National Lutheran Council. Division of American Missions. Dept. of Church in Town and Country.

The National Lutheran Council (NLC) was formed on September 6, 1918 as a common agency of participating Lutheran church bodies to administer domestic programs, publicize Lutheran activities and beliefs, and provide overseas emergency relief to areas devastated by World War I. In 1945, under the NLC Division of American Missions, an Office of Rural Church Life was formed to address the problem of overlapping Lutheran parishes in rural areas; promote cooperative Rural Church Life Conferences and make available pertinent findings from these conferences; interpret the strategic importance of rural life to the church as a whole; and study.

Educational, economic, and social trends in rural areas. The program, renamed and organized as the Department of Church in Town and Country in 1958, was directed by E.W. Mueller from 1946-1966. Giles C. Ekola served as his assitant secretary.