Pastor Zip's International Lutheran Web Links
Lutheran Churches Around the World with English-language Web sites

The Lutheran World Federation - A Communion of Churches
Founded in 1947 by Lutheran Churches to give aid to Lutherans in war-torn Europe, the LWF is now a global communion of 138 Lutheran Churches in 77 countries representing over 65 million of the world's Lutherans. [LWF-related churches are signified on this page by a red ball.]

The LWF's 10th Assembly met July 2003 in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Pastor Zip served as a volunteer, and can be seen in photos on the Assembly's web site monitoring microphone #2 (or here for a less clear photo; Bishop Edison Munthe from North Sumatra, Indonesia, is the speaker in both photos) and in the bookstore.

International Lutheran Council
A world-wide association of confessional Lutheran church bodies that relate to the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod, the ILC was formed in 1993. Today it consists of 30 partner churches in 29 countries. [ILC-related churches are signified on this page by a gold ball.]

Confessional Evangelical Lutheran Conference
An alliance of conservative, confessional Lutheran church bodies around the world that relate to the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod. Formed in 1993 it includes 19 church bodies in 18 countries. [CELC-related churches are signified on this page by a green ball.]

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The Americas
For the web sites of Lutheran Churches in the USA, please go to Pastor Zip's US Lutheran Web Links Page.

Argentina

United Evangelical Lutheran Church
This site is an ELCA Division for Global Mission description, with the official site for the Iglesia Evangélica Luterana Unida being in Spanish. Lutheran missionaries from the General Synod in the U. S. first arrived in 1908. The IELU now has 29 congregations serving both native Argentines and immigrants from historically Lutheran lands.

Brazil
Evangelical Church of the Lutheran Confession in Brazil
This site is an ELCA Division for Global Mission description, since the official site for the Igreja Evangélica de Confissão Luterana no Brasil is in Portuguese. The largest South American Lutheran Church with about 716,000 members, IECLB's roots were first planted with the arrival of German immgrants in 1824. Congregations developed in Southern Brazil and were supported by German Lutheran Churches. The first Synods were organized in 1886, still relating to the Mother Church in Germany. After World War 2 the Synods began to work more with each other than the church in Germany, and the independent IECLB was formally established in 1968.
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Brazil
The English page of the Igreja Evangélica Luterana do Brasil, which was established in 1904 through the efforts of LCMS missionary activity that started in 1900. For another English site, check this personal site on the IELB.

Canada
Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada (ELCIC)
The largest Lutheran church body in Canada, the ELCIC was formed in 1986 by the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Canada (which had been the Canadian congregations of the American Lutheran Church until 1966) and the Canada Section of the Lutheran Church in America.
Lutheran Church-Canada
The other main Canadian Lutheran Church, until 1988 part of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. Its first congregations were established by LCMS missionaries in 1854.

The Association of Free Lutheran Congregations
"A venture of faith...ongoing since 1897," the AFLC (Canada) is a group of conservative, independent, autonomous congregations that co-operate on matters too large for a single congregation. (See also a listing of these congregations on the US AFLC site.)
The Canadian Association of Lutheran Congregations
A Biblical, non-hierarchical association of Canadian Lutherans who gathered together to proclaim the Gospel in 1991.

Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church Abroad
This is the church (formerly called the "EELC in Exile") that escaped the Soviet occupation of Estonia in 1944. It is now the congregations of the EELC in England, Sweden, Germany, the USA, Canada, and Australia.
Latvian Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
Was organized in 1975 by exiles of (then Soviet-occupied) Latvia who had immigrated to the US and Canada. This link is actually to the site of the Latvian Evangelical Lutheran Church in Toronto, one of LELCA's 70 congregations in the US and Canada..
Lithuanian Evangelical Lutheran Church in Diaspora
This small Lutheran Church was formed by exiles from (then Soviet-occupied) Lithuania who had immigrated to the US and Canada.

Colombia
Evangelical Lutheran Church in Colombia
The English site for the Iglesia Evangélica Luterana de Colombia. Independent Lutheran missionaries from the United States first arrived in 1936 and the (Danish-American) United Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (a predecessor of the ELCA) took charge after World War 2. Initially persecuted by the Roman Catholic Church, relations have been generally positive since Vatican II. The IELC organized in 1958 but, partly because of the anti-government guerrilla war since 1948, remains highly dependent on support from Europe and North America. Currently the IELC has 14 congregations and 8 missions.

