250,000 members and its orientation is both Calvinist and Lutheran, mainly in that it incorporates both kinds of parishes throughout the country. Ordination of women and blessings of same-sex marriages are allowed. The church believes abortion may be allowable under certain circumstances.
The Evangelical Church of the Lutheran Confession in Brazil is a Lutheran denomination in Brazil. It is a member of the Lutheran World Federation, which it joined in 1952. It is a member of the Latin American Council of Churches, the National Council of Christian Churches and the World Council of Churches. The denomination has 1.02 million adherents and 634,286 registered members.
Lutheranism was first introduced to Mexico in the 1850s, when German-American Lutherans began serving German immigrants in Mexico, though mission work among the non-German population in Mexico did not begin until the 1940s. Today there are five Lutheran church bodies in Mexico—the Mexican Lutheran Church, the Lutheran Synod of Mexico, the Confessional Evangelical Lutheran Church—Mexico, the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Mexico (unaffiliated), and the Lutheran Apostolic Alliance of Mexico (unaffiliated)—and several independent congregations.
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Chile is a Lutheran denomination in Chile. The church has 2,500 members in 13 parishes. It has been a member of the Lutheran World Federation since 1955 and is also a member of the World Council of Churches and the Latin American Council of Churches. Its president is Bishop Izani Bruch.
The Lutheran Church in the Philippines is a Lutheran denomination in the Philippines. It was founded by Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod missionaries in 1957.
The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Hong Kong is a Lutheran denomination in Hong Kong.
The Protestant Church of the Augsburg Confession in Austria is a Lutheran denomination in Austria. It is a member of the Lutheran World Federation, which it joined in 1947. It is also a member of the World Council of Churches, the Conference of European Churches and the Community of Protestant Churches in Europe as well as the Conference of Churches on the Rhine.
The German-speaking Evangelical Lutheran Church in Namibia is a Lutheran denomination based in Namibia. It was founded in 1960, and has 4,100 members in 2023.
References
- ↑ "The Lutheran Church of Senegal". Lutheran World Federation. Retrieved 11 May 2023.
- ↑ "Senegal". Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Mission. Retrieved 9 July 2014.
