Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) is the largest Lutheran denomination in the United States, including Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. It is also one of the largest Christian denominations in the United States, with several million members in thousands of congregations. The mission statement of the ELCA is: “Together in Jesus Christ we are freed by grace to live faithfully, witness boldly and serve joyfully.”
The church is organized into regional jurisdictional units called synods, each headed by a bishop. The leader of the denomination is a bishop elected to a six-year term and based at the churchwide office in Chicago. The ELCA maintains strong ecumenical (interdenominational) partnerships and supports extensive domestic and international mission programs. The denomination permits the ordination of women, as well as people in committed same-sex relationships.
The ELCA was formed by the merger of the Lutheran Church in America, the American Lutheran Church, and the Association of Evangelical Lutheran Churches. The denomination officially came into being in 1988. However, the ELCA traces its roots back to the mid-1600’s, when early Lutherans migrated to America from Europe and settled in the Virgin Islands and what is now New York.