Guatemala
Lutheran Augustinian Church of Guatemala
This site for the Iglesia Luterana Agustina de Guatemala is bi-lingual English-Spanish. See also the ELCA's Division for Global Mission description of this church founded in 1991 to serve with peoples affected by Guatemala's civil war of 1960-1986.

Haiti
Evangelical Lutheran Church in Haiti
The Eglise Evangelique Lutherienne D'Haiti receives support from the Haiti Lutheran Mission Coordinating Committee. See also the site of the related Haiti Lutheran Mission Society, USA. Formed in 1993, the ELCH has 163 congregations.

Mexico
Lutheran Synod of Mexico
This listing of congregations in the Sinodo Luterano de Mexico is part of the site for All Saints Lutheran Church in Guadalajara, Jalisco.

Peru
Peruvian Evangelical Lutheran Church
The well-done offical site of the Iglesia Luterana Evangélica Peruana is bi-lingual English-Spanish. While Lutherans began immigrating to Peru in the 19th century, the ILEP's beginnings are in work by Lutheran Church in America missionaries in and around Lima beginning in 1963. The ILEP formed in 1990, registered in 1992, and now has 9 congregations plus other "communities of faith."

Venezuela
Evangelical Lutheran Church in Venezuela
While the site for the Iglesia Evangélica Luterana en Venezuela is all in Spanish, they do provide a Google link that translates it into English.

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Europe and the Baltics
Austria
Evangelical Church in Austria
The Evangelische Kirche in Österreich includes both Lutheran (Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession in Austria) and Reformed congregations.

Belgium
Evangelical Church in Belgium
The Evangelisch-Lutherse Kerk in België, with two congregations, joined the International Lutheran Council in 2005.

Czech Republic
The Silesian Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession
The roots of the Slezské církve evangelické augsburského vyznání go back to Luther's age, with the entire region adhering to the Evangelical faith around 1550 with the support of the ruler. A change in rulers brought suppression of the Evangelicals, who were persecuted throughout the 17th Century. The mother church of hte SCEAV was built in 1709, but it would be 80 years before Lutherans were formally "tolerated" by the Austrian Emperor.Since the site is now only in Czech, try a copy of the old English-language site on the Internet Archive.
Czech Evangelical Lutheran Church
Currently with 3 congregations established through efforts begun in 1990 by Thoughts of Faith, a mission society affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Synod in the USA.

Estonia
Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church
Home Page for the Lutherans in Estonia, one of the Baltic Republics once occupied by the Soviets. The Lutheran Reformation was first established in Estonia in 1524, but an Estonian Lutheran church did not formally organize until Estonian independence in 1917. Until then it was organized under the laws of Swedish, and then Czarist Russian, churches.

Germany
United Evangelical-Lutheran Church of Germany (VELKD)
The English-language page for the Vereinigte Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche Deutschlands, which was founded in 1948 as a unification of Evangelical-Lutheran Churches of several German states into one Church. The 8 churches of the VELKD are also part of the EKD fellowship (next listing).

Evangelische Kirche in Deutschland (EKD)
The national body for the Protestant Church in Germany, which is made up of 24 Lutheran, Reformed, and United regional churches. Some of the Lutheran churches are also part of the VELKD (see above listing). Each region (land) of Germany has its own church (landeskirche). Links to each of the EKD churches can be found here. Those for which I've found English sites follow:

