Pennsylvania Ministerium

The Ministry of Pennsylvania (from 1781 with the addition: An Ev Luth Ministry in North America, 1792. . The German Evangelical Ministry in Pennsylvania and Adjacent States) was no ministry in the modern sense, but the first Lutheran church body in North American ground. (Latin minister, servant ', so here in the sense of servant ' or ' servant of God Office ')

The Ministry was formed on 15 Augustjul. / August 26 1748greg. under the direction of Henry Melchior Muhlenberg in Philadelphia founded on the model of the German clergy ministries of pastors of the United Congregations. It took kirchenaufsichtliche functions such as the publication of Liturgy and Hymns, ordination and visitation, first in Pennsylvania, but then also in neighboring colonies along the North American east coast.

While initially only the clergy could become a member, the constitutional amendment of 1792 allowed under Justus Henry Christian Helmuth also the deployment of lay delegates. At the same time the name was changed because the meantime had also established a Ministry of New York.

1820 belonged to the Ministry, which retained the name, even if it now had more of the character of a synod, the founders of the General Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the United States, one of the predecessor institutions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

Was founded in 1864 by the Ministry, the Lutheran Theological Seminary of Philadelphia.

The name became extinct in 1962 with the formation of the Synod of East Pennsylvania Lutheran Church in America (Eastern Pennsylvania Synod, LCA).