Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

In 1960, The American Lutheran Church had been formed as a merger of the earlier ALC of 1930, largely members of German heritage; the United Evangelical Lutheran Church (UELC), with members of Danish background; and the Evangelical Lutheran Church (ELC), made up of members of Norwegian background. The Lutheran Free Church (LFC) joined three years later in 1963.

The ALC brought approximately 2.25 million members into the new ELCA. It was the most theologically conservative of the forming bodies, having a heritage of Old Lutheran theology.[15] It had been in fellowship for a decade with the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod and officially held to biblical inerrancy in its constitution. It seldom enforced that stance by means of heresy trials or other doctrinal discipline. Its geographic center was in the Upper Midwest, especially Minnesota. Its headquarters and publisher (Augsburg Publishing House) were based on South Fifth Street in Minneapolis and one of its several seminaries was located in neighboring St. Paul. Its denominational magazine was The Lutheran Standard, published in Minneapolis. Some congregations in the ALC chose not to join the 1988 merger and instead formed the American Association of Lutheran Churches.

Evangelical Lutheran Church (Frederick, Maryland) (1752)

The Lutheran Church in America (LCA) had been created in 1962, by a merger among the United Lutheran Church in America (created in 1918 by an earlier merger of three German Lutheran synods in the eastern U.S.); Augustana Evangelical Lutheran Church, of Swedish ethnicity with some dating to the colonial era; the Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Church of America; and American Evangelical Lutheran Church, made up of ethnic Danish families.

The LCA was the slightly larger partner and brought approximately 2.85 million members into the new ELCA. Their administrative offices were in the Church House, a former townhouse mansion on Madison Avenue in New York City. Its publishing house, Fortress Press, was on Queen Lane in northwest Philadelphia, and produced the church magazine, The Lutheran. Its demographic focus was on the East Coast, centered on Pennsylvania). It also had large numbers in the Midwest and some presence in the Southern Atlantic states. There are notable exceptions, but LCA-background churches tend to emphasize liturgical expression more than the ALC-background churches. Its theological orientation ranged from moderately liberal to neo-orthodox, with tendencies toward conservative Pietism in some rural and small-town congregations. Its theology originated in the Neo-Lutheran movement.[15]

In 1976, the Association of Evangelical Lutheran Churches (AELC) was formed by 250 congregations that had left the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod (LCMS) in a schism precipitated by disputes over biblical inerrancy and ecumenism. These were part of the overall fundamentalist–modernist controversy that had been roiling American Protestant churches for several decades. In 1969 the LCMS had elected more conservative leadership under President Jacob A.O. Preus, replacing moderate incumbent Oliver Harms. The new leadership opened an investigation at the synod's Concordia Seminary in St. Louis, Missouri, about the faculty's commitment to inerrancy in biblical interpretation. It also opposed ecumenism.

As a result, most of the faculty and student body walked out and established a separate institution named "Concordia Seminary-in-Exile" (but usually referred to as "Seminex"). The AELC was formed in 1976. It brought approximately 100,000 members into the ELCA. Its ethnic heritage was primarily from German immigrants of the mid-19th century, who came to the US following the revolutions in various principalities. Many were abolitionists and Unionists during the American Civil War. By the 1980s, the AELC theology generally resembled that of the LCA.

The Churchwide Assembly consists of elected lay and ordained voting members. The Churchwide Assembly met biennially in odd-numbered years until 2013. Between meetings of the Churchwide Assembly, the ELCA Church Council governs the denomination, along with the advisory Conference of Bishops.

At the Assembly, elections are held for general officers of the Church such as the presiding bishop, vice president and secretary, budgets are adopted, social statements examined and approved, and various other church business enacted, along with reports made and ecumenical visitors acknowledged. A constitutional amendment was passed in 2011 to change the Assembly to one meeting on a triennial basis after 2013. The Assembly was known as the "General Convention" in the ALC and the "Biennial Convention" in the LCA.

