National Evangelical Lutheran Church
| National Evangelical Lutheran Church | |
|---|---|
| Abbreviation | NELC |
| Classification | Lutheran |
| Orientation | Confessional Lutheranism |
| Polity | Congregational |
| Region | Midwest, esp. Upper Peninsula of Michigan and northeastern Minnesota |
| Origin | 1898 Rock Springs, Wyoming |
| Merged into | Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod (1964) |
| Congregations | 53 (1962) |
| Members | 11,142 (1962) |
| Ministers | 35 (1962) |
| Other name(s) | Finnish Evangelical Lutheran National Church of America |
The National Evangelical Lutheran Church (NELC) was a Finnish-American Lutheran church body that was organized in 1898 in Rock Springs, Wyoming as the Finnish Evangelical Lutheran National Church of America. Although its founding had occurred in Wyoming, many of the congregations were located in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan , especially around Calumet, as well as the Iron Range of northeastern Minnesota.
The NELC was the smallest of three Finnish-American Lutheran churches in the United States. Several years earlier, in 1890, the Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (also known as the Suomi Synod) had been founded in Calumet. The group that formed the NELC had either left the Suomi Synod or had never joined it due to differences in doctrine and issues of congregational freedom and autonomy. The other Finnish-American body was the Apostolic Lutheran Church of America, founded in 1872, also in Calumet, as the Solomon Korteniemi Lutheran Society.
Due to financial issues soon after 1900, the NELC sought a possible merger with the Suomi Synod. Because that synod would not accept the lay-trained pastors of the NELC, the latter opened a seminary of in Ironwood, Michigan. Overtures to the Suomi Synod subsequently ceased, and the NELC instead established fellowship with the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod (LCMS) in 1923. By 1931 the NELC had closed its seminary and was using the Missouri Synod's Concordia Theological Seminary, located at that time in Springfield, Illinois, for its pastoral training. In 1938 a member of the NELC was appointed professor and head of the Finnish department at the seminary.
The denomination changed its name to the National Evangelical Lutheran Church in 1946. Eighteen years later, on January 1, 1964, the NELC merged with the LCMS. However, several congregations did not join in the merger. One joined the Lutheran Churches of the Reformation, and three others (Hebron in Toronto, Bethany in New York City, and National in Calumet, Michigan) became independent congregations.
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