Check.Church

Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

Lutheran · 1988 · United States

The 1988 union of the Lutheran Church in America, the American Lutheran Church, and the Association of Evangelical Lutheran Churches — the consolidation of mainline American Lutheranism, and the tree's neatest case of a merger carrying a fragment of a rival family branch (the ex-LCMS AELC) into a new body.

Evangelical Lutheran Church in America was formed in 1988. Evangelical Lutheran Church in America continues today. Evangelical Lutheran Church in America's institutional line runs back through Lutheran, Roman Catholicism to the post-apostolic church. No body on this tree is the assembly of Acts 2; where a body claims that, the claim appears in the claimed-lineage layer.

Between the post-apostolic church and Evangelical Lutheran Church in America stand 2 divisions along the institutional line, counting separations and disputed forks, not mergers, renewals or national organizations.

At a glance

Formed
In 1988
Family
Lutheran
Region
United States
Also known as
ELCA

What it was organized out of

  • Formed by union with Lutheran, one of several constituents.
  • Formed by union with Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod, one of several constituents. Via the AELC — ~250 congregations that left the LCMS in 1976 after the Seminex walkout (1974) — one of the three merging bodies.

Bodies organized out of it or separated from it: North American Lutheran Church.

On the tree

Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and its institutional line back to the post-apostolic churchAD 33The church at Pentecost: On divine groundThe church at Pentecost: on divine groundtoday10042443145110541517184719882010The post-apostolic church (The spine)The post-apostolicchurchDepartureChurch of the East (Church of the East)Church of the EastChurch of the EastThe conciliar church (The spine)The conciliar churchDepartureThe Chalcedonian church (The spine)The Chalcedonian churchDepartureOriental Orthodoxy (Oriental Orthodox)Oriental OrthodoxyOriental OrthodoxEastern Orthodoxy (Eastern Orthodox)Eastern OrthodoxyEastern OrthodoxRoman Catholicism (Catholic)Roman CatholicismNot gatheredLutheran (Lutheran)LutheranLutheranLutheran Church–Missouri Synod (Lutheran)Lutheran Church–MissouriSynodLutheranEvangelical Lutheran Church in America (Lutheran)Evangelical LutheranChurch in AmericaLutheranNorth American Lutheran Church (Lutheran)North American LutheranChurchLutheran

Solid lines are separations and unions; dashed lines are renewals that began inside a body; dotted gray lines are national organizations of one communion; a diamond marks a fork event where neither side is drawn as the one that left. Every line runs back to the post-apostolic church; no body descends from the assembly of Acts 2. Dashed gray boxes mark the institutional line after the apostles, shown as departure; no line of descent is drawn from Pentecost. A verdict appears on a box once its section is published.

Adherents

About 2,680,000 adherents (official census, as of 2024).

Source: Wikipedia (baptized members, Dec 31, 2024)

Sources

Research compiled July 2026. Page data built 2026-10-31.