• 1987 Columbus, Ohio (ELCA Constituting Convention)
• 1989 Chicago, Illinois
• 1991 Orlando, Florida
• 1993 Kansas City, Missouri
• 1995 Minneapolis, Minnesota
• 1997 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
• 1999 Denver, Colorado
• 2001 Indianapolis, Indiana
• 2003 Milwaukee, Wisconsin
• 2005 Orlando, Florida
• 2007 Chicago, Illinois
• 2009 Minneapolis, Minnesota
• 2011 Orlando, Florida
• 2013 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
• 2016 New Orleans, Louisiana
• 2019 Milwaukee, Wisconsin
• 2022 Columbus, Ohio
• 2025 Phoenix, Arizona

Lutheranism is associated with the theology of Martin Luther, with its official confessional writings found in the Book of Concord. The ELCA accepts the unaltered Augsburg Confession (not the variata) as a true witness to the Gospel. The ELCA is less conservative than the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod (LCMS) or the more conservative Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS), the second and third largest Lutheran bodies in the United States, respectively.[19] Most ELCA Lutherans are theologically moderate-to-liberal, although has a sizable conservative minority. Other Lutheran bodies in the U.S. tend to hold more strictly to Confessional Lutheranism.

Constituent congregations of the ELCA hold many differences of opinion, and have had disputes over social and doctrinal issues. In part, this is related to the history of having assimilated three different Lutheran church bodies, each with its own factions and divisions, but also to responses to changing social conditions in the United States. Old intra-group conflicts were inherited and new inter-group ones were created. Differences on issues usually reflect theological disputes between various parties.

The ELCA is a very broad denomination. It contains groups of socially and/or theologically conservative or liberal factions with differing emphases on various topics such as liturgical renewal,[20][21] confessional Lutheranism, charismatic revivalism, moderate to liberal theology, and liberal activism. The socially liberal segment of the ELCA is represented by independent organizations such as ReconcilingWorks, Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries, and the Evangelical and Ecumenical Women's Caucus. What is now known as the Lutheran Coalition For Renewal (Lutheran CORE) is made up of socially conservative congregations that left the ELCA after it decided to accept openly gay clergy for ordination and calling. Adherents of Evangelical Catholicism practice High Church Lutheranism and include the members of the Society of the Holy Trinity. Those oriented toward Confessional Lutheranism, Evangelicalism, or an admixture of the two include the WordAlone network, and those involved with Lutheran Congregations in Mission for Christ. Members of the Charismatic Movement include congregations and pastors associated with the Alliance of Renewal Churches and some ethnic congregations. Additionally, there has been a recent growth in Franciscan spirituality in the ELCA through the Order of Lutheran Franciscans.

The ELCA constitution states: "This church accepts the canonical Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments as the inspired Word of God and the authoritative source and norm of its proclamation, faith, and life."[22]

ELCA clergy tend not to subscribe to a doctrine of biblical inerrancy, but see validity in various scholarly methods of analysis to help in understanding the Bible,[23] a process sometimes called Higher Criticism.[24]

Like other Lutheran church bodies, the ELCA confesses two sacraments: Communion (or the Eucharist) and Holy Baptism (including infant baptism). Guidance on sacramental practices in the ELCA is provided in The Use of the Means of Grace, a statement adopted by the 1997 Churchwide Assembly.[25]

In addition to the two sacraments, ELCA churches also practice acts which are orders. These include confirmation, ordination, anointing the sick, confession and absolution, and marriage.

With respect to the eucharist or the Lord's Supper, the ELCA holds to the Lutheran doctrine of the sacramental union, that is, that Christ's body and blood is truly present "in, with and under" the bread and wine.[26] All communicants orally receive not only bread and wine, but also the same body and blood of Christ that was given for them on the cross.[27] Members of other denominations sometimes refer to this as a belief in consubstantiation. Lutherans, however, reject the philosophical explanation of consubstantiation, preferring to consider the presence of the Lord's body and blood as mysterious rather than explainable by human philosophy. The Lutheran belief in the holy mystery character of the consecrated bread and wine is more similar to that of Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox belief than to the views of most Protestants. In contrast, most Protestant church bodies doubt or openly deny that the true body and blood of Christ is eaten in the Lord's Supper.

Unlike certain other American Lutheran church bodies, the ELCA practices open communion, permitting all persons baptized in the name of the Trinity with water to receive communion. Some congregations also commune baptized infants, similarly to Eastern Orthodox practice. The ELCA encourages its churches to celebrate the Eucharist at all services, although some churches alternate between non-eucharistic services and those containing the Lord's Supper.