Evangelical Church in Berlin-Brandenburg-Silesian Oberlausitz
One of the EKD churches in eastern Germany. The site for the Evangelissche Kirche Berlin-Brandenburg-schlesische Oberlausitz has only a few English-language pages.
Evangelical Lutheran Church in Brunswick
The Evangelisch-lutherische Landeskirche in Braunschweig is an EKD and VELKD church in Brunswick, a region in the state of Lower Saxony in central-eastern Germany. Except for a section on its link with the Blackburn Diocese of the Church of England, the English pages at the web site seem to have disappeared except perhaps from the Internet Archive.
Protestant Church in Hesse and Nassau
You can find English-language pages for the Evangelische Kirche in Hessen und Nassau, an EKD church in the middle of the Federal Republic of Germany, from its main page.
Evangelical-Lutheran Land Church of Mecklenburg
The Evangelisch-Lutherische Landeskirche Mecklenburgs is the EKD and VELKD church in Mecklenburg, which is in north-eastern Germany on the Baltic Sea. Reformation preaching reached Mecklenburg in 1523, but territory didn't become officially Lutheran until 1549. The few English pages are linked on the main page. Landeskirche may be better translated "regional church." The official website is shared with the Pomeranian Protestant Church.
North Elbian Evangelical-Lutheran Church
The English-language section of the website for the Nordelbische Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche "the Church between the Seas" in the north German states of Schleswig-Holstein and Hamburg. One of the VELKD churches, it was formally organized in 1977 with the merger of 3 smaller EKD regional churches.
Evangelical Church of the Palatinate
Thus far the only English-language part of the website for the Evangelische Kirche der Pfalz, an EKD church in south-west Germany, is this genealogical page.
Evangelical Church of Westphalia
The English-language section of the website for the Evangelische Kirche von Westfalen another of the EKD churches in Germany.
The Evangelical-Lutheran Church in Württemberg
Yet another of the EKD (Lutheran) churches in Germany, the English-language section of the site for the Evangelische Landeskirche in Württemberg seems to have disappeared.
The Pomeranian Protestant Church
The Pommersche Evangelische Kirche is the EKD church in Pomerania (the most northeastern region of modern Germany) where the Reformation was implemented in 1534. The few English pages are linked on the main page. The official website is shared with the Land Church of Mecklenburg.

Independent Evangelical Lutheran Church (SELK)
The English-language section of the site of the Selbstëndige Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche, which is made up of confessional Lutheran Churches in Germany that refused to be part of the forced "Prussian Union" of Lutheran and Reformed Churches in the early 19th century. They went independent and faced persecution for decades afterwards. The independent congregations formed the SELK in 1972, and were joined by the "old-Lutheran" congregations of the former East Germany in 1991.

Hungary
Evangelical-Lutheran Church in Hungary
At least as early as 1549, Hungarian towns were adopting Lutheran confessions, though it would be the mid-18th Century before Lutherans organized well enough to have an office of "Superintendent." The current church organization dates to the 1890s. See also the Hungarian Protestantism site for more on Lutherans in Hungary.

Latvia
Evangelical Lutheran Church of Latvia
The web site for the Latvijas Evaņģēliski Luteriskā Baznīca is currently all in Latvian, though it is supposed to have had English pages. The LELB is also in Altar and Pulpit fellowship with the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, though not a part of the International Lutheran Council.

Lithuania
Evangelical Lutheran Church of Lithuania
The web site for the Lietuvos Evangeliku Liuteronu Baznycia now includes several English-language pages. Lutheranism was first established in Lithuania in 1550. This LELB is also in Altar and Pulpit fellowship with the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, though not a part of the International Lutheran Council.

Luxembourg
Protestant Church in Luxembourg
Beginning in 1817 with worship at Trinity Church for the Prussian garrison after the Congress of Vienna, the protestant parish was formally establish by a grand ducal decree in 1894. Now with four parishes, this church confesses both the Augsburg and Helvetian Confessions.

The Netherlands (Holland)
Protestant Church in the Netherlands
On 1 May 2004, the small Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Kingdom of the Netherlands officially united with the Netherlands Reformed Church and the Reformed Church in the Netherlands into one Protestant Church called (in Dutch) de Protestantse Kerk in Nederland. It is also member of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches. The Evangelical Lutherans, who make up about 1% of the PCN's registered members, continue to have their own Synod within the new church to manage certain matters.

Poland
Evangelical-Augsburg (Lutheran) Church in Poland
Suppressed during the Counter-Reformation, the Lutheran Church began to be re-established in Poland (mainly Silesia) in the 18th and 19th Centuries. English-language pages are linked from the church's main page.

