Lutheran - American Family Tree [Return to List of Trees]
Lutheran churches follow the teachings of 16th century reformer Martin Luther, particularly his teaching on justification by faith and scripture alone (sola scriptura). It is one of the most liturgical Protestant movements, along with Episcopalianism. Lutheranism is more prominent in the Midwestern United States, particularly among those with German and Scandinavian ancestry. Lutheran bodies include the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod.
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| Religious Group | Founded | Description |
|---|---|---|
| General Synod | 1820 | The Evangelical Lutheran General Synod of the United States of America, or simply the General Synod, was formed in Hagerstown, Maryland, in 1820. |
| United Synod South | The United Synod South dates back to 1863 when synods from various southern states withdrew from the General Synod because of the Civil War and what they perceived as offensive resolutions adopted by the General Synod with respect to the war. The group had multiple names before adopting a doctrinal bases in 1884, resulting in the the organization of the United Synod in the South. | |
| General Council | 1867 | The General Council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America, also known by its shorter name of the General Council, formed in 1867 after severing its connection with the General Synod. |
| Hauge's Synod (Norwegian) | 1846 | Hauge's Synod (Norwegian) dates back to a religious awakening in Norway at the close of the eighteenth century. This movement was largely led by Hans Nielsen Hauge (b. 1771), and a number of his followers emmigrated to the United States and established community there. Among their leaders was a preacher named Elling Eielsen, who organized this group in 1846, originally known as the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. After a constitutional revision in 1875 that was approved in 1876, the name "Hauge's Norwegian Evangelical Lutheran Synod" was adopted. |
| Eielsen Synod | 1876 | Hauge's Synod (Norwegian) dates back to a religious awakening in Norway at the close of the eighteenth century. This movement was largely led by Hans Nielsen Hauge (b. 1771), and a number of his followers emigrated to the United States and established community there. Among their leaders was a preacher named Elling Eielsen, who organized this group in 1846, originally known as the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. After a constitutional revision in 1875 that was approved in 1876, the name "Hauge's Norwegian Evangelical Lutheran Synod" was adopted. |
| United Lutheran Church of America (Norwegian) | 1890 | The United Norwegian Lutheran Church in America was formed in 1890 as the merger of the three synods: the Norwegian Augustana Synod, the Norwegian-Danish Evangelical Lutheran Conference, and the Norwegian Anti-Missouri Brotherhood. |
| Norwegian Lutheran Church | 1917 | The Norwegian Lutheran Church was the result of a 1917 merger of the different Norwegian Lutheran bodies established in America in the nineteenth century: the United Norwegian Church, the Norwegian Synod, and the Hauge Synod. In 1946, it took on the name Evangelical Lutheran Church. |
| Norwegian Synod | 1853 | The Norwegian Synod was formed in 1853 as Norwegian immigration increased in the United States. It organized around 18,000 Norwegian immigrants. In 1917, most of the synod pastors withdrew to merge with two other synods, forming the Norwegian Lutheran Church (which later took on the name Evangelical Lutheran Church). The remaining pastors reorganized in 1918 as the Norwegian Synod of the American Evangelical Lutheran Church. |
| United Lutheran Church in America | 1918 | The 1918 merger of the General Synod, the General Council, and the General Synod of the South formed the United Lutheran Church in America, the largest Lutheran body through much of the twentieth century. |
| Norwegian Synod of the American Evangelical Lutheran Church | 1918 | The Norwegian Synod of the American Evangelical Lutheran Church was formed at Lake Mills, Iowa, in 1918 by a group of forty pastors and laymen who declined to enter the merger of other Norwegian Lutherans, deciding instead to establish an independent synod. In 1957, the group changed its name to the Evangelical Lutheran Synod. |
| Slovak Zion Synod | 1920 | The Slovak Zion Synod was formed in 1919 as the Slovak Evangelical Lutheran Zion Synod. Although it joined the United Lutheran Church in America in 1920, it remained a separate synod and continues as a separate synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America today. It is a non-geographic synod of the church, and their ministries are spread throughout the U.S. and Canada. |
| Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod | 1850 | The Wisconsin Synod began with the organization of German Lutheran immigrants in Wisconsin in the 1850s. It spread as similar synods from other states associated with it. It is among the most conservative of Lutheran bodies. |
| Protes'tant Conference, The | 1928 | The Protes'tant Conference is a conservative Lutheran church founded in 1928 by former members of the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod. |
