National Lutheran Council. Division of Welfare. Lutheran Resettlement Service.

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. By the 1940s, the NLC expanded and reorganized its program through the creation of divisions, departments, commissions, and bureaus. Its Division of Welfare was first established as a Department in 1940 and a Division in 1946. Under the Division, the Lutheran Resettlement Service was established as a program to assist in the settlement of immigrants.

Arriving in the U.S. under the Displaced Persons Act of 1948. Cordelia Cox directed the program. At the termination of the Act in 1952, approximately 37,000 Lutheran sponsored refugees were in the U.S. In 1953, the Lutheran Resettlement Service was replaced by Lutheran Refugee Service, a joint agency of the NLC and LC-MS.

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