Russia
Evangelical Lutheran Church of Ingria in Russia [broken link - try the Internet Archive link]
Ingria is that part of Russia near the Gulf of Finland. First established in the 16th century, nearly destroyed by the Soviets, the Church reaches from the borders of Estonia and Finland to Murmansk. For other looks at the Ingrian Lutherans, look here or here.
District of the Yekaterinburg Evangelical-Lutheran Consistory
Yekaterinburg is a large city on the Asian side of the Ural Mountains. First established in 1773, the Lutheran Church shut down after the Communist revolution, but was re-established in 1989. This district includes three independent congregations in the Russian state of Sverdlovsk.

Slovakia
The Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession in Slovakia
The first Lutheran congregation in Slovakia was established in 1610, when the land was part of the Kingdom of Hungary. The Evanjelickej cirkvi Augsburského vyznania na Slovensku was organized in 1921-22 with the creation of Czechoslovakia. Persecuted by the Communist regime of 1948-1989, the church has since then returned to its previous activities.

Slovenia
Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession in Slovenia
Lutheranism entered Slovenia in the 16th Century, but it was suppressed by the Counter-Reformation except for two parishes in the eastern part of the country, which was under Hungarian administration. The current Evangeličanska cerkev na slovenskem was organized in 1977. Slovenia is one of the republics formerly part of Yugoslavia.

Switzerland
The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Geneva
Organized in 1707 by German merchants, it is now a church with six language-based congregations. The website focusses on the English-Speaking congregation, which is a member of the Federation of Evangelical Lutheran Churches in Switzerland and the Principality of Liechtenstein, whose website seems to be largely inoperable.

Ukraine
Ukrainian Lutheran Church
An indigenous Lutheran Church first established in 1926 when the Ukrainian region of Galacia was part of Poland. Brutally suppressed when the Soviets occupied Galacia in 1939, the church has been re-established since Ukrainian independence. Interesting is that their worship is a Lutheran reformation of the Byzantine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom. See also the very interesting bi-lingual site of the ULC's Saint Sophia Ukrainian Lutheran Theological Seminary.

The United Kingdom
Evangelical Lutheran Church of England
With congregations in England, Scotland, and Wales, this Synod's beginnings are found in German immigrants of the 1890s. The site includes an interesting history of Lutherans in England beginning in the 16th Century.
Synod of German-Speaking Lutheran, Reformed and United Congregations in Great Britain
Die Evangelische Synode Deutscher Sprache in Grossbritannien "is an association of congregations bound by a common Christian confession and in full unity of Word and Sacrament." Its congregations work closely with the Protestant Church in Germany .

Lutheran Council of Great Britain
co-ordinates the activities of the ten different Lutheran churches that have congregations or chaplaincies in the United Kingdom.

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Nordic lands
Denmark
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Denmark
The English-language site for den Danske Folkekirke, which includes Greenland and the Faeroe Islands. Christianity was adopted as the official religion in Denmark in 960. The national Church of Denmark became Lutheran in 1536.
The Evangelical Lutheran Free Church in Denmark
The English page for Den evangelisk lutherske Frikirke, which was established in 1855 (shortly after religious freedom became part of the Danish Constitution) as a reaction to the secularism and rationalism of the state Church of Denmark.

Finland
The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland
The English language site for the Suomen Evankelis-Luterilainen Kirkko, the national Church of Finland. Christianity was established to Finland in 1157, with missionary activity beginning in the early 12th century. The doors to the Reformation were opened by Gustavus Vasa in 1527 (Finland was part of the Kingdom of Sweden), though it would be 1544 before Sweden (and thus Finland) was declared a Lutheran nation. The state church remained Lutheran while Finland was part of the Russian Empire. Since Finnish independence in 1917 the Church of Finland has grown more and more autonomous of the state.
The Confessional Lutheran Church of Finland
The Suomen Tunnustuksellinen Luterilainen Kirkko is a free synod established in the mid-19th Century, with ties to the LCMS since the late 1920s. The only English sections are a study and a group of sermons in englanniksi.
The Lutheran Confessional Church in Finland
The Suomen Luterilainen Tunnustuskirkko organized in 2002, and outgrowth of the Confessional Lutheran Church in Sweden and Norway that began in 1979.

