14-699: The Lutheran Council in the United States of America , often referred to as LCUSA , was an ecumenical organization of American Lutherans that existed from 1967 to 1988. It succeeded the National Lutheran Council , whose eight member churches had been reduced to two due to the mergers forming the American Lutheran Church (ALC) in 1960 and the Lutheran Church in America (LCA) in 1960. In 1959,
28-723: A more traditional stance toward inter-Lutheran endeavors, and as a result, it withdrew from LCUSA in 1977. The group of congregations that had supported Seminex and left the LCMS formed the Association of Evangelical Lutheran Churches (AELC) in 1976 and subsequently joined LCUSA. The 1988 merger of the ALC, the AELC, and the LCA to form the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America made LCUSA unnecessary and it
42-765: A national council. The planning committee then met in Pittsburgh , Pennsylvania, on August 1, 1918. Finally, the National Lutheran Council was organized on September 6, 1918, in Chicago , Illinois. There were eight founding members of the NLC: The United Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the South (United Synod South) joined shortly thereafter. Each church body had one representative on
56-405: The Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod (LCMS) had responded favorably to an invitation to discuss the formation of a new inter-Lutheran organization, with meetings in 1960 and 1961 leading to agreement to form LCUSA. This represented a change in the LCMS's position in that it had previously required full doctrinal agreement to be established before joining an organization like this. It did so only with
70-711: The Lutheran Synod of Buffalo , established in 1845; and the Evangelical Lutheran Joint Synod of Ohio and Other States (Joint Synod of Ohio), established in 1818 from the Ministerium of Pennsylvania . The headquarters of the ALC were in Columbus, Ohio , which had been the headquarters of the Joint Synod of Ohio, the largest of the three synods. In 1960, the ALC merged with the Evangelical Lutheran Church , which
84-848: The 400th anniversary of the Lutheran Reformation in 1917 led to the creation of the National Lutheran Commission for Soldiers' and Sailors' Welfare in October of that year, and the Lutheran Bureau (for publicity) in November. On July 17, 1918, the Executive Committee of the welfare commission, consisting of 15 members from the various Lutheran bodies, met in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania , and created an eight-member committee to plan for
98-697: The NLC having only two members, and at the end of 1966 it was superseded by the Lutheran Council in the United States of America . When founded in 1918, the purposes of the NLC were to coordinate activities and agencies of the member bodies, provide statistical information, engage in publicity and public relations, and provide overseas relief to Lutherans affected by World War I . Those purposes broadened over time. The 1945 constitution and later amendments added such functions as making its member bodies aware of conditions to which they should speak or take action, representing
112-736: The Ohio Joint Synod and the Iowa Synod merged into the first American Lutheran Church , and that body merged with the Norwegian Synod in 1960 to create the second American Lutheran Church (ALC). The Lutheran Free Church subsequently joined the ALC in 1963. Finally, the ULCA, the Danish Church, and the Augustana Synod merged in 1962 to form the Lutheran Church in America . These mergers resulted in
126-788: The Word of God and the only source, norm, and guide of Christian faith and life, and the Unaltered Augsburg Confession and Martin Luther 's Catechism as the true exposition and presentation of the doctrine of the Bible. Soon after the organization of the NLC, the member bodies began a series of mergers. In 1918, the General Synod, General Council, and United Synod South merged to form the United Lutheran Church in America (ULCA). In 1930,
140-452: The agreement that all members of LCUSA participate in doctrinal discussions. As a result, the LCMS and the Synod of Evangelical Lutheran Churches (a small church body already in fellowship with the LCMS that would merge into the LCMS in 1971) joined the ALC and LCA in establishing LCUSA, with operations beginning on January 1, 1967. The Seminex controversy within the LCMS led to the LCMS taking
154-447: The council for every 100,000 confirmed members or one-third fraction thereof, with the proviso that each church body would have at least one representative. The NLC originally had no formal constitution other than a list of stated purposes. In 1926 a set of revised regulations was adopted. A formal constitution and bylaws were adopted in 1946 that, as a doctrinal basis, accepted the Bible as
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#1733085078106168-607: The member bodies to federal and state governments and to other organizations, and to serve as the U.S. National Committee of the Lutheran World Federation , a body (originally named Lutheran World Convention) that it had been instrumental in creating in 1923. American Lutheran Church (1930) The American Lutheran Church (ALC) was formed in 1930 from the merger of the three conservative Lutheran synods of German-American origin: The Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Iowa and Other States (Iowa Synod), established in 1854;
182-463: Was dissolved. This article relating to Lutheranism is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . National Lutheran Council The National Lutheran Council ( NLC ) was a cooperative agency of most of the Lutheran church bodies in the United States. It was established in 1918 and was replaced in 1966 by the Lutheran Council in the United States of America . The celebration of
196-520: Was of Norwegian-American origin, and the United Evangelical Lutheran Church , of Danish-American origin, to form a new body that was also named the American Lutheran Church . After the merger the original ALC was informally referred to as the "old American Lutheran Church" or the "first American Lutheran Church" to distinguish it from the later body, while the second was often referred to as "The American Lutheran Church" (or TALC), with
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