The ELCA's stances on social issues are outlined in its Social Statements and Messages.[28] Social Statements, which are usually, but not always, adopted by a two-thirds majority of a Churchwide Assembly, have been adopted on the following topics:

The ELCA ordains women as pastors, a practice that all three of its predecessor churches adopted in the 1970s (The ALC and LCA in 1970, the AELC in 1976). Some women have become bishops, though the number is still low. The first female bishop, April Ulring Larson, was elected in the La Crosse area synod in 1992. In 2018, the ELCA elected its first African-American female bishops: Patricia Davenport in Southeastern Pennsylvania and Viviane Thomas-Breitfeld in South-Central Wisconsin.[29] In 2013, Elizabeth Eaton became the first woman to be elected presiding bishop of the ELCA. The most recent ELCA hymnal, Evangelical Lutheran Worship, includes alternate gender-neutral invocations and benedictions in all settings. All of the psalms and many of the hymns and parts of the liturgy have been altered to remove masculine pronouns referring to God.[30] In 2000, the Cooperative Clergy Study Project surveyed 681 ELCA pastors and found that 95 percent of ELCA clergy thought that all clergy positions should be open to women, while 2 percent disagreed.[31]

Augustana Lutheran Church in Washington, D.C. is a "Reconciling in Christ" congregation, meaning they welcome all people, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity.

On August 21, 2009, the ELCA's Churchwide Assembly in Minneapolis voted to allow congregations to call and ordain gays and lesbians in committed monogamous relationships to serve as clergy.[32] By a vote of 559 to 451, delegates approved a resolution declaring that the church would find a way for people in "publicly accountable, lifelong, monogamous same-gender relationships" to serve as official ministers. Congregations that do not wish to call these persons to ordained ministry are not required by these policy changes to do so.[33]

In reaction, Lutheran CORE, which opposed the decision, stated that it would "initiate a process that we hope will lead to a reconfiguration of North American Lutheranism."[34] In February 2010, Lutheran CORE announced that it would secede from the ELCA and form a new denomination to be named the North American Lutheran Church (NALC).[35] As of 2008, 37 percent of ELCA pastors were found to support same-sex marriage.[36]

The ELCA, in removing sexual orientation as a bar for candidacy in the professional ministry, joined most of its Lutheran sister churches in Europe, including in Germany, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland, and Austria.[37] The ELCA is also among a growing number of Christian churches in the United States to make this move.

In contrast, the board of one of the ELCA's partner churches, October 2009, the Evangelical Mekane Yesus Fellowship in North America, voted to declare disunity with the ELCA. A press release stated that the board was no longer "in good conscience" "able to commune and partner with ELCA Church that has willfully disobeyed the word of God and regrettably departed from the clear instructions of the Holy Scriptures" that "marriage is only between a man and a woman". This was followed by the general synod of the Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus also breaking links with the ELCA.[38]

In April 2010, the Church Council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America adopted revisions to ministry policy documents to bring them in line with the August 2009 vote, as well as adding sections on integrity, substance abuse and addiction. The release noted that the revised ministry policies would be posted on the church's website by the end of April 2010.[39]

Since August 2009, according to the office of the ELCA secretary, over 600 congregations have left the ELCA through January 2011. Income declined, with revenue of $66.7 million in 2010, down from $76.5 million in 2009.[40]

On May 31, 2013, Guy Erwin became the first openly gay man to be chosen bishop in the ELCA when he was elected to a six-year term as bishop of the Southwest California Synod.[41] In 2015, the denomination ordained, officially, the first transgender pastor.[42]

Also in 2015, after the Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage nationally in the US, the office of the presiding bishop released a letter informing members that each congregation is free to marry gay and lesbian couples or to choose not to do so.[43]

Since 2009 blessings of same-sex marriages are allowed in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.[44]

The ELCA has not adopted an official position on creation or evolution, but there is general agreement on interpreting the Bible within its historical contexts and applying critical methods of research. In 2000, the Cooperative Clergy Study Project surveyed 681 ELCA pastors and found that 26 percent of ELCA clergy thought Scientific Creationism should be taught alongside evolution in biology classes, while 57 percent disagreed.[31]

The ELCA has not yet taken an official position regarding reproductive cloning. However, Task Force on Genetics of the church's "Church in Society" initiative is studying the theological and ethical issues that the world is likely to face in coming years as a result of Genetic Science. The task force has issued a draft report[45] for comment and discussion. The draft statement covers a wide range of topics, from genetic testing to GMOs. A section in this report which has been described by an independent reviewer as "a remarkably nuanced analysis and statement regarding a very complex scientific, social, and religious issue."[46] The task force recommends opposition to reproductive cloning, as almost all religious groups currently do. However, the main theological reasoning is unique. Lewis D. Eigen explains:[46]

The argument they articulate is not the common but weak argument that it would be "offensive to God," "against the will of God" or "man encroaching into God's domain", but they observe that the clone would be denied the dignity of possessing a unique human genotype. This is an extremely interesting argument—that each and every human being has the right to his or her own uniqueness—particularly a unique genotype.