Iceland
The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Iceland
The English web section for Þjóðkirkjan, the national Church of Iceland. Iceland was first settled by Christian Celtic hermits. They were driven away by the Norse settlers, some of whom were Christian. Christianity was adopted as the official religion in the year 1000, 70 years after the Republic was established. The Lutheran Reformation came in 1540, when Iceland was under the Danish crown. While religious freedom was established in 1874, the Evangelical Lutheran Church remained the national church and has continued as such since Icelandic independence in 1944.

Norway
Church of Norway
The English web pages for Den Norske Kirke. Missionary activity in Norway began in the 9th century. While the year 900 is considered the beginning of the Church's establishment, it was the death of King Olav Haraldsson in 1030 the led to the end of the old Norse beliefs. The Evangelical-Lutheran faith was became the official religion in 1537, when Norway was ruled by the Danish kingdom. The Church of Norway remains the state church, with the King as its constitutional head (he appointed parish pastors until 1989), but was granted more autonomy by the Storting (Parliament) in 1981.
Evangelical Lutheran Free Church of Norway
The English web page for Den Evangelisk Lutherske Frikirke, which was established in 1877 to have a church free from state control.
Confessional Lutheran Church of Sweden and Norway
The Norwegian pages of den lutherske bekjennelseskirke, a conservative, free church founded in 1974. See their Swedish site below for their English pages.

Sweden
Church of Sweden
The English Home Page for the Svenska kyrkan. Some older English pages can also be found here. The French Benedictine monk St. Ansgar first preached the Gospel in Sweden in 839, but it would be the year 1000 before Christianity was established well enough for a Swedish king to be baptized. Church and state were first united in 1210 when the first king was crowned by a bishop. Lutheranism began to be cautiously introduced shortly after Gustav Vasa declared an independent Swedish Kingdom in 1523, with the riksdag (parliament) declaring Sweden an evangelical kingdom in 1544 and the Augsburg Confession being formally adopted in 1593. After years of increased autonomy, the Church of Sweden was in most respects separated from the state in 2000. An "open, democratic national church," many church elections are now contested by candidates of political parties.
The Church Coalition for Bible and Confession
The English-language page for the Kyrklig samling kring bibeln och bekënnelsen , an umbrella organization established in 1958 for traditionalist movements within the Church of Sweden.

The Mission Province in the Church of Sweden
An English-language page for the Missionsprovinsens i Sverige, "a free, non-territorial province" seeking to "preserve and carry on the spiritual tradition of the Church of Sweden," offering refuge for orthodox Christians in the increasingly secularized Svenska kyrkan. Formed in September 2003, the Mission Province's first Bishop was consecrated in February 2005. While the MP intends to remain within the Church of Sweden, priests who join are being subjected to removal from office.

Confessional Lutheran Church of Sweden and Norway
The English pages for the Lutherska Bekënnelsekyrkan (LBK), a conservative, free church founded in 1974.

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Africa and the Middle East
Jordan, Israel, and Palestine
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land
Lutheran Germans came to the birthplace of Christianity in the mid-19th Century to support the poor Christian minority through diaconal service and teaching. Pupils in the schools soon began to establish a Lutheran mission church supported by the Evangelical Church in Germany. In 1979 the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan (until the 1967 Six-Day War the Lutheran congregations were all in Jordanian territory) became independent of the EKD by electing the first Palestinian Lutheran Bishop. With headquarters at the Church of the Redeemer right next to Church of the Holy Sepulchre (the site of Jesus' borrowed tomb) ELCJHL includes congregations in Jordan, Israel, and Palestine.
Augusta Victoria Hospital
Overlooking the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem, this hospital is the primary medical facility serving the Palestinian population in Israel and Palestine. Built in 1907 by Kaiser Wilhelm II as a pilgrim's hospice, Augusta Victoria Hosspital is a heaelth care institution of the Lutheran World Federation.

Ethiopia
Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus
With missionary activity begun by Swedish Lutherans in 1866, the EECMY was established by the merger of several Lutheran and Reformed missions in 1959. Also a member of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches, the EECMY has experienced rapid growth in the last decade.

