The history of the Lutheran Church of Australia is the sequence of events related to divisions, mergers and affiliations of Lutheran church organisations from the time

Lutheranism Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched th ...

first arrived in Australia, to the time of unification of the two main synods in 1966.

First Lutheran body in Australia (Kavel-Fritzsche Synod)

The first Lutherans to come to Australia in any significant number were immigrants from Prussia, who arrived in 1838 with

Pastor A pastor (abbreviated as "Pr" or "Ptr" , or "Ps" ) is the leader of a Christian congregation who also gives advice and counsel to people from the community or congregation. In Lutheranism, Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy and ...

August Kavel. This period in

Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an ...

was marked by a persecution of

Old Lutherans Old Lutherans were originally German Lutherans in the Kingdom of Prussia, notably in the Province of Silesia, who refused to join the Prussian Union of churches in the 1830s and 1840s. Prussia's king Frederick William III was determined to uni ...

who refused to use join the Prussian Union under King Frederick Wilhelm III. On 23 and 24 May 1839, Kavel convened a meeting of the elders of the three Prussian settlements at Klemzig, Hahndorf, and

Glen Osmond Glen Osmond is a suburb of Adelaide, South Australia in the City of Burnside which is in the foothills of the Adelaide Hills. It is well known for the road intersection on the western side of the suburb, where the South Eastern Freeway (National ...

. At this meeting, the

constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When these princ ...

of the new Australian Lutheran synod was adopted. In 1841, a second wave of Prussian immigrants started. with the arrival of Pastor

Gotthard Fritzsche Gotthard Daniel Fritzsche (20 July 1797 – 26 October 1863)The gravestone has birthdate as 20 June 1797, not July ("''Geboren'' 20. Juni 1797"). was a Prussian-Australian pastor who became instrumental in furthering that religion in South Aust ...

. They settled in

Lobethal Lobethal is a town in the Adelaide Hills area of South Australia. It is located in the Adelaide Hills Council local government area, and is nestled on the banks of a creek between the hills and up the sides of the valley. It was once the centr ...

and Bethanien.

Division into Immanuel Synod and Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Australia

Relations with the earlier Prussian settlers was initially quite harmonious; however this soon changed. In 1842, Kavel, in an attempt to consolidate the settlers into one localized community, strongly urged the settlers in the early settlements at Klemzig and Hahndorf to relocate to the newly settled Langmeil. Many of the settlers in these towns refused, and an underlying tension arose between these communities and Kavel. At the synodical gatherings of 1844 and 1845, the subject of millennialism was discussed. Kavel who had developed millennialistic views, was preaching on the subject. Fritzsche disagreed with millennialism, and had the subject discussed at these gatherings. No resolution was reached by the end of the synod in 1845. This disagreement between the two pastors divided the Lutheran community. In 1846, Kavel released a proclamation regarding the power of civil government in the church. Kavel specifically pronounced disagreements with the

Lutheran Confessions ''The Book of Concord'' (1580) or ''Concordia'' (often referred to as the ''Lutheran Confessions'') is the historic doctrinal standard of the Lutheran Church, consisting of ten credal documents recognized as authoritative in Lutheranism since ...

, favoring instead statements made in the 1838 church constitution. Fritzsche explicitly disagreed with Kavel, affirming the Confessions over the constitution. As a result, the divide between the followers of Fritzsche and of Kavel intensified. At the synodical gathering at Bethany, on 16 and 17 August 1846, the most significant event took place. The subject of millennialism was once again brought up, and as the discussion became heated, Kavel and his followers left the synod. They went to nearby Langmeil and had their own synod gathering there, while the remainder continued with their synod. The followers of Kavel formed the Immanuel Synod, and those of Fritzsche, the Evangelical Lutheran Synod of South Australia. The latter was renamed as the Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Australia (ELSA) in 1863. After Kavel's (1860), and Fritzsche's (1863) deaths, the Immanuel Synod, and the ELSA were able to reconcile some of their differences. This resulted in a "Confessional Union", but not an organizational merger.

Evangelical Lutheran Church of Australia

The ELSA continued to coexist independently with the other Lutheran synods until 1966. It underwent a name change in 1944, to the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Australia (ELCA). One group broke away from the ELSA in 1904, and became a district of the

Evangelical Lutheran Joint Synod of Ohio The Evangelical Lutheran Joint Synod of Ohio and Other States, commonly known as the Joint Synod of Ohio or the Ohio Synod, was a German-language Lutheran denomination whose congregations were originally located primarily in the U.S. state of Ohio ...

