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Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
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Classification Protestant
Orientation Mainline Lutheran
Theology Combination of Old and Neo- Lutheranism with Confessing Movement, Evangelical Catholic, High Church, Haugean, Pietist, charismatic, progressive, Christian left, Christian feminism
Polity Modified episcopal polity with some powers reserved to the congregation as in congregationalism
Presiding Bishop Elizabeth Eaton
Associations
Region United States and Caribbean
Headquarters Lutheran Center, Chicago, Illinois
Origin Constituting Convention on April 30, 1987, in Columbus, Ohio, operations began January 1, 1988
Merger of
Separations
Congregations 9,320
Members 3,668,034 baptized members (2015),
Missionaries About 150 fully supported, including 9 evangelists
Official website www.elca.org
Lutheranism in the United States
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The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) is a mainline Protestant denomination headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. The ELCA officially came into existence on January 1, 1988, by the merging of three Lutheran church bodies. As of 2015, it has approximately 3.7 million baptized members in just over 9,300 congregations. In 2015, Pew Research estimated that 2.1% of the U.S population self-identifies with the ELCA and mainline Lutheranism. It is the seventh-largest religious body and the largest Lutheran denomination in the United States. The next two largest Lutheran denominations are the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod (LCMS) (with approximately 2.1 million members) and the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS) (with approximately 370,000 members). There are also many in the United States, some of which came into being composed of dissidents following the major 1988 merger. The ELCA belongs to the World Council of Churches and the Lutheran World Federation. The ELCA is in full communion with the Episcopal Church, Moravian Church, Presbyterian Church (USA), Reformed Church in America, United Church of Christ, and the United Methodist Church.


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