Our Three Expressions

When the ELCA was formed in 1987, it was set up as a church in three "expressions" - congregation, synod and churchwide. Each expression of the church assembles - the congregation each Sunday, the synod each year and churchwide every two years.

And, these expressions were set up to be interrelated and not complete without each other. In each, the community assembles and, at times, the members of that community vote. Hence the terms assembly and voting member (rather then convention and delegate or representative). Churchwide was also deliberately chosen rather than national since, among other reasons, our church includes congregations in the Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Bahamas and Bermuda.

ELCA Secretary Lowell Almen states it far better than I can ...“This church shall seek to function as people of God through congregations, synods, and the churchwide organization, all of which shall be interdependent. Each part, while fully the church, recognizes that it is not the whole church and therefore lives in a partnership relationship with the others.” more>
- ELCA Secretary Lowell Almen


Quoted from Reflections on life and ministry by the Rev. Eric C. Shafer, Senior Pastor, Trinity Lutheran Church, Lansdale, Pennsylvania - www.trinitylansdale.com