The draft statement further asserts that any clones that might be created should have full acceptance as human beings and access to rites of the church.

The issue of abortion is a matter of contention within the ELCA. In a Social Statement adopted in 1991,[47] the church set out its position on the matter as follows. The ELCA describes itself as "a community supportive of life", and encourages women to explore alternatives to abortion such as adoption. However, the Social Statement asserts that there are certain circumstances under which a decision to end a pregnancy can be "morally responsible". These include cases where the pregnancy "presents a clear threat to the physical life of the woman", situations where "the pregnancy occurs when both parties do not participate willingly in sexual intercourse", and "circumstances of extreme fetal abnormality, which will result in severe suffering and very early death of an infant." Regardless of the reason, the ELCA opposes abortion when "a fetus is developed enough to live outside a uterus with the aid of reasonable and necessary technology." The ELCA opposes "laws that deny access to safe and affordable services for morally justifiable abortions", and "laws that are primarily intended to harass those contemplating or deciding for an abortion." The statement emphasizes the prevention of circumstances leading to abortion, specifically encouraging "appropriate forms of sex education in schools, community pregnancy prevention programs, and parenting preparation classes." In 2000, the Cooperative Clergy Study Project found that one fifth of ELCA clergy favored banning abortion with a constitutional amendment.[48] Lutheran CORE, which represents theologically conservative members of ELCA, together with the North American Lutheran Church, through their Joint Commission an Theology and Doctrine, approved an official anti-abortion stance in the document "The Lord Is with You" – A Word of Counsel to the Church – The Sanctity of Nascent Life", on December 14, 2012.[49]

The ELCA official statement on "End of Life Decisions", adopted on November 9, 1992, disapproves euthanasia: "We oppose the legalization of physician-assisted death, which would allow the private killing of one person by another. Public control and regulation of such actions would be extremely difficult, if not impossible. The potential for abuse, especially of people who are most vulnerable, would be substantially increased."[50]

Deacons are called to a "Ministry of Word and Service".[52] The former lay rosters of deaconess, diaconal minister, and associate in ministry were all merged onto one roster, called Deacons, beginning in January 2017.

Deacons serve in many roles in and beyond congregations. At their ordination they may be presented with a towel and basin (in reference to Jesus washing the feet of his disciples) as a sign of their servant ministry, but the rite of ordination (published in January 2017) also allows for other symbols to be presented, reflecting the broad range of diaconal service. The rite states: "Other symbols of the ministry of word and service may be given, which may reflect a particular focus of the deacon's call and vocation, such as a vessel containing oil, a Bible, or the book of worship."[52]

Pastors are called to the "Ministry of Word and Sacrament" and considered a "steward of the mysteries" of the Church (the means of grace). Pastors primarily serve congregations, but some serve in specialized ministries including those of hospital chaplain and military chaplain.

Pastors are ordinarily trained at one of seven ELCA seminaries located throughout the United States, although there are alternative paths for ordination to serve particular communities in which it is difficult to provide trained ministers or to allow rostering of clergy transferred from other denominations. Pastors generally hold a Bachelor of Arts degree or its equivalent, as well as a four-year master of divinity degree. They are required to learn biblical Hebrew and Greek, and spend at least a summer doing clinical pastoral education — an intensive program that gives them time to reflect on their pastoral craft, usually in a hospital setting. They are required to complete a one-year internship of full-time service in pastoral ministry.

A bishop is a pastor called to serve (usually for a six-year term, which may be renewed) as the overseeing minister of a synod, or called to serve as the presiding bishop of the ELCA.

The Called to Common Mission agreement with the Episcopal Church in 2000 means that bishops are now installed according to Apostolic Succession. The fixed term of service as head of a synod has not changed, and there was no requirement in 2000 for existing ELCA bishops to be re-installed within the historic episcopate; instead, the apostolic succession was received as a sign of historic continuity, without denying the traditional Lutheran belief that the Church is truly present where the sacraments of baptism and holy communion are administered, regardless of the historic nature (or otherwise) of the ministry. Before 2000 a pastor had served in the office of bishop and then returned to being known simply as a pastor when service as a bishop had ended. Following the 2000 agreement a former bishop may still return to the work of a local pastor, but is often referred as bishop emeritus, even if not exercising that ministry.

