The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America or ELCA is a mainline Protestant denomination headquarted in Chicago, Illinois. With about 5 million members, it is the largest and most liberal of all the Lutheran denominations in the United States. The Church also has congregations in the Caribbean region. Before 1986, some of the congregations that form the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada were part of the ELCA's predecessors. The next two largest Lutheran denominations are the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod and the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod. There are many smaller ones. The ELCA is one of the largest Christian demominations in the United States.
The headquarters of the Church are at 8765 West Higgins Road, Chicago IL 60631.
For more information:
A more detailed history of Lutheranism in North America may be found at www.elca.org/co/timeline/index.html.
The Constitution of the ELCA may be found at www.elca.org/os/constitution/intro.html
A detailed description of how the ELCA is structured to do its work based on its constitution is may be found in Anatomy of the ELCA.
MOSAIC, video magazine of the ELCA, has produced videos with study guides on the lives of Martin Luther and his wife, Katharina von Bora, as well as Lutheran Roots in America
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Simply Giving® is an automated giving program designed to help you conveniently and consistently contribute to a Lutheran congregation or institution or to pay tuition at a Lutheran school. Through Simply Giving®, your gifts or tuition payments are made through a pre-authorized withdrawal from your bank account. You determine the frequency of your automatic gift—weekly, semi-monthly or monthly—the option is yours. Your gift or payment is deposited into the recipient's bank account on the same day it is withdrawn from your account—at no cost to you or the recipient.
Thrivent Financial for Lutherans offers Simply Giving® to further its mission of serving Lutheran congregations and institutions.
Simply Giving® benefits to you and to ...
Your congregation
Simply Giving® is a reliable, safe way to move your stewardship plan into action. It allows you to share your gifts through planned giving and activates your generosity into ongoing stewardship. Because your gift is given consistently, you won't need to play "catch-up" at year-end or worry about forgotten checkbooks or missed Sunday offerings.But you're not the only one that benefits. Your congregation benefits from steady, more predictable revenues throughout the year, more efficient bookkeeping and greater confidence in meeting its financial commitments.
Your school
This program is also a convenient way to pay tuition at a Lutheran school. Simply Giving® provides an easy, no-cost way for the school to collect tuition, and allows the school to benefit from consistent cash flow. Your tuition payments are made to the school through a pre-authorized withdrawal from your bank account and deposited on the same day into the school's bank account.Your favorite Lutheran institution
You can also make convenient contributions to other Lutheran institutions through the Simply Giving® program. Because of your planned giving and ongoing stewardship, the institution you support benefits from steady, more predictable revenues throughout the year. This helps the institution to better meet its financial goals and development objectives.
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