| Ohio Synod | 1818 | The Ohio Synod was founded in 1818 and expanded its ministry into Canada in the early 1900s. In Canada, it provided German speaking pastors and funds to the growing number of settlers moving west. In 1930, the Ohio Synod was part of the merger that formed the American Lutheran Church. |
| American Lutheran Church (1930-1960) | 1930 | The American Lutheran Church (1930-1960) was founded in 1930 as a merger between the Ohio (1818), Buffalo (1845), Texas (1851), and Iowa (1854) synods. |
| Buffalo Synod | 1845 | The Buffalo Synod was founded in 1845. Theologically, the Synod was influenced by the work of Carl Ferdinand Wilhelm Walther. It was part of the 1930 merger that formed the American Lutheran Church. |
| Texas Synod | 1851 | The Texas Synod was founded in 1851 and was part of the 1930 merger that formed the American Lutheran Church. |
| Iowa Synod | 1854 | The Iowa Synod was founded in 1854. Theologically, the Synod was influenced by the work of Carl Ferdinand Wilhelm Walther. It was part of the 1930 merger that formed the American Lutheran Church. |
| Icelandic Synod | 1874 | The Icelandic Synod dates back to early Icelandic immigration to America in 1870. The first Icelandic Lutheran services in the U.S. were held in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in August 1874. The synod joined the United Lutheran Church in America in 1942, but remained as a separate synod; it dissolved in 1962 when the United Lutheran Church in America became part of the Lutheran Church in America. |
| United Danish Evangelical Lutheran Church | 1896 | The United Danish Evangelical Lutheran Church was formed in 1896 by the merger of two Danish immigrant groups: the Blair Synod and and the North Church. |
| United Evangelical Lutheran Church | 1945 | The United Evangelical Lutheran Church was originally formed in 1896 as the United Danish Evangelical Lutheran Church. This resulted from the merger of two Danish immigrant groups: the Blair Synod and and the North Church. In 1945, the group dropped "Danish" from their name. |
| Evangelical Lutheran Church | 1946 | The Evangelical Lutheran Church, originally known as the Norwegian Lutheran Church from 1917-1946, was the result of a 1917 merger of the different Norwegian Lutheran bodies established in America in the nineteenth century: the United Norwegian Church, the Norwegian Synod, and the Hauge Synod. In 1960, this group merged with the United Evangelical Lutheran Church and the American Lutheran Church (1930-1960) to form the American Lutheran Church (1960-1987). |
| Slovak Evangelical Lutheran Synod of the United States of America | 1902 | Formerly named Slovak Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession in the United States of America (1902-1903) and Slovak Evangelical Synod of the Augsburg Confession in Pennsylvania (1903-1913), the Slovak Evangelical Lutheran Synod of the United States of America was renamed to the Synod of Evangelical Lutheran Churches in 1946. It aligned theologically with the Lutheran Synodical Conference and joined the Missouri Synod in 1971. |
| Synod of Evangelical Lutheran Churches | 1946 | Lutherans from Czechoslovakia began to migrate to the United States in the 1870s and early congregations were formed in Illinois, Pennsylvania, and Minnesota. Attempts to organize began in the 1890s, and the Slovak Evangelical Lutheran Synod was finally established at Connellsville, Pennsylvania, in 1902. After taking the name Synod of Evangelical Lutheran Churches (1946-1971), it merged into the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod in 1971. |
| Danish Evangelical Lutheran Church | 1872 | The Danish Evangelical Lutheran Church was formed in 1872 and changed its name in 1953 to the American Evangelical Lutheran Church. |
| American Evangelical Lutheran Church | 1953 | The American Evangelical Lutheran Church changed its name from the Danish Evangelical Lutheran Church in 1953. The latter church was founded in 1872. In 1962, it was part of the merger that formed the Lutheran Church in America. |
| Evangelical Lutheran Synod | 1957 | The Evangelical Lutheran Synod, formerly known as the Norwegian Synod of the American Evangelical Lutheran Church, was formed at Lake Mills, Iowa, in 1918 by a group of forty pastors and laymen who declined to enter the merger of other Norwegian Lutherans, deciding instead to establish an independent synod. The present name was assumed in 1957. |
| American Lutheran Church (1960-1987) | 1960 | The American Lutheran Church (1960-1987) was founded in 1960 as a merger between three Lutheran bodies: the United Evangelical Lutheran Church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church, and the American Lutheran Church (1930-1960). In 1988, this group merged with the Lutheran Church in America and the Association of Evangelical Lutheran Churches to form the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. |
| Lutheran Free Church | The Lutheran Free Church was a pietistic synod that valued low-church style worship and emphasized holy living, especially in regard to drink and dancing. In the early 1960s, the Lutheran Free Church merged with the American Lutheran Church. | |
