General Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the United States. Board of Foreign Missions

See General Synod 16 Administrative History.

See GS 15/4, Administrative History.

See GS 15 Administrative History.

See also: Administrative History, Board of Foreign Missions, General Synod (GS 16/2).

In 1873 the missionaries of the General Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the United States of America (General Synod) in the area of Guntur, India, organized a Mission Conference (frequently called the General Conference) in order to transact business on the field. The field itself was referred to sometimes as the India Conference of the General Synod, sometimes as the American Evangelical Lutheran Mission.

Membership in the conference was open to all male missionaries and single women missionaries. Missionary wives were not included. Officers were president, vice-president, recording secretary, corresponding secretary, and treasurer (with the treasurer's position originally combined with that of president). Both men and women were eligible for office. Presidents who can be determined from the available minutes are as follows: Erias Unangst, 1890-1893; Lemon L. Uhl, 1895-1897, 1901, 1908-1911; Luther B. Wolf, 1902-1907; John Aberly, 1912-1915, 1917-1918.

A separate conference was formed for the Zenana (Women's Work). This membership included all of the women missionaries and missionary wives.

It is not clear from the records how often the Mission Conference met in the earliest days. There are printed reports from 1875 (which include a narrative history of the mission until that point) and an 1885 printed report of the Zenana Conference. Beginning in 1890, there are annual printed report booklets, with the Zenana Conference reports included.

In 1918 the General Synod, along with the General Council of the Lutheran Church in North America (General Council), and the United Synod South merged and became the United Lutheran Church in America (ULCA). At that time the Guntur work of the General Synod and the Rajahmundry work of the General Council were combined and placed under the Board of Foreign Missions of the ULCA. For later information on the work that began with the General Synod and General Council in India, see ULCA 19/7, LCA 16/6, LCA 28/6, and the sub-groups of each.