The Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Iowa and Other States, commonly known as the Iowa Synod, was founded on August 24, 1854, at St. Sebald in

Clayton County, Iowa Clayton County is a county located in the U.S. state of Iowa. As of the 2020 census, the population was 17,043. Its county seat is Elkader. The county was established in 1837 and was named in honor of John M. Clayton, United States Senator f ...

. It adopted a constitution and its name (german: Die deutsche evangelishe lutheranish Synode von Iowa), in 1864. The synod was the result of disagreements, in Saginaw, Michigan, against the Missouri Synod that had arisen with some of the pastors sent to America by Johann Konrad Wilhelm Löhe . Some of these pastors joined the Missouri Synod, while pastors

Georg M. Grossmann Inspector (German: ''Herr Inspektor'') Georg Martin Grossman (18 October 1823 in Groß-Bieberau, Grand Duchy of Hesse - 24 August 1897 in Waverly, Iowa) was a German-American Lutheran pastor, academic, missionary, and church leader who founded ...

and Johannes Deindoerfer and a small group moved to Iowa. Most of the congregations of the First Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Texas joined the Iowa Synod as its Texas District in 1896. In 1930, the Iowa Synod merged with the

Ohio Synod The Evangelical Lutheran Joint Synod of Ohio and Other States, commonly known as the Joint Synod of Ohio or the Ohio Synod, was a German-language Lutheran denomination whose congregations were originally located primarily in the U.S. state of Ohio ...

and the

Buffalo Synod The Lutheran Synod of Buffalo, founded in 1845 as the Synod of Lutheran Emigrants from Prussia (german: Synode der aus Preussen ausgewanderten lutherischen Kirche), was commonly known from early in its history as the Buffalo Synod. The synod resul ...

to form the American Lutheran Church (ALC). The latter body, after further mergers, became part of the

Evangelical Lutheran Church in America The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) is a mainline Protestant Lutheran church headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. The ELCA was officially formed on January 1, 1988, by the merging of three Lutheran church bodies. , it has approxim ...

in 1988. In 1929, just before its merger into the ALC, the Iowa Synod had 637 pastors, 932 congregations, and 150,683 members.

Notes

References

* * {{refend History of Christianity in the United States Evangelical Lutheran Church in America predecessor churches Lutheran denominations in North America Religious organizations established in 1854 Lutheran denominations established in the 19th century 1854 establishments in Iowa