The seal of the “English District” is a two-trunked sycamore tree, with inter-twining branches. They have worked in and with Missouri Synod. Their faith, goals and organization is one. Above the District Seal are the following words, “Justified by Faith.” That is their message.

The English District is one of the 35 districts of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. It is unique however, in that it is one of two non-geographical districts of the Synod. By non-geographical they mean the District’s congregations are not located in designated geographical areas or states or sections of the country. Rather they are found throughout 17 states and the Canadian province of Ontario. The District has 165 congregations and ministries, with a combined membership of approximately 70,000. They also have close to 70 member schools ranging from day care through high school.

The English District has opened more new missions than any other district of the Synod and continues to do so today! Currently they are working in French in Montreal, Korean in New York and Pennsylvania, Eritrean in Toronto, Chinese in San Francisco, Asian Indian in Chicago, and Spanish in Cleveland, Milwaukee, Los Angeles, and Arizona. The District also works with campus ministries, deaf ministries and cooperatively with many geographic districts.

English Channels is the English District's paper. Congregations supply the news, especially people stories of ordinary men and women doing "extraordinary" things as they live out their faith in today's world ... stories of young people giving a Christian witness to their peers and elders, as they serve their Lord in a variety of ways ... and, of course, news of installations, dedications, celebrations, special events, etc. English Channels is published 10 times a year..

A Brief History

At one time the English District was an independent Lutheran Synod in North America, organized in 1888 as the "English Synod of Missouri." Its history goes back to colonial times.

In the early days of Lutheranism in the United States, the Henkels, a prominent Lutheran family, provided pastoral leadership for the church in Virginia. The family was concerned about Lutheran confessional teaching. In 1851, the Henkel family published the first English edition of the Book of Concord, the Lutheran Confessions. Members of the family were responsible for establishing several synods of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. One of those synods, the Tennessee Synod, was organized in 1820 by Pastor Paul Henkel. The Tennessee Synod believed firmly in the authority of God's Word. It insisted on strong catechetical training within the congregations.

Immediately after the American Civil War, Pastor Polycarp Henkel, grandson of founding patriarch Paul Henkel, served as pastor of Zion Church, Gravelton, Missouri. The leaders of the Tennessee Synod learned of the existence of the Missouri Synod, a strong confessional synod headed by Dr. Carl F. W. Walther, with headquarters in St. Louis. Tennessee Synod pastors and laymen in Missouri invited Dr. Walther to meet with them. In August of 1872, representatives of the German Missouri Synod met with the pastors and congregations of the Tennessee Synod at Zion in Gravelton. Dr. Walther presented sixteen theses that expressed the confession of the Missouri Synod. While the theses were in English, the discussions were conducted both in German and English since the Tennessee Synod members did not speak German. As a result of the meeting "The English Lutheran Conference of Missouri" was organized. In 1888 the English Conference of the Tennessee Synod in Missouri was organized as a separate synod, the English Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Missouri and other States. However, the new English Synod continued attempts to become a part of "The German Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Missouri, Ohio, and Other States."

Finally in 1911, the English Synod was accepted into the German Missouri Synod as a non-geographic district. The English Synod of Missouri did not want amalgamation, but it did want to be part of the Missouri Synod because of its confessional and scriptural Lutheran stance.

When the union of the two synods was effected, the sainted Dr. Harry Eckhardt, then President of the English Synod of Missouri, said, "We come here to join ranks with you and march with you, hand in hand, shoulder to shoulder, bearing farther and farther, into the world of lost sinners the one saving Gospel, whether it be by means of the German language or the English or any tongue, just so it be the old Gospel. We have been in one faith. Now we are one in organization. May we ever be one and inseparable."

The English District
The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod

33100 Freedom Road
Farmington, MI 48336
Office: (248) 476-0039
Fax: (248) 476-0188

Sunday Services

8400 Park Avenue, Allen Park, Michigan, 48101 U.S.A.  |  Phone: (313) 381-2080  |  Fax: (313) 381-9903
Copyright © 2011 Angelica Lutheran Church. All Rights Reserved.
Contact the Church  |  Site Map

 

Worship at 8 AM & 11 AM
Sunday School at 9:30 AM
Bible Study at 9:30 AM

Christian Talk & Classical Music