Evangelical Synod of North America

The Evangelical Synod of North America, before 1927 German Evangelical Synod of North America, in German (Deutsche) Evangelische Synode von Nord-Amerika, was a Protestant Christian denomination in the United States existing from the mid-19th century until its 1934 merger with the Reformed Church in the United States to form the Evangelical and Reformed Church. This church merged with the Congregational Christian Churches denomination in 1957 to create the United Church of Christ.

Centered in the Midwest, the denomination was made of German Protestant congregations of mixed Lutheran and Reformed heritage, reflecting the 1817 union of those traditions in Prussia (and subsequently in other areas of Germany). This union, both in Germany and in the United States, was deeply influenced by pietism. The denomination accepted both the Reformed Heidelberg Catechism, Luther's Small Catechism, and the Lutheran Augsburg Confession as its confessional documents; where there was disagreement the individual believer had freedom to believe either. The church eventually developed its own Evangelical Catechism, reflecting its "united" faith. In keeping with core Protestant convictions, the Bible was considered the ultimate standard of its faith.

The Evangelical Synod of North America was founded on October 15, 1840, at Deutsche Evangelische St. Johannes Gemeinde Zu Gravois Settlement Missouri. St. Johns Evangelical United Church of Christ (as it is known today) was founded in 1838 by newly arrived German immigrants. They were living in a wilderness farming community a day's journey south of St. Louis. The small congregation built a church out of logs by hand on this hill. A memorial was erected in 1925 commemorating the founding of the Evangelical Synod of North America and still stands today in front of the church.

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