Lutheran Church in America. Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod

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The Ministerium of Pennsylvania and Adjacent States (MOP) was founded in 1748, as the Ministerium of North America. Established under the guidance of Henry Melchior Muhlenberg, it was the first centralized governing body of the Lutheran church formed in North America. Through MOP, a common liturgy was established as well as a means of educating American clergy. It also helped in forming numerous institutions and services in the Pennsylvania area, including The Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia in 1864. MOP remained an important governing body until the 400th anniversary of the Reformation in 1918, when it was absorbed by the newly formed United Lutheran Church in America, consisting of the Lutheran Church bodies in Eastern America, the General Synod, the United Synod of the South and the General Council (of which the Ministerium of Pennsylvania was a member church). Then, in 1962, the United Lutheran Church in America joined with the American Evangelical Lutheran Church, the Augustana Lutheran Church, and the Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Church in America to form the Lutheran Church in America (LCA).

Out of MOP and the Lutheran Church in America grew the Eastern Pennsylvania Synod, which consisted of both the southeastern and northeastern districts of Pennsylvania until 1968. That year the Eastern Pennsylvania Synod was divided into two distinct synods, the Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod, including Philadelphia and Bucks, Chester, Delaware and Montgomery counties, and the Northeastern Pennsylvania Synod, which includes the area from the Delaware River to Sullivan County and from the Lehigh Valley and the Reading area to the border of New York state.

Dubbed “the ‘church father’ of Lutheranism in the United States” (Gritsch, p. 175), Henry Melchior Muhlenberg was sent by the German Halle Foundation in 1742 to organize the Lutheran church in America (Schmank, p. 28). Upon arrival, he noticed “...Lutherans in English America had been so long without ecclesiastical supervisors and pastors that their faith had weakened, education lagged and heterodox opinions flourished... they turned for leadership to unscrupulous vagabonds, Tailors and schoolmasters who assumed ministerial powers, causing confusion and division among their charges through their theological ignorance and scandalous lives” (Riforgiato, p. 77). In short, Muhlenberg found the Lutheran church in America in a state of disunity and in need of organizational and liturgical guidance. To this end, he and several other Lutheran leaders created the MOP in 1748, to provide an overarching governing structure and leadership, and means of educating Lutheran ministers.

Muhlenberg was also an influential cultural leader with contact to colonial dignitaries such as Benjamin Franklin, other religious leaders such as George Whitfield, and the Hanoverian court in London. Married in 1745 to Anna Maria Weiser, daughter of Conrad Weiser, Pennsylvania’s principal go-between with the Lenape, Muhlenberg was not only a formidable figure in his own right, but was the progenitor of what became in effect a German-American dynasty of high-level public officials. His three sons, all trained to be pastors, won fame in politics science, and academia. Peter rose to major general of the Continental Army (receiving the commendation of George Washington), was elected Vice President of Pennsylvania and for four terms, served in Congress; Friedrich, also a member of Congress, was elected first Speaker of the House; and Gotthilf excelled in botany and, as president of Franklin College (now Franklin and Marshall College), vigorously promoted American higher education.

From the guide to the Ministerium of Pennsylvania records, Bulk, 1748-1962, 1657-1980, (Lutheran Archives Center at Philadelphia)

The Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod (SEPA) of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America was established in 1968 as a collaborative partnership of congregations, institutions, rostered leaders and lay leaders in the territory of Southeastern Pennsylvania. According to its mission statement, SEPA “…oversee[s] the life and ministry of this church in this territory so that: the gospel of Jesus Christ is proclaimed; the witness of congregations is strengthened; people receive healing, justice and mercy; and the unity that our lord envisioned for the church is realized.” Its ministries include disaster relief, care for the elderly, youth programs and efforts to fight poverty, especially hunger and homelessness. SEPA was the most recent collaboration of Lutheran congregations and other institutions in the region after a series of district divisions and territory mergers throughout the eighteenth, nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Previously, the area covered under SEPA was part of the Eastern Pennsylvania Synod and before that, the Ministerium of Pennsylvania.

The Ministerium of Pennsylvania and Adjacent States (MOP) (1748-1962), originally called the Pennsylvania Ministerium and the Ministerium of the North, was the earliest Lutheran church body in North America. It was established at a German American Lutheran clergy meeting in 1748, with the support of Henry Melchior Muhlenberg, a German Lutheran missionary. The MOP served as a uniting force between churches and helped in establishing Lutheran institutions and services in the Pennsylvania area. Most notably it established the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia in 1864 and the Philadelphia City Mission in 1899, which sent chaplains to institutions like hospitals and prisons, to help people who were otherwise unable to attend religious services.

Throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries the trend towards unifying the Lutheran Church through the formation of increasingly larger governing bodies continued, and the MOP and two other ministeriums joined to form the General Synod in 1820. The MOP left the General Synod in 1864 to join another conglomeration of regional church bodies, the General Council.

Although the MOP only ceased to exist after the formation of the Eastern Pennsylvania Synod in 1962, which took its place, its significance as a governing body ended after the celebration of the 400th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation in 1918. At this celebration three Lutheran Church bodies in Eastern America, the General Synod, the United Synod of the South and the General Council, united to form the larger governing body, the United Lutheran Church in America. In 1962, the United Lutheran Church in America joined with the American Evangelical Lutheran Church, the Augustana Lutheran Church and the Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Church in America to form the Lutheran Church in America (LCA). Then, in 1988, the Lutheran Church in America joined with the American Lutheran Church and the Association of Evangelical Lutheran Churches to form the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). ELCA remains an active church body today, in 2010.

The Eastern Pennsylvania Synod (1962-1968) was an active synod within the Lutheran Church of America. The Synod consisted of the both the Southeastern districts of Pennsylvania and the Northeastern districts of Pennsylvania until 1968. In 1968, the Eastern Pennsylvania Synod was divided into two distinct synods, the Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod, which included Philadelphia, Bucks, Chester, Delaware and Montgomery counties, and the Northeastern Pennsylvania Synod, which included the area from the Delaware River to Sullivan County and from the Lehigh Valley and the Reading area to the border of New York State.

From the guide to the Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod records (1968-), with records of the Eastern Pennsylvania Synod (1962-1968) and the Ministerium of Pennsylvania (1748-1962), Bulk, 1950-1979, 1805-2002, (Lutheran Archives Center at Philadelphia)

Role Title Holding Repository
Relation Name
associatedWith Evangelical Lutheran Ministerium of Pennsylvania and the Adjacent States. corporateBody
associatedWith Lutheran Church in America. corporateBody
associatedWith Lutheran Church in America. Eastern Pennsylvania Synod. corporateBody
associatedWith Muhlenberg College. corporateBody
associatedWith Muhlenberg, Henry, 1753-1815 person
Place Name Admin Code Country
Pennsylvania
Subject
Abortion
Church committees
Occupation
Activity

Corporate Body

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