Evangelical-Lutheran Mission in Lower Saxony

The Evangelical-Lutheran Mission in Lower Saxony (German: Evangelisch-lutherische Missionswerk in Niedersachsen) or ELM is a German Protestant mission organisation.

The declared mission of the ELM is "... the holistic proclamation of the Gospel in word and deed, through people and projects, in a context which is appropriate to our partner and member churches."

On 12 October 1849 the Hermannsburg pastor, Ludwig Harms, began training the first missionaries. At the outset it was called the Hermannsburg Mission (Hermannsburg Mission). Even today young men are trained for service in the church worldwide at the Hermannsburg Mission Seminary (Missionsseminar Hermannsburg).

On 25 May 1977 the ELM was founded as a common facility for the Protestant-Lutheran state churches of Hanover, Brunswick and Schaumburg-Lippe from the amalgamation of the Hermannsburg Mission Centre (also called the Hermannsburg Mission) with the Hildesheim HQ of the Protestant-Lutheran Mission (Leipzig Mission) of Erlangen.

It works closely with the Hessian regional churches (Protestant Church in Hesse and Nassau, Evangelical Church of Hesse Electorate-Waldeck), the Protestant Church of Augsburg Confession of Alsace and Lorraine and over 20 mission and friends' societies.

It retains the legal status of a charity. The headquarters of the ELM (Lower Saxony) is in Hermannsburg. A branch in Hildesheim was closed on 30 June 2006.

Following the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Leipzig Mission was disbanded in 1992 and the Leipzig Evangelical-Lutheran Mission was founded with its base in Leipzig. The focus of its work is India. However, the ELM continues to carry out its own work in India as an independent partner alongside the Leipzig Mission.

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