The United Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the South, or simply United Synod of the South, was a historical
Lutheran denomination in the southeastern United States during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
In 1863, during the
American Civil War, the
Evangelical Lutheran General Synod of the United States passed several patriotic resolutions that alienated four of its member
synod
A synod () is a council of a Christian denomination, usually convened to decide an issue of doctrine, administration or application. The word ''wikt:synod, synod'' comes from the meaning "assembly" or "meeting" and is analogous with the Latin ...
s, the North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, and Southwestern Virginia synods, located in the Confederacy. Those four synods withdrew from that body and, together with the Georgia Synod, formed the General Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Confederate States of America at a meeting in
Concord, North Carolina.
In 1866, after the defeat of the Confederacy, the name of the synod was changed to the Evangelical Lutheran General Synod in North America. The Mississippi Synod became a member in 1876. That same year the organization's name was again changed, this time to the Evangelical Lutheran General Synod South.
Overtures had been made to the
Evangelical Lutheran Tennessee Synod and the Evangelical Lutheran Holston Synod at various times, but those two synods had declined membership because they viewed the General Synod as not strictly following the
Lutheran Confessions. Those concerns were eventually addressed, and in 1886 the Tennessee and Holston synods met in
Roanoke, Virginia with the six synods of the General Synod South to create the United Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the South.
In 1918 the United Synod of the South merged with the
General Synod and
General Council General council may refer to:
In education:
* General Council (Scottish university), an advisory body to each of the ancient universities of Scotland
* General Council of the University of St Andrews, the corporate body of all graduates and senio ...
to form the
United Lutheran Church in America (ULCA). In 1962, the ULCA became part of the new
Lutheran Church in America (LCA).
On January 1, 1988, the LCA ceased to exist when it, along with the
American Lutheran Church and the
Association of Evangelical Lutheran Churches, joined together to form 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 ...
(ELCA), today the largest Lutheran church body in the United States. Most of the United Synod's churches were in
Virginia,
North Carolina, and
South Carolina, three states that remain the "heartland" for the ELCA in the southeastern U.S.
References
Bibliography
* Bente, F. ''American Lutheranism Volume II'' (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House. 1919)
* Nichol, Todd W. ''All These Lutherans'' (Minneapolis: Augsburg Publishers. 1986)
* Wolf, Edmund Jacob. ''The Lutherans in America; a story of struggle, progress, influence and marvelous growth'' (New York: J.A. Hill. 1889)
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America predecessor churches
Lutheran denominations in North America
Lutheran denominations established in the 19th century
{{Lutheran-stub