Norwegian Lutheran Church of America. Board of Foreign Missions.

See also ELC 4 Administrative History.

Initial interest in China mission work stemmed from the work of Norwegian missionary Ole Syverson Nestegaard. One church that became particularly interested was Hauge's Norwegian Evangelical Lutheran Synod in North America (Hauge Synod). It brought the question of establishing its own mission in China before its 1890 annual meeting. The church was not prepared to undertake the work, but several interested parties talked of forming a missionary society for Norwegian Americans interested in such work.

At that same meeting, the Norwegian Evangelical Lutheran China Mission Society (CMS) was created by twenty-five laymen and pastors. In 1891, the Hauge Synod decided to develop its own work in China, independent of the CMS. Support for the CMS was taken over by United Norwegian who adopted it as its own mission work in 1904. Hauge Synod mission work in China began in 1891 with the creation of its Board of China Missions.

The last of the NLCA/ELC predecessor churches to enter the China field was the Synod for the Norwegian Evangelical Lutheran Church in North America (Norwegian Synod). It began its China work in 1912. Its first missionary, the Rev. George Lillegaard, was sent to China in the fall of 1912. In 1917 these three synods merged to form the Norwegian Lutheran Church in America. At the time of the merger, the three China mission fields merged to form the Lutheran United Mission (LUM).

After the Communist takeover in 1949, the NLCA missionaries in China, like missionaries from other churches, were forced to leave the mainland. Missions were established in Hong Kong and later Taiwan. The NLCA/ELC did not have its own separate mission work in these locations, but instead coordinated efforts with other overseas Lutheran churches working in the region.