| Scandanavian Augustana Synod | 1860 | The Scandinavian Augustana Synod originated in 1851 when the Synod of Illinois was established by Lutheran immigrants in the Midwest. Around 1860, the Swedish and Norwegian elements in the Illinois Synod withdrew and formed the Scandinavian Augustana Synod. In 1962, the Augustana Synod was part of the merger that formed the Lutheran Church in America. |
| Lutheran Church in America | 1962 | The Lutheran Church in America was a lasting participant in the dynamic merging of Lutheran churches in the 1900s. It was formed in 1962 as the merger of multiple groups, and it was a participating church in the Lutheran Council in the U.S.A. (which was disbanded in the 1980s). In 1988, the Lutheran Church in America joined with the American Lutheran Church and the Association of Evangelical Lutheran Churches to form the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. |
| Association of Free Lutheran Congregations | 1962 | The Association of Free Lutheran Congregations was founded in 1962 by Rev. John P. Strand and others who rejected the merger of the Lutheran Free Church into the American Lutheran Church. |
| Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Church (Suomi Synod) | 1890 | The Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Church was formed in 1890 in Calumet, Michigan. It used the liturgy of the Church of Finland. |
| National Evangelical Lutheran Church (Finnish) | 1898 | The Finnish Evangelical Lutheran National Church of America was organized in 1898 at Rock Springs, Wyoming. It became the National Evangelical Lutheran Church in 1946 and in 1963 it merged into the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. |
| Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod (LCMS) | 1847 | The second-largest Lutheran denomination in the United States was founded in Missouri by German immigrants in 1847. Many of these immigrants had rejected the planned merger of the Lutheran and Reformed churches in Prussia. The group was originally named The German Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Missouri, Ohio and Other States, but the name was shortened to its present form in 1947 on the occasion of their 100th anniversary. |
| Association of Evangelical Lutheran Churches | 1976 | The Association of Evangelical Lutheran Churches, the newest and the smallest body to enter into the 1988 merger to form the ELCA, was formed in 1976 by ministers and churches that withdrew from the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. |
| American Association of Lutheran Churches | 1987 | The American Association of Lutheran Churches was formed by conservative Lutheran ministers and lay people who did not wish to participate in the merger that created the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America in 1988. |
| Evangelical Lutheran Church in America | 1988 | The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America continues several varied streams of Lutheran church life introduced to America during the Colonial era. The ELCA was formally constituted in 1988 as a merger of the Lutheran Church in America, the Association of Evangelical Lutheran Churches, and the American Lutheran Church. |
| Lutheran Congregations in Mission for Christ | 2001 | The Lutheran Congregations in Mission for Christ formed in 2001 from congregations in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America who could not endorse the "Called to Common Mission" statement adopted by the ELCA in cooperation with the Episcopal Church. While not created to be an independent denomination, it became one and is congregational in polity. Today, the denomination consists of over 900 congregations in countries across the globe. |
| North American Lutheran Church | 2010 | The North American Lutheran Church was founded in 2010 in Columbus, Ohio, at a Convocation organized by the church reform movement known as Lutheran CORE. The founding members came from several Lutheran bodies, though particularly from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). These founding members - many of whom were part of Lutheran CORE - felt that the ELCA had drifted away from some of the main priorities of Christian life. Originally, the new group consisted of 17 congregations, though that number had grown to over 400 six years later, in 2016. |
| World Confessional Lutheran Association | 1965 | The World Confessional Lutheran Association was founded in 1965 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, as Lutherans Alert National by a group of conservative Lutheran pastors. The pastors and associated lay people were concerned about trends in the American Lutheran Church and other synods that they felt were contrary to the historical beliefs and confessions of Lutheranism. In 1984, the association adopted the title World Confessional Lutheran Association in order to represent the growing international members. |
| Conservative Lutheran Association | c. 1988 | The Conservative Lutheran Association (CLA) was formed around the late 1980s as congregations began to attach themselves to the World Confessional Lutheran Association. These merged groups initially formed a division with this name, but eventually emerged as a separate Lutheran denomination. |
