Who are Lutherans?
Today, there are 66 million Lutherans belonging to 250 different autonomous Lutheran churches around the world. The largest numbers of Lutherans are to be found in Germany, the place where the Reformation took place during the early part of the 16th century. The 9.5 million Lutherans in North America belong to 21 different Lutheran church bodies. The largest of these at 5.1 million is the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), The Lutheran Church--Missouri Synod, with 2.5 million baptized members, ranks as the second largest Lutheran church body in North America and the 11th largest denomination in the USA. The Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS) has 410,000 members and is the third largest Lutheran Church in the United States of America. You may read an article titled "An Introduction to the LCMS."
The Missouri Synod
Our History
On April 26, 1847, 12 pastors representing 15 congregations signed a constitution that established "The German Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Missouri, Ohio and Other States." Today, The Lutheran Church--Missouri Synod (the name was shortened on its 100th anniversary) has 6,150 congregations served by more than 9,000 professional church workers. You may also view additional statistics about the Synod.
