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In the end, approximately 250 congregations left the LCMS. In
December 1976, these congregations established the Association of Evangelical Lutheran Churches (AELC). The AELC was a disappointment in some respects, since it garnered far fewer dissident LCMS congregations than its leaders had initially
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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
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among them, served as the catalyst for merger talks with the
American Lutheran Church (formed in 1960, with approximately 2.25 million members), and the Lutheran Church in America (formed in 1962, with approximately 2.85 million members). The effort drew on the expertise of C. Thomas ("Tom") Spitz,
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were threatened with removal from office for allowing their congregations to ordain
Seminex graduates who had not been certified by Concordia Seminary, and four were removed in April 1976. In the wake of the Seminex controversy and those removals, a movement to leave the LCMS took shape among
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had joined the LCMS in 1911. The departing
English District leadership and congregations immediately reconstituted the pre-1911 English Synod, and a number of officials and congregations from other districts followed their lead by exiting the LCMS.
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who faced pressure due to their opposition to LCMS convention actions, and established ELIM as a network and rallying point for the moderate wing of the LCMS.
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dissident congregations and church officials, most of them members of ELIM. The largest number of departures came from the LCMS's non-geographical
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expected. With congregations totaling about 100,000 members, the AELC included less than 4% of the 2.7 million members of LCMS.
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The designation used for the AELC leader was initially "president" and the title was later changed to "presiding bishop".
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in St. Louis, Missouri, that led to the establishment of a rival "Seminary in Exile". In 1975, presidents of eight
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In 1986, just before its merger into the ELCA, the AELC had 672 pastors, 250 congregations, and 103,263 members.
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The
Doctrinal Situation of Three Merging Churches by John Baumgart
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unity in the United States. The AELC's leaders, Seminex president
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controversy, a walk-out by most of the students and faculty of
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Evangelical
Lutheran Church in America predecessor churches
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The AELC played an important role in efforts toward
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Defunct
Christian denomination in the United States
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390:"Association of Evangelical Lutheran Churches"
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419:Evangelical Lutherans Name First Woman Cleric
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534:Christian organizations established in 1976
421:(Chicago Tribune. September 17, 1977. p. 8)
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539:1976 establishments in the United States
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365:(1976–1984)
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312:The Rev.
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