Favorite Links
Visit the Martin Luther House in Germany where many original documents and other artifacts are on display. Many can be viewed on line.
We hope you find these Lutheran links helpful and informative. We have pre-tested all of these links prior to posting but if you find one that does now work, we would very much appreciate your notifying us of that so that we can either update the link or delete it.
AFLC
The Association of Free Lutheran Churches come mostly from Scandinavia who had left the national, state supported "folk churches" prior to coming to the North American continent. Some of these parishes then joined with the American Lutheran Church (which was also gobbled up by the ELCA) in the early 60's. These few opposed that merger and remained independent.
AIELC
The Association of Independent Evangelical Lutheran Churches have parishes located mainly in New York and the Caribbean. The LCCG is also in communion with this synod.
ALCA
Apostolic Lutheran Church of America
Athanasian Catholic Church of the Augsburg Confession
The theology and tradition of this fairly large Lutheran synod lay well within the Evangelical Catholic tradition, of the ECC-L. Its stated purpose is the reunification of the holy catholic church of our Lord Jesus Christ.
CALC
Canadian Association of Lutheran Congregations. CALC affirms the Bible as the divinely inspired, revealed, and inerrant Word of God, confesses the Bible as the only infallible authority in all matters of faith and life, professes the three universal creeds accepted by the whole Christian Church: Apostles’, Nicene, and Athanasian Creeds, accepts the Book of Concord as an explanation of the Bible and as a summary of faith; it's mission is to unite like-minded Lutherans with the same goals around a common confession of faith in order to co-ordinate efforts for the sake of Jesus Christ and His Church
CLBA
The Church of the Lutheran Brethren of America is comprised of independent congregations formed sometime in the early 1900's and has many mission parishes in Africa and Asia.
CLC
The Church of the Lutheran Confession synod is a very conservative, chartered sometime in the early 1960's by members of parishes from WELS, LCMS, and ELS.
Concordia Lutheran Conference
This synod sprang from parishes who left the LCMS in sometime in the mid 1950's.
Conservative Lutheran Association
This group while not a formal synod, formed in the early 1980's. Their main thrust was to oppose the liberalism emerging in the Lutheran Church in the US.
ELCA
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. This synod is strong on the evangelical part of it's name but pretty weak on "Lutheran" part. It's formation resulted from gobbling up the ALC, AELC, LCA synods and a few others on the way. It has become today a rogue synod allowing women clergy and now embracing homosexuality and is an embarrassment to Lutheranism.
ELCIC
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada claims to be the major Canadian representative of the traditions of the Lutheran reformation of the catholic Christian church. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada came into being in 1986 through the merger of two predecessor bodies. They derive their teachings from the Holy Scriptures and confess the three ecumenical creeds of the Christian church. They hold to orthodox catholic theology as enunciated in the ecumenical councils of the first five centuries of Christianity. They trace their roots as a confessing movement to the reformation of the catholic church initiated by Dr. Martin Luther in Germany in the 1500s. See Project Wittenberg for a great deal of primary source information.
ELS
The Evangelical Lutheran Synod began when several parishes from the Norwegian Synod rejected a merger.
ES
the Eielsen Synod was formally called the Evangelical Lutheran Church in American until the current ELCA began gobbling up other synods 1987, who declined the ELCA's invitation to join them and changed the name of their synod to the Eielsen Synod.
Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church Abroad
This synod originated from immigrants from Estonia who came to the US and Canada during the Soviet era.
Evangelical Lutheran Conference & Ministerium
This Lutheran fellowship had been independent but is now a part of TAALC.
Evangelical Catholic Church
If the Catholic Church accepted the reforms Luther wanted in the first place, the Mother Church may have become something like this synod. Interesting group.
Evangelical Community Church - Lutheran
This synod also subscribes to the theology of the Evangelical Catholic tradition. Their worship service resembles that of Roman Catholicism.
Illinois Lutheran Conference
This synod came together from other parishes who left the WELS sometime around 1970 because they rightfully held that the King James Version was the only acceptable English-language translation of our Bible.
International Lutheran Fellowship
This is a fairly good sized fellowship comprised of several independent Lutheran parishes and pastors.
LCA
Lutheran Church of Australia
LCMC
Lutheran Congregations in Mission for Christ
LCMS
The Lutheran Church--Missouri Synod is the second largest Lutheran synod in the US. It was first chartered in 1847 by German-speaking Lutheran immigrant congregations.
LLC
The Laestadian Lutheran Church was formed in the early 1970's because of a chiasm in the Laestadian movement here in North America.
LCR
Lutheran Churches of the ReformationThe is a federation of orthodox Lutheran Congregations which was formed in 1964. They are conservative Lutherans and are Confessional Lutherans.
LCS
The Lutheran Confessional Synod
LELCA
The Latvian Evangelical Lutheran Church in America came together from the political refugees from Latvia during the Soviet era and centered its organization in Southern California.
Lithuanian Evangelical Lutheran Church in Diaspora
This synod was also formed by political refugees from the former Soviet era occupation of Lithuania.
Lutheran Churches of the Reformation
This synod was formed in the early 1960's by several parishes from the LCMS who were unhappy with their doctrinal interpretations.
Lutheran Conference of Confessional Fellowship
Several disgruntled parishes from the Church of the Lutheran Confession who left them over a dispute about the commercialism in that church and its refusal to correct.
Lutheran Confessional Synod
This synod was organized by an Illinois by many former ELCA parishes who dissatisfied with the ELCA's liberalism including but not limited to their acceptance of homosexuality and women in the clergy. They also vehemently disapproved of the ELCA's abandonment of the historic liturgy that most of the synods they gobbled up used.
Lutheran Evangelical Protestant Church
This was formally the Evangelical Protestant Church which is a conservative synod originally formed by German immigrants in the Mid-West sometime during the late 1700's and does subscribe to the Lutheran Confessions.
Lutheran Ministerium and Synod-USA
This is yet another group of parishes who were dissatisfied with the liberal stance of the ELCA and considered them to be an embarrassment to Lutheranism.
TAALC
The American Association of Lutheran Churches was formed by parishes of the American Lutheran Church (many with a Free Lutheran heritage)who rejected the merger of several other synods that became the ELCA in the late 1980's.
WELLS
The Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod was first chartered sometime in the 1850's also by immigrant German-speaking parishes in Wisconsin.
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