Kenya
Evangelical Lutheran Church in Kenya
The ELCK was organized in 1958 following mission work by an independent Swedish mission begun 10 years earlier. Since 2004 this church has also been in full fellowship with the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod, and in 2007 joined the International Lutheran Council.
Kenya Evangelical Lutheran Church
The Kenya Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania was begun in 1956 to care for Tanzanian Lutheran immigrants. The smaller of two Lutheran church bodies in Kenya, the KELC became independent in 1992.

Liberia
Lutheran Church in Liberia
The first Lutheran missionary affort in Africa was established in Liberia in 1860 by American Lutherans whose vision was to work among the indigenous population rather than the Americo-Liberians that other Christians concentrated on. First organized in 1947, the LCL was reorganized under indigenous Liberian leadership in 1965. Current Bishop Sumoward Harris, then an LCL pastor, was attending a US seminary with Pastor Zip when Liberia's civil war broke out.

Madagascar
Malagasy Lutheran Church
Norwegian missionaries first came to Madagascar in 1866. Norwegian-American Lutherans quickly joined in the efforts and, despite harsh conditions and an uncooperative French colonial government, the faith began to take hold. The Malagasy Lutheran Church became an indepent church body in 1950 and became the first "nmission field" church to join the Lutheran World Federation. One of the fastest growing churches in the world, its extensive health department, SALFA , has a web presence.

Sierra Leone
Evangelical Lutheran Church in Sierra Leone
The ELCSL was founded by indigenous lay Christians in 1988. While the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America helped guide the young church, the first missionary pastor was from the Lutheran Church of Christ in Nigeria, with additional supervision of the Lutheran Church in Liberia. The ELCSL ordained its first pastors for this war-torn nation in 1996 and installed its first Bishop in 2003.

South Africa

Free Evangelical-Lutheran Synod in South Africa
Official site for FELSISA, which was established in the 1890's by German colonists.
The United Evangelical Lutheran Church in Southern Africa
The UELCSA was established as a union of 3 German-speaking Lutheran bodies in South Africa and Namibia in 1964.
Evangelical Lutheran Church in Southern Africa (Natal-Transvaal)
The ELCSA (N-T) was established in 1981, a latest result of various mergers of German-speaking Lutheran churches first established by German missions in the mid-18th Century.
The United Evangelical Lutheran Church in Southern Africa (Cape)
The ELCSA (Cape) was organized in 1895 by congregations of German immigrants who started arriving near the Cape mainly in the 1850s, though German Lutherans had been settling in the Dutch (and therefore Reformed) Cape Colony since its beginnings 200 years earlier. Most of its congregations now worship in Afrikaans or English.

Evangelical Lutheran Church in Southern Africa
An unofficial personal Web Site for the largest of the Lutheran Churches in South Africa, with information about other Lutheran Churches in Southern Africa.

Tanzania
Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania
Official site for the Lutheran Church in the Land of Kilimanjaro, officially formed in 1963, but which really began in the mid-19th Century through the efforts of German, Swedish, and (beginning after World War 1) American (Augustana Synod -- a Swedish-American predecessor of the ELCA) Lutheran missionaries. Makumira University College is the ELCT's theological college and seminary. In 2004 the Tanzanian Bishops issued the important Bukoba Statement on globalization, human sexuality, and AIDS.

Uganda
The Lutheran Church of Uganda
Formed in 2004, this church describes itself as "a small and friendly Christian congregation which happily engages in the old historic mission." It seems to relate to LCMS World Mission and has had connections with the Lutheran Orthodox Church.

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Asia, Australia, and Oceania
Australia
Lutheran Church of Australia
The LCA is an associate member of both the LWF and the ILC. Its roots are in German immigrants fleeing the Prussian Union, first arriving in Australia in 1838. Other German Lutheran immigrations ocurred in the 1840s. A combined synod of Lutheran churches met in 1846, but split over doctrine. The first of several synods in Australia was finally established in 1856. Pastors from the US Missouri Synod's seminary began serving in Australia in 1880. Australia suppressed the German-language during World War 1, seriously hurting the Lutheran churches and schools. Lutherans, who had been gathered into 2 synods since 1926, started growing again after World War 2. In 1966 the 2 synods merged into today's LCA.
Australian Evangelical Lutheran Church
An independent synod formed by conservative, confessional Lutherans "dedicated to the true teachings spelled out in God's Word, the Bible" who left the LCA in 1992 apparently over disagreement with its ecumenical directions.

