What is the LCMS?
The Lutheran Church Missouri Synod (LCMS) is an international organization of Lutheran Christians numbering about 2.5 million. In 1997, the LCMS celebrated its 150th anniversary. The name Missouri is part of the name because when the synod was formed over 150 years ago, it brought together Lutherans in Missouri and the states surrounding Missouri, and at that time other Lutheran synods in the United States were usually named after the state or states in which they were located. An earlier version of the name was The Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Missouri, Ohio, and Other States, but it was shortened to its present form because it was referred to as the Missouri synod in popular use. Perhaps the organizers of the synod should have had a greater vision of how the synod would one day grow to international dimension, but you know how things often work when people are picking names. One of the strengths of the LCMS is its willingness to take a stand for what it believes. We hold to the Bibl
