Evangelical Lutheran Church In America
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) is a mainline Protestant church headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. The ELCA was officially formed on January 1, 1988, by the merging of three Lutheran church bodies. As of December 31, 2023, it has approximately 2.79 million baptized members in 8,498 congregations. In 2025, Pew Research estimated that 1.4 percent of the U.S. adult population self-identifies with the ELCA; more broadly, 2% of US adults, or 5.2 million people, identified with the ELCA and mainline Lutheranism. It is the seventh-largest Christian denomination by reported membership. As of 2012, churches with more members were the Catholic Church, Southern Baptist Convention, United Methodist Church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Church of God in Christ, and the National Baptist Convention, USA. and the largest Lutheran denomination in the United States. The next two largest Lutheran denominations are the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod (LCMS) (w ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Mainline Protestant
The mainline Protestants (sometimes also known as oldline Protestants) are a group of Protestantism in the United States, Protestant denominations in the United States and Protestantism in Canada, Canada largely of the Liberal Christianity, theologically liberal or Progressive Christianity, theologically progressive persuasion that contrast in history and practice with the largely theologically conservative Evangelicalism, evangelical, Christian fundamentalism, fundamentalist, Charismatic Christianity, charismatic, Confessionalism (religion), confessional, Confessing Movement, historically Black church, and Global South Fellowship of Anglican Churches, Global South Protestant denominations and congregations. Some make a distinction between "mainline" and "oldline", with the former referring only to denominational ties and the latter referring to church lineage, prestige and influence. However, this distinction has largely been lost to history and the terms are now nearly synonymous. ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Association Of Evangelical Lutheran Churches
The Association of Evangelical Lutheran Churches (AELC) was a U.S. church body that existed from 1976 through the end of 1987. The AELC formed when approximately 250 dissident congregations withdrew from the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod (LCMS) in 1976, and ended as an independent body when it became part of the new Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) on January 1, 1988. In 1986, just before its merger into the ELCA, the AELC had 672 pastors, 250 congregations, and 103,263 members. Formation The AELC's forerunner was Evangelical Lutherans in Mission (ELIM), a liberal caucus within the LCMS that opposed that body's more conservative turn in the early and mid-1970s. ELIM was formed when, in the wake of conservative victories at the 1973 convention of the LCMS, more liberal opponents had convened a conference in Chicago to chart out strategies. The conference's 800 delegates promised moral and financial support for church members who faced pressure due to their opposit ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Pew Research
The Pew Research Center (also simply known as Pew) is a nonpartisan American think tank based in Washington, D.C. It provides information on social issues, public opinion, and demographic trends shaping the United States and the world. It also conducts public opinion polling, demographic research, random sample survey research, and panel based surveys, media content analysis, and other empirical social science research. The Pew Research Center states it does not take policy stances. It is a subsidiary of the Pew Charitable Trusts and a charter member of the American Association of Public Opinion Research's Transparency Initiative. History In 1990, the Times Mirror Company founded the Times Mirror Center for the People & the Press as a research project, tasked with conducting polls on politics and policy. Andrew Kohut became its director in 1993, and the Pew Charitable Trusts became its primary sponsor in 1996, when it was renamed the Pew Research Center for the People ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Mainline Protestant
The mainline Protestants (sometimes also known as oldline Protestants) are a group of Protestantism in the United States, Protestant denominations in the United States and Protestantism in Canada, Canada largely of the Liberal Christianity, theologically liberal or Progressive Christianity, theologically progressive persuasion that contrast in history and practice with the largely theologically conservative Evangelicalism, evangelical, Christian fundamentalism, fundamentalist, Charismatic Christianity, charismatic, Confessionalism (religion), confessional, Confessing Movement, historically Black church, and Global South Fellowship of Anglican Churches, Global South Protestant denominations and congregations. Some make a distinction between "mainline" and "oldline", with the former referring only to denominational ties and the latter referring to church lineage, prestige and influence. However, this distinction has largely been lost to history and the terms are now nearly synonymous. ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Evangelism
Evangelism, or witnessing, is the act of sharing the Christian gospel, the message and teachings of Jesus Christ. It is typically done with the intention of converting others to Christianity. Evangelism can take several forms, such as personal conversations, preaching, media, and is especially associated with missionary work. Christians who specialize in evangelism are often known as evangelists, whether they are in their home communities or living as missionaries in the field, although some Christian traditions refer to such people as ''missionaries'' in either case. Some Christian traditions consider evangelists to be in a leadership position; they may be found preaching to large meetings or in governance roles. In addition, Christian groups who encourage evangelism are sometimes known as evangelistic or ''evangelist''. Etymology The word ''evangelist'' comes from the Koine Greek word (transliterated as ''euangelion'') via Latinised ''evangelium'' as used in the canonic ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Caribbean
