As we gathered on Founders’ Day, we Proclaim the Wonders God Has Done. It is by God’s grace that the Evangelical Lutheran Synod has survived to this centennial year. We tell the history not to laud ourselves but to praise the Triune God who has sustained us. It is the Lord God who has washed…

A custom within the old Norwegian Synod was to regard October 14 as Founders’ Day. Over the years, many church dedications and special events took place on that day. The ELS which was reorganized in 1918 has carried on this tradition. We will yet observe that tradition next Sunday as a public testimony that the ELS,…

The president of Bethany Lutheran College also served as the president of Bethany Lutheran Theological Seminary until 1976. At that time, the first full-time president was installed for the seminary. In the following years, two separate and newly erected buildings (one in 1978; the other in 1997) have housed the seminary. The location of the…

The opening service for Bethany Lutheran Theological Seminary was conducted on September 24, 1946. Five students were enrolled during the first year. Norman A. Madson, Sr., the first dean of the seminary wrote, “Our own seminary is no longer merely a child of our fond desires, but has become a living reality.” The seminary shared…

During this centennial year, the ELS holds dear the fellowship which we have with the member church bodies throughout the world in the Confessional Evangelical Lutheran Conference (CELC). The thirty-two church bodies consist of about 500,000 souls. The Rev. Gaylin Schmeling, of the ELS, currently serves as the president of the CELC, being elected at its latest…

The Synodical Conference came to a close after the ELS and the WELS separated from the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod over the doctrine of church fellowship. In 1993 efforts by the ELS and the WELS to form a new international organization of fellowship came to fruition in what today is known as the Confessional Evangelical Lutheran…