American Lutheran Church

The American Lutheran Church (ALC) was a Christian Protestant denomination in the United States that existed from 1960 to 1987. Its headquarters were in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Upon its formation in 1960, the ALC designated Augsburg Publishing House (est. 1891), also located in Minneapolis, as the church publisher. The "Lutheran Standard" was the official magazine of the ALC.

The ALC's immigrant heritage came mostly from Germany, Norway, and Denmark, and its demographic center was in the Upper Midwest (with especially large numbers in Minnesota). Theologically, the church was influenced by pietism. It was slightly more conservative than the Lutheran Church in America (LCA), with which it would eventually merge, and officially taught biblical inerrancy in its constitution (although seldom enforced it by means of heresy trials and the like).

The ALC cooperated with the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod in many ventures, but ties would end when talks concerning a merger with the Lutheran Church in America began.

In 1966, Canadian congregations of the ALC formed the autonomous Evangelical Lutheran Church of Canada (ELCC), which in 1986 joined with the Lutheran Church in America - Canada Section (LCA-CS) to form the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada (ELCIC).

The ALC began ordaining women as ministers in December 1970, when the Rev. Barbara Andrews became the second woman ordained as a Lutheran minister in the United States. The first Native American woman to become a Lutheran minister in the United States, the Rev. Marlene Whiterabbit Helgemo, was ordained by the ALC in July 1987.

Formation

The American Lutheran Church was formed in 1960 out of the following Lutheran church bodies:

American Lutheran Church (1930)

American Lutheran Church, which was formed in 1930 from a merger of the German "Iowa Synod" (est. 1854), "Buffalo Synod" (est. 1845) and the "Joint Synod of Ohio" (est. 1818). "Note": After 1960, this body was informally referred to as the "old American Lutheran Church," to distinguish it from the body of the same name into which it had been absorbed.

*Presidents of ALC
*Carl C. Hein 1930–1937
*Emmanuel F. Poppen 1937–1950
*Henry F. Schuh 1951–1960

*Colleges of ALC
*Capital University
*Wartburg College
*Texas Lutheran University
*Luther College (Saskatchewan)

*Seminaries of ALC
*Capital (Columbus, Ohio)
*Wartburg (Dubuque, Iowa)

Evangelical Lutheran Church

Evangelical Lutheran Church, established in 1917 and known from its founding until 1946 as the "Norwegian Lutheran Church of America (NLCA)". The NLCA had itself been formed from a merger of the Hauge Synod (est. 1876), the Norwegian Synod (est. 1853) and the United Norwegian Lutheran Church of America (est. 1890).

United Evangelical Lutheran Church

United Evangelical Lutheran Church, founded in 1896 and known until 1946 as the "United Danish Evangelical Lutheran Church". The UDELC had been formed from a merger of the Danish Evangelical Lutheran Association in America (or Blair Church) (est. 1884) and the Danish Evangelical Lutheran Church in North America (or North Church) (est. 1894).

Additional member

The American Lutheran Church was joined in 1963 by the following Lutheran church body:

Lutheran Free Church

The Lutheran Free Church, which had broken away from the "United Norwegian Lutheran Church" in 1897, joined The ALC on February 1, 1963. (Forty Lutheran Free Church congregations chose not to participate in the merger, and instead formed the Association of Free Lutheran Congregations, today the fourth-largest Lutheran denomination in the U.S. with over 250 congregations.)

Merger

On 1 January 1988, the American Lutheran Church ceased to exist when it, along with the Lutheran Church in America and the Association of Evangelical Lutheran Churches, joined together to form the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. At the time of the merger, the ALC was the third-largest Lutheran church body in the United States, behind the Lutheran Church in America and the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod. The ALC brought approximately 2.25 million members into the ELCA. Twelve ALC congregations that did not want to participate in the merger formed the American Association of Lutheran Churches, which has since grown to 87 congregations.

Presidents/Presiding Bishops of ALC

*1960 - 1970 Fredrik A. Schiotz
*1971 - 1973 Kent S. Knutson
*1973 - 1987 David W. Preus

Use of the term Presiding Bishop approved in 1980.

Colleges and seminaries of ALC

Colleges

*Augsburg College
*Augustana College (South Dakota)
*California Lutheran University
*Capital University
*Concordia College, Moorhead
*Dana College
*Luther College (Iowa)
*Pacific Lutheran University
*St. Olaf College
*Texas Lutheran University
*Wartburg College
*Waldorf Jr. College now a 4 year college
*Oak Grove Lutheran High School, Fargo, North Dakota

eminaries

*The Evangelical Lutheran Theological Seminary , Columbus, Ohio (shared with LCA)
*Luther Theological Seminary, Saint Paul, Minnesota (shared with LCA)
*Wartburg Theological Seminary, Dubuque, Iowa
*Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary, Berkeley, California (shared with LCA)

National Conventions

*1960 ALC Constituting Convention, Minneapolis, Minnesota
*1962 1st, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
*1964 2nd, Columbus, Ohio
*1966 3rd, Minneapolis, Minnesota
*1968 4th, Omaha, Nebraska
*1970 5th, San Antonio, Texas
*1972 6th, Minneapolis, Minnesota
*1974 7th, Detroit, Michigan
*1976 8th, Washington, D.C.
*1978 9th, Moorhead, Minnestota
*1980 10th, Minneapolis, Minnesota
*1982 11th, San Diego, California
*1984 12th, Fargo, North Dakota and Moorhead, Minnesota
*1986 13th, Minneapolis, Minnesota
*1987 Closing convention, Columbus, Ohio

References

Todd W. Nichol "All These Lutherans" (Minneapolis: Augburg Publishing House, 1986)

External links

* [http://www.lcms.org/ca/www/cyclopedia/02/display.asp?t1=a&word=AMERICANLUTHERANCHURCH.THE The American Lutheran Church] (1960-87)
* [http://www.lcms.org/ca/www/cyclopedia/02/display.asp?t1=a&word=AMERICANLUTHERANCHURCH American Lutheran Church] (1930-60)
* [http://www.elca.org/archives/churchbodykey.html ELCA predecessor church bodies]
*Wolf, Edmund Jacob. [http://www.archive.org/details/thelutheransinam00wolfuoft The Lutherans in America; a story of struggle, progress, influence and marvelous growth.] New York: J.A. Hill. 1889.

NOTE: The below papers reflect the viewpoints of the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS), a conservative body opposed to ecumenism.
* [http://www.wlsessays.net/authors/B/BaumgartDoctrinal/BaumgartDoctrinal.PDF The Doctrinal Situation of Three Merging Churches by John Baumgart]
* [http://www.wlsessays.net/authors/L/LehningerUnity/LehningerUnity.PDF A Brief Factual Presentation Of The Historical Development Of Efforts Toward Lutheran Unity In The U. S. A. by Max Lehninger]
* [http://www.wlsessays.net/authors/PQ/PrenzlowLutherans/PrenzlowLutherans.pdf A Basic Doctrinal Difference Among Lutherans by Elmer J. C. Prenzlow, Jr.]
* [http://www.wlsessays.net/authors/W/WesterhausChurch/WesterhausChurch.PDF The American Lutheran Church Today by Martin O. Westerhaus]