. This group called themselves the Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Australia ''auf alter Grundlage'' (ELSA a.a. G) (''auf alter Grundlage'' being German for "on old basis").

Lutherans in Victoria

In 1856, a new independent synod, the Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Victoria (ELSV), with Pastor Matthias Goethe serving as president, was founded to serve the Lutheran congregations in

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

General Synod and the Immanuel Synod

In 1860, the year of Kavel's death, a group broke away from the Immanuel Synod. This break away group developed a union with the ELSV that was called the Evangelical Lutheran General Synod (General Synod). In 1874, the Immanuel Synod also developed an affiliation with the ELSV. The ELSA was opposed to the practice of ELSV calling non-Lutheran pastors, so the Confessional Union they had with Immanuel Synod was dissolved. With this event the Immanuel Synod renamed themselves the Evangelical Lutheran Immanuel Synod (ELIS). The ELIS in 1884 broke ties with the General Synod, due to this same practice of calling non-Lutheran pastors. When this event occurred in 1884, a small group from the ELIS choose not to break away, and they organized as a separate synod named the Evangelical Lutheran Immanuel Synod ''auf alter Grundlage'' (ELIS a.a. G).

Lutherans in Queensland

In 1885, two Lutheran groups formed in

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , establishe ...

, namely, the Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Queensland (ELSQ) and the United German-Scandinavian Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Queensland (UGSELSQ). The ELSQ was initially independent, but joined the General Synod in 1889. The UGSELSQ was also independent at first but merged with the ELIS in 1910.

United Evangelical Lutheran Church in Australia

After

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...

was put into the hands of the Australian government. As part of this, a large number of German missionaries were to be transferred to the control of Australian churches. This issue is cited as a major reason for the formal amalgamation in 1921 of all the independent synods affiliated in the General Synod and the ELIS. The new organization was known as the United Evangelical Lutheran Church in Australia (UELCA). The ELSA a.a. G, which had continued to operate independently since they formed in 1904, merged with UELCA in 1926.

Merger of UELCA and ELCA into the Lutheran Church of Australia

On 27 August 1956, the UELCA and ELCA both adopted the ''Theses of Agreement'', which set the stage for the merging of the two organizations. The final merge occurred in

Tanunda, South Australia Tanunda is a town situated in the Barossa Valley region of South Australia, 70 kilometres north-east of the state capital, Adelaide. The town derives its name from an Aboriginal word meaning ''water hole''. The town's population is approximately ...

, at a joint synod held on 29 October to 2 November 1966. The merged organization was named the

Lutheran Church of Australia The Lutheran Church of Australia (LCA) is the major Lutheran denomination in Australia and New Zealand. It counts 540 congregations and 30,026 members according to official statistics. It was created from a merger of the Evangelical Lutheran Chu ...

(LCA). In 1973, the Lutheran Church of Australia published its first hymnal, the ''Lutheran Hymnal'', revised in the mid-1980s into the present hymn book, the ''Lutheran Hymnal with Supplemen''t.

References

* �
Guide to Compiling a Connection Report for Native Title Claims in Queensland October 2003
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Native Title and Indigenous Land Services
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Records from the following Lutheran Churches
, Lutheran Church of Australia Archives *
Synod Diagram
, Lutheran Church of Australia Archives (Good diagrammatical representation. Nomenclature varies) *

Wilhelm Iwan Wilhelm Iwan, author, historian, and Lutheran theologian lived from 1871 until 1958. As a historian, he documented the 19th century exodus from Kingdom of Prussia, Prussia (Germany) to America and Australia by a group who sought religious freedom ...

, ''Because of their beliefs: emigration from Prussia to Australia'' niform title: Um des Glaubens willen nach Australien (Engl.), 1931 David Schubert (trl. and ed.), Highgate, South Australia: H. Schubert, 1995. . *

, ''Die altlutherische Auswanderung um die Mitte des 19. Jahrhunderts'': 2 vols. (i.e. The Old Lutheran Emigration at the Middle of the 19th Century), Johann-Heß-Institut Breslau (ed.), Ludwigsburg: Eichhornverlag Lothar Kallenberg, 1943
vol. II (list of emigrants)
Retrieved 25 February 2016.