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. As of 2022, it has approximately 2.9 million baptized members in 8,640 congregations.
Evangelical Lutheran Church (Frederick, Maryland) (1752)
ELCA's then-Presiding Bishop Mark Hanson speaking at the inauguration of a new Augsburg College president in 2006
Augustana Lutheran Church in Washington, D.C. is a "Reconciling in Christ" congregation, meaning they welcome all people, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity.
ELCA ministers Richard and Bonnie Jensen
The mainline Protestant churches are a group of Protestant denominations in the United States and in some cases in Canada largely of the theologically liberal or theologically progressive persuasion that contrast in history and practice with the largely theologically conservative Evangelical, Fundamentalist, Charismatic, Confessional, Confessing Movement, historically Black church, and 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.
Eucharist observed by a congregation of the United Methodist Church, a typical mainline Protestant denomination and one of the "Seven Sisters of American Protestantism".
Washington National Cathedral, an Episcopal cathedral in Washington, D.C.
A Congregational church of the United Church of Christ denomination in Farmington, Connecticut
Augustana Lutheran Church in Washington, D.C belonging to the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
