Evangelical Lutheran Synodical Conference of North America
The Evangelical Lutheran Synodical Conference of North America, often known as the Synodical Conference, was an association of Lutheran synods that professed a complete adherence to the Lutheran Confessions and doctrinal unity with each other. Founded in 1872, its membership fluctuated as various synods joined and left it. It was dissolved in 1967 after the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS) and the Evangelical Lutheran Synod (ELS) left it due to doctrinal disagreements with one of the other two remaining members, the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod (LCMS).
The 1860s and early 1870s was a period of realignment within American Lutheranism. In 1860 the Evangelical Lutheran General Synod of the United States of North America was the only federation of Lutheran synods in the country. During the previous 20 years a number of new synods had emerged, the result of immigration from the Lutheran regions of Europe. The General Synod had, under Samuel Simon Schmucker, espoused an "American Lutheranism" which downplayed the role and authority of the Lutheran Confessions. In 1864 the General Synod admitted the Frankean Synod, a synod that was notably indifferent to the Lutheran Confessions or to any Lutheran identity. In protest, the Pennsylvania Ministerium and four other synods left the General Synod and issued a call to the various independent synods to form a new and confessionally-based federation. Meetings in Reading, Pennsylvania in 1866 and Fort Wayne, Indiana in 1867 led to the formation of the General Council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in North America.
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