The Church maintains full communion relationships with other member churches of the Lutheran World Federation (which is a communion of 140 autonomous national/regional Lutheran church bodies in 78 countries around the world, representing nearly 66 million Christians) which was reorganized in 1948 from the earlier Lutheran World Convention of 1923. The ELCA has additionally full communion with the Episcopal Church, in which several congregations are jointly affiliated and hold mixed services. Also the ELCA has since established official full communion relationships with other Christian denominations such as the Moravian Church in America (with the exception of the Alaska Province), the Presbyterian Church (USA), the Reformed Church in America, the United Church of Christ, the Episcopal Church, and The United Methodist Church.[53]

In 2013, the Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus severed ties, including communion and pulpit fellowship, with the ELCA over the issue of practices and teachings connected with homosexuality.[54]

On October 31, 1999, in Augsburg, Germany, the Lutheran World Federation – of which the ELCA is a member – signed the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification with the Roman Catholic Church. The statement is an attempt to reconcile a historical theological divide between the two communions. The Declaration also states that the mutual condemnations between 16th century Lutherans and the Roman Catholic Church no longer apply to those that have signed onto the document. This was part of a series of "Lutheran-Roman Catholic Dialogues" have been taking place on an official basis every few years with statements and booklets on various theological topics published since 1966.

The differences between the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod (LCMS) arise from theological, historical, and cultural factors. The LCMS was briefly in fellowship with the former The American Lutheran Church, one of the ELCA predecessor bodies from 1969 to the early 1980s. Although the denominations cooperate through Lutheran World Relief and some university/college student ministries and military chaplaincy, they are not officially in communion with each other.

When the first Lutheran immigrants came to North America, they started church bodies that reflected, to some degree, the churches they left behind in Europe. Many maintained until the early 20th century their immigrant languages. They sought pastors from the "old country" until patterns for the education of clergy could be developed here. Eventually, seminaries and church colleges were established in many places to prepare pastors to serve congregations.

The earliest predecessor synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America was constituted on August 25, 1748, in Philadelphia under the influence of Henry Muhlenberg, known as the "Patriarch of American Lutheranism". It was known as the Ministerium of Pennsylvania and Adjacent States. The earliest nationwide "synod" or "union of synods" was established in 1820 as the General Synod, followed later by the General Council. The ELCA was created in 1988 by the merging of the 2.85-million-member Lutheran Church in America (1962), 2.25-million-member The American Lutheran Church (1960), and the 100,000-member Association of Evangelical Lutheran Churches (1978). Previously, the ALC and LCA in the early 1960s came into being as a result of two mergers of eight smaller ethnically based Lutheran bodies composed of German, Norwegian, Danish, Finnish, Swedish, Slovak, Dutch, and others organized over 150 years. Some of these smaller ethnically based bodies previously had ecumenical arrangements involving the Missouri Synod.

The LCMS was established in 1847 by German immigrants fleeing the forced Prussian Union between Lutherans and Reformed church members in European Germany, who later settled in Perry County, Missouri. It grew through immigration, offspring, and church mergers while participating in some, but not all of the dialogues, controversies, and compromises which affected the various predecessors of the ELCA during the 19th and 20th Centuries. In the mid-1970s the Seminex controversy at their Concordia Seminary in St. Louis over use of historical-critical biblical study led to the formation of the Association of Evangelical Lutheran Churches, later one of the predecessor bodies of the ELCA. The LCMS is the second largest Lutheran church body in North America with 1.8 million baptized members.

The ELCA tends to be more involved in ecumenical endeavors than the LCMS, which prohibits its clergy from worshiping in ecumenical gatherings. The ELCA is a member of the Lutheran World Federation, World Council of Churches and the National Council of Churches of Christ, USA. The LCMS rejects these as being unionist.

Both the LCMS and the ELCA have policies relating to clergy sexual misconduct. Perry C. Francis, a former ELCA pastor turned professor, along with psychology professor Tracy D. Baldo, published the results of their 1994 study of clergy sexual misconduct in the journal Pastoral Psychology. Out of 270 ELCA and 117 LCMS clergy surveyed, 13.7 percent of ELCA clergy and 4.3 percent of LCMS clergy admitted to sexual misconduct with another person since they began their ministry.[55]

Results from the Pew Research Center U.S. Religious Landscape Survey of 2008:[56]

Comparison to LCMS in ELCA's point of view according to the Honoring Our Neighbor's Faith[57] These conclusions are not agreed upon by the WELS or LCMS.