China
Evangelical Lutheran Church of Hong Kong
Formally organized in 1954, the ELCHK history begins with Lutheran missionaries to China in the late 19th century who helped form the Chinese Lutheran Church in 1920. Christian missionary activity collapsed in the 1940s, though some native Lutherans and missionaries were able to escape to Hong Kong to continue working there. See also the website for the Lutheran Theological Seminary of the ELCHK, the Chinese Rhenish Church, the Tsung Tsin Mission, and the Taiwan Lutheran Church.
The Lutheran Church-Hong Kong Synod
Missionaries from the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod had been evangelizing in China since 1915. In 1949, after the Communist takeover, the missionaries continued to serve refugees in Hong Kong and gradually an independent synod was established.

India
United Evangelical Lutheran Church in India
The official website for this communion of eleven Lutheran church bodies in India. Lutheran missionary work began 300 years ago. The UELCI was founded as the Federation of Evangelical Lutheran Churches in 1926, which fucussed on theological education at Gurukul Lutheran Theological College. In 1974 the federation re-organized to strengthen the witness and service of Lutheran Churches. The site is including good descriptions of its member churches

The Tamil Evangelical Lutheran Church
One of the UELCI churches, Tamil Suvesesha Lutheran Thiruchabai was organized in 1919. The church's history goes back to 1706, when the Royal Danish Mission began work here. German missionaries took over in 1841. They were joined by Swedish missionaries in 1848, who in 1901 organized the first diocese that would lead to the TELC's formation.

Japan
Japan Evangelical Lutheran Church
This church was first organized in 1898 when it was being served by Lutheran missionaries from the US and Finland.
Japan Lutheran Church
Begun by Missouri Synod missionaries in 1948, the JLC became independent about 25 years ago. The Japan Lutheran Hour is its radio ministry.
Lutheran Evangelical Christian Church of Japan
Starting with missionary efforts in the late 1950s by the Wisconsin Synod, the LECC organized as a self-governing church body in 1965 and now has 9 congregations.

Korea
The Lutheran Church in Korea
The Home Page is currently in Korean only, however some of the links across the top of the page will give you bi-lingual (Korean-English) pages. This page tells a bit about the church, established as an LCMS mission in 1958 and organized in 1971 as the sole Lutheran synod in Korea.

Malaysia
Basel Christian Church of Malaysia
Missionaries of the Basel Mission Society (protestants Switzerland, France, Austria, and Germany) began working in China in 1846. In 1882, Chinese laborers evagelized by the Basel Mission began immigrating to British-ruled Borneo and immediately established a church. Thanks to growth led by Chinese Chiristians, the Borneo Basel Self-Established Church was organized in 1925 and was renamed the BCCM in 1964 after the independent nation of Malaysia was formed.
Lutheran Church in Malaysia and Singapore
Formed in the 1950s as a result of missionary work of US Lutherans among Chinese people in Malaya.

New Zealand
Lutheran Church of New Zealand
Lutheran missionaries first arrived in New Zealand in 1843, but those efforts didn't bear fruit. But German immigrants established a congregation that same years, and more immigration in the 1860s from Germany and Scandinavia enabled this small church to spread across the area. A district of the Lutheran Church in Australia, the church in New Zealand is beginning to develop a more independent identity.

Singapore
Lutheran Church in Singapore
An independent national church since 1996 that arose from the Lutheran Church in Malaysia and Singapore (see above).

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Pastor Zip's Lutheran Web Links Page CHECK OUT Pastor Zip's Christian Web Links Page

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Pr. Steven Paul Tibbetts, STS
Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church
1534 S. Easton Avenue
Peoria, IL 61605-3407
(309) 637-9150
pastorzip@mac.com

Copyright © 1996-2008 Steven P. Tibbetts. All rights reserved.
Pastor Zip's Christian Web Links created -- 2 December 1996
Pastor Zip's International Lutheran Web Links branched -- 30 December 2000
Last Revised -- 16 February 2008

URL: http://homepage.mac.com/przip/internationallinx.html