The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America to the west, and South America to the south, it comprises numerous List of Caribbean islands, islands, cays, islets, reefs, and banks. It includes the Lucayan Archipelago, Greater Antilles, and Lesser Antilles of the West Indies; the Quintana Roo Municipalities of Quintana Roo#Municipalities, islands and Districts of Belize#List, Belizean List of islands of Belize, islands of the Yucatán Peninsula; and the Bay Islands Department#Islands, Bay Islands, Miskito Cays, Archipelago of San Andrés, Providencia and Santa Catalina, Archipelago of San Andrés, Providencia, and Santa Catalina, Corn Islands, and San Blas Islands of Central America. It also includes the coastal areas on the Mainland, continental mainland of the Americas bordering the ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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United States
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 contiguous states border Canada to the north and Mexico to the south, with the semi-exclave of Alaska in the northwest and the archipelago of Hawaii in the Pacific Ocean. The United States asserts sovereignty over five Territories of the United States, major island territories and United States Minor Outlying Islands, various uninhabited islands in Oceania and the Caribbean. It is a megadiverse country, with the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, third-largest land area and List of countries and dependencies by population, third-largest population, exceeding 340 million. Its three Metropolitan statistical areas by population, largest metropolitan areas are New York metropolitan area, New York, Greater Los Angeles, Los Angel ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Churches Beyond Borders
Churches Beyond Borders is an ecumenical grouping of Anglicans and Lutherans in North America. It includes The Episcopal Church (domestic dioceses and provinces), the Anglican Church of Canada, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) is a mainline Protestant church headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. The ELCA was officially formed on January 1, 1988, by the merging of three Lutheran church bodies. As of December 31, 2023, it ... (outside of the Bahamas), and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada. Through the heads of communion in each member church, the group issues regular statements on the Doctrine of Discovery, climate change, racial reconciliation, gender justice, and other matters. It builds on the Canadian 2001 Waterloo Declaration and the 1999-2000 American document Called to Common Mission as an expression of full communion among Anglicans and Lutherans in North America. See also * Anglican Communion and e ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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World Council Of Churches
The World Council of Churches (WCC) is a worldwide Christian inter-church organization founded in 1948 to work for the cause of ecumenism. Its full members today include the Assyrian Church of the East, most jurisdictions of the Eastern Orthodox Church (including the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople), the Oriental Orthodox Churches, the Union of Utrecht, the Lutheran World Federation, the Anglican Communion, the Mennonite churches, the World Methodist Council, the Baptist World Alliance, the World Communion of Reformed Churches, several Pentecostal churches, the Moravian Church, and the Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian Church. Notably, the Catholic Church is not a full member, although it sends delegates who have observer status to meetings. The WCC describes itself as "a worldwide fellowship of 352 global, regional and sub-regional, national and local churches seeking unity, a common witness and Christian service". It has no head office as such, but its administrative ce ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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National Council Of Churches
The National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA, usually identified as the National Council of Churches (NCC), is a left-wing progressive activist group and the largest ecumenical body in the United States. NCC is an ecumenical partnership of 38 Christian faith groups in the United States. Its member communions include mainline Protestant, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, African-American, evangelical, and historic peace churches. Together, it encompasses more than 100,000 local congregations and 40 million adherents. It began as the Federal Council of Churches in 1908, and expanded through merger with several other ecumenical organizations to become the National Council of Churches in 1950. Its Interim President and General Secretary is Bishop Vashti Murphy McKenzie. History The first efforts at ecumenical organization emerged in May 1908 with the creation of the Federal Council of Churches (FCC). The FCC was created as a response to "industrial problems" that a ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Churches Uniting In Christ
Churches Uniting in Christ (CUIC) is an ecumenical organization that brings together mainline American denominations (including both predominantly white and predominantly black churches), and was inaugurated on January 20, 2002, in Memphis, Tennessee on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel. It is the successor organization to the Consultation on Church Union. History Origins CUIC is the successor organization to the Consultation on Church Union (COCU), which had been founded in 1962. The original task of COCU was to negotiate a consensus between its nine (originally four) member communions (it also included three "advisory participant" churches). However, it never succeeded in this goal, despite making progress on several ecumenical fronts. At COCU's 18th plenary meeting in St. Louis, Missouri (January 1999), CUIC was proposed as a new relationship among the nine member communions. Each member communion voted to join CUIC over the next few years. Inauguration Heads of co ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Christian Churches Together
Christian Churches Together in the USA (CCT) is an organization formed in 2006 to "broaden and expand fellowship, unity and witness among the diverse expressions of Christian traditions in the USA" and represents over 98 million Christians in the United States. Christian Churches Together was created as a space for dialogue and cooperation among churches and ecumenical Christian organizations. It does not attempt to combine Christian faiths or compromise their distinctiveness. Rather, it provides a context in which churches can develop relationships with other churches with whom they presently have little or no contact. Christian Churches Together includes most, if not all, the Christian traditions Christian tradition is a collection of traditions consisting of practices or beliefs associated with Christianity. Many churches have traditional practices, such as particular patterns of worship or rites, that developed over time. Deviations fro ... in the US (including Catholic, ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |