Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod (LCMS)

Denominational Profile

History

Synod of Evangelical Lutheran Churches National Evangelical Lutheran Church (Finnish)	merged intoLutheran Church-Missouri Synod (LCMS) (1847)	continuedLutheran Church-Missouri Synod (LCMS)
		split into Association of Evangelical Lutheran Churches (1976)

The second-largest Lutheran denomination in the United States was founded in Missouri by German immigrants in 1847. Many of these immigrants had rejected the planned merger of the Lutheran and Reformed churches in Prussia.

Membership Data

Year	Clergy	Churches	Members
1925	3,062	3,849	628,695
1929	3,271	3,942	696,967
1935	3,605	4,224	1,230,705
1939	-	4,205	1,277,097
1941	-	4,326	1,320,510
1944	0	4,073	1,356,655
1946	0	4,064	1,469,213
1950	4,621	4,430	1,674,901
1951	4,661	4,478	1,728,989
1953	4,817	4,592	1,850,100
1954	4,916	4,701	1,932,000
1955	5,020	4,805	2,004,110
1956	5,037	4,989	2,076,550
1957	5,178	4,979	2,150,230
1958	5,299	5,028	2,234,844
1959	5,398	5,109	2,304,962
1960	5,506	5,215	2,391,195
1961	5,658	5,276	2,464,436
1962	5,756	5,432	2,522,095
1963	6,091	5,519	2,591,762
1964	6,257	5,556	2,650,857
1965	6,395	5,639	2,692,889
1966	6,469	5,647	2,729,897
1967	6,572	5,707	2,759,308
1968	6,719	5,733	2,781,892
1969	6,758	5,745	2,786,102
1970	6,866	5,690	2,788,536
1971	7,041	5,724	2,788,110
1972	7,174	5,741	2,781,297
1973	7,316	5,777	2,776,104
1974	7,331	5,813	2,769,594
1975	7,425	5,797	2,763,545
1976	7,414	5,832	2,757,271
1977	7,163	5,687	2,673,321
1978	7,161	5,669	2,631,374
1979	7,211	5,689	2,623,181
1980	7,296	5,694	2,625,650
1981	7,376	5,710	2,636,715
1982	7,559	5,752	2,630,823
1983	7,682	5,829	2,630,947
1984	7,823	5,812	2,628,133
1985	7,954	5,876	2,638,164
1986	8,044	5,897	2,630,588
1987	8,139	5,912	2,614,375
1988	8,193	5,939	2,604,278
1989	8,271	5,990	2,609,025
1990	8,301	5,296	2,602,849
1991	8,389	5,364	2,607,309
1992	8,799	5,369	2,609,905
1993	8,844	6,134	2,598,935
1994	8,879	6,148	2,596,927
1995	8,140	6,154	2,594,555
1996	8,215	6,099	2,601,144
1997	8,672	6,215	2,603,036
1998	8,316	6,218	2,594,404
1999	8,365	6,220	2,582,440
2000	8,257	6,150	2,554,088
2001	8,497	6,187	2,540,045
2002	8,505	6,142	2,512,714
2003	8,515	6,160	2,488,936
2004	8,515	6,151	2,463,747
2005	8,502	6,144	2,440,864
2006	8,601	6,155	2,417,997
2007	8,901	6,167	2,383,084
2008	9,010	6,123	2,337,349
2009	9,357	6,178	2,312,111

Data were taken from the National Council of Churches' Historic Archive CD and recent editions of the Yearbook of American and Canadian Churches. Denomination descriptions provided by Dr. J. Gordon Melton, Director, Institute for the Study of American Religion (ISAR). [More information on data sources]