, (1825–1894), a key figure in organizing the Norwegian Synod. The Evangelical Lutheran Synod traces its history back to 1853 when the
Norwegian Synod was organized in the Midwestern United States. They practiced "fellowship", a form of
full communion, with the
Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod (LCMS) during the 1850s and 1860s. In 1872, they along with the LCMS and the WELS formed the
Evangelical Lutheran Synodical Conference of North America. In 1917, the Norwegian Synod merged with two other Norwegian Lutheran groups and formed the Norwegian Lutheran Church of America, later named the
Evangelical Lutheran Church. This led to disagreement among members of the Norwegian Synod. The people who became the ELS had concerns regarding fellowship with those who did not share the same doctrine. The Norwegian Synod had taught that conversion and salvation were entirely the work of God without any cooperation from humans. The new merged church allowed that conversion depended in some degree on humans accepting God's grace. A group of people therefore gathered at Lime Creek Lutheran Church near
Lake Mills, Iowa, on June 14, 1918, and reorganized as the
Norwegian Synod of the American Evangelical Lutheran Church (also known as "Little Norwegian" Synod) The name was changed to the
Evangelical Lutheran Synod on June 25, 1957. In 1955, the ELS suspended its fellowship with the LCMS over doctrinal disagreements, and in 1963, it withdrew from the
Evangelical Lutheran Synodical Conference of North America. It retained its fellowship with the WELS. (The WELS severed its fellowship relations with the LCMS in 1961, and also withdrew from the Synodical Conference in 1963.) In 1993, the ELS and WELS, working with a number of other worldwide Lutheran churches, some of which had been founded through mission work by both synods, founded the
Confessional Evangelical Lutheran Conference (CELC). The ELS published a
hymnal, the
Evangelical Lutheran Hymnary, in 1996. This hymnal is in the tradition of the 1941
The Lutheran Hymnal as well as earlier Scandinavian hymnals.
Association of Confessional Lutheran Churches The
Association of Confessional Lutheran Churches (
ACLC) was established in the early part of the 21st century to meet the needs of
Lutheran congregations that departed from the Evangelical Lutheran Synod when they considered a
pastor to have been wrongly removed by that body. The root purpose of the ACLC, then, is to maintain a pool of pastors from which member congregations can call. There are two member churches. ==ELS presidents==