Ecumenical
Partnerships
Over the years, different
Lutheran church bodies have been established and organized to meet the needs of Lutherans in communities and nations all over
the world. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is the largest Lutheran group in North America, founded in 1988
when three North American Lutheran church bodies united: The American Lutheran Church, the Association of Evangelical
Lutheran Churches and the Lutheran Church in America.
Lutherans are part of a reforming movement within the whole
Christian church; as a part of practicing their faith, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and its predecessors have
engaged in ecumenical dialogue with other church bodies for decades. In fact, the ELCA has entered into cooperative
"full communion" agreements (sharing common convictions about theology, m ission and worship) with several other
Protestant denominations, including
The Moravian Church
The Episcopal
Church
The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
The Reformed Church in America
The United Church of Christ
The ELCA has an ongoing dialogue with the Roman Catholic church,
and in 1999, representatives of the Lutheran World Federation and the Roman Catholic Church signed the Joint Declaration on
the Doctrine of Justification. This represented a historic consensus on key issues of faith and called for further dialogue
and study together.
Lutheranism is a faith tradition that is open to all, regardless of background.
The ELCA alone is almost five million members strong, with nearly 10,500 congregations across the U.S., Puerto Rico and
the Virgin Islands.