The Synod of Evangelical Lutheran Churches (SELC) was an American

Lutheran Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Cathol ...

denomination that existed from 1902 to 1971. It merged with the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod (LCMS) in 1971 and now operates as the non-geographic SELC District of that body.

History

In 1894, Slovak Lutheran immigrants in Pennsylvania formed a short-live synod. Three conferences that stressed confessional Lutheran identity were later held in

Wilkes-Barre Wilkes-Barre ( or ) is a city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Luzerne County. Located at the center of the Wyoming Valley in Northeastern Pennsylvania, it had a population of 44,328 in the 2020 census. It is the s ...

(1899) and

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(1900 and 1902). As a result of these conferences, the denomination was founded at St. Peter's Church in

Connellsville, Pennsylvania Connellsville is a city in Fayette County, Pennsylvania, United States, southeast of Pittsburgh and away via the Youghiogheny River, a tributary of the Monongahela River. It is part of the Pittsburgh Metro Area. The population was 7,637 at t ...

, on September 2–4, 1902, as the Slovak Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Augsburg Confession in the United States of America (''Slovenská evanjelická celocirkev augsburgského vyznania v Spojenych štátoch amerických''). At its origin, the denomination had ten clergymen and 15 congregations. Most congregations were composed of recent immigrants, and

liturgies Liturgy is the customary public ritual of worship performed by a religious group. ''Liturgy'' can also be used to refer specifically to public worship by Christians. As a religious phenomenon, liturgy represents a communal response to and partic ...

were usually conducted in Slovak. Those Slovak Lutherans who did not join the SELC eventually formed the

Slovak Zion Synod Slovak may refer to: * Something from, related to, or belonging to Slovakia (''Slovenská republika'') * Slovaks, a Western Slavic ethnic group * Slovak language, an Indo-European language that belongs to the West Slavic languages * Slovak, Arka ...

in 1919. The name was changed in 1913 to Slovak Evangelical Lutheran Synod of the United States of America. In 1945, the name was shortened to Slovak Evangelical Lutheran Church. By 1959, the use of Slovak as a primary liturgical language had died out and the denomination was renamed the Synod of Evangelical Lutheran Churches, thereby retaining SELC as its acronym. The SELC joined the

Evangelical Lutheran Synodical Conference of North America The Evangelical Lutheran Synodical Conference of North America (german: Die Evangelisch-lutherischen Synodal-Conferenz von Nord-Amerika), often known simply as the Synodical Conference, was an association of Lutheran synods that professed a comp ...

in 1910, and was one of the two remaining members of that federation (the LCMS being the other) when it was dissolved in 1967. The SELC was a founding member of the

Lutheran Council in the United States of America The Lutheran Council in the United States of America was an ecumenical organization of American Lutherans that existed from 1967 to 1988. Succeeding the National Lutheran Council, it was founded by four Lutheran church bodies: the Lutheran Churc ...

, which began operations on January 1, 1967. In 1971, during its convention held at Zion Lutheran Church in

Clark, New Jersey Clark is a township in southern Union County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, the township's population was 15,544 an increase of 788 (+5.3%) from the 2010 census count of 14,756, which had in turn increased by ...

, the SELC officially merged with the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod, becoming the SELC District, one of two non-geographic districts of the LCMS. The district retained the initials "SELC" in its name to mark its origins and heritage. , the SELC District has 52 congregations in 11 U.S. states and 2 Canadian provinces and has 13,876 baptized members and 11,239 communicants. The district's congregations are concentrated in the

Northeastern The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each se ...

and

Midwestern United States The Midwestern United States, also referred to as the Midwest or the American Midwest, is one of four census regions of the United States Census Bureau (also known as "Region 2"). It occupies the northern central part of the United States. I ...

Presidents of SELC

The SELC had ten presidents during its existence as an independent synod. *Daniel Jonaten Záboj Laucek 1902–1905 *John Pelikán 1905–1913 *Stephen Tuhy 1913–1919 *J. Pelikán 1919–1921 *John Somora 1921–1922 *John Samuel Bradác 1922–1939 *Andrew Daniel 1939–1949 *Paul Rafaj 1949–1963 *John Kovac 1963–1969 *Milan A. Ontko 1969–1971

Membership statistics

{, class="wikitable collapsible" border="1" style="text-align: right;" , + SELC Membership Statistics{{cite web, title=Synod of Evangelical Lutheran Churches, url=http://www.thearda.com/Denoms/D_911.asp, work=American Denomination Profiles, publisher=Association of Religion Data Archives, accessdate=July 19, 2013 , - ! Year !! Pastors !! Congregations !! Members , - , 1925 , , 31, , 59 , , 6,534 , - , 1929 , , 36 , , 60 , , 8,206 , - , 1935, , 39 , , 55 , , 16,500 , - , 1939 , , - , , 63 , , 22,458 , - , 1942 , , - , , 61 , , 22,424 , - , 1943 , , - , , 60 , , 22,186 , - , 1946 , , - , , 56 , , 20,866 , - , 1949 , , - , , 64 , , 21,211 , - , 1950 , , 58 , , 59 , , 18,870 , - , 1951 , , 54 , , 59 , , 20,244 , - , 1952 , , 7 , , 59 , , 20,562 , - , 1955 , , 49 , , 58 , , 16,474 , - , 1957 , , 58 , , 59 , , 18,003 , - , 1958 , , 56 , , 59 , , 19,931 , - , 1960 , , 59 , , 54 , , 8,531 , - , 1961 , , 57 , , 50 , , 19,802 , - , 1962 , , 57 , , 53 , , 19,184 , - , 1964 , , 63 , , 65 , , 21,656

References

External links

Official website of the SELC District of the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod
Lutheran denominations in North America Former Lutheran denominations Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod Christian organizations established in 1902 Slovak-American history