| The Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod |
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The LCMS logo (2020) |
| Abbreviation | LCMS |
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| Classification | Protestant |
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| Orientation | Confessional Lutheran |
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| Polity | Synodical/modified congregational |
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| Structure | National synod, 35 middle level districts, and local congregations |
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| President | Matthew C. Harrison |
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| Altar and pulpit fellowship | American Association of Lutheran Churches
Evangelical Lutheran Church of Latvia |
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| Associations | International Lutheran Council |
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| Region | United States, especially in the Upper Midwest. |
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| Headquarters | Kirkwood, Missouri |
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| Founder | C. F. W. Walther |
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| Origin | April 26, 1847
Chicago, Illinois |
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| Separated from | German Landeskirchen |
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| Absorbed | Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Illinois and Other States (1880)
Evangelical Lutheran Concordia Synod of Pennsylvania and Other States (1886)
English Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Missouri and Other States (1911)
Synodical Conference Negro Mission (1961)
National Evangelical Lutheran Church (1964)
Synod of Evangelical Lutheran Churches (1971) |
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| Separations | Orthodox Lutheran Conference (1951)
Lutheran Churches of the Reformation (1964)
Association of Evangelical Lutheran Churches (1976),
Evangelical Lutheran Church of Brazil (1980)
Evangelical Lutheran Church of Argentina (1986)
Lutheran Church–Canada (1988) |
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| Congregations | 5,914 |
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| Members | 1,708,125 baptized
1,354,684 confirmed |
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| Primary schools | 822 |
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| Secondary schools | 99 |
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| Tax status | IRS 501(c)(3) organization |
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| Tertiary institutions | 2 seminaries, 7 colleges and universities |
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| Other name(s) | German: Die Deutsche Evangelisch-Lutherische Synode von Missouri, Ohio und andern Staaten
German Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Missouri, Ohio, and Other States |
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| Publications | The Lutheran Witness
Reporter |
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| Official website | lcms.org |
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The Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod (LCMS), also known as the Missouri Synod, is an orthodox, traditional confessional Lutheran denomination in the United States. With 1.7 million members as of 2022 it is the second-largest Lutheran body in the United States, behind the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). In 2025, Pew Research Center estimated that 1 percent of US adults, approximately 2.6 million people, identified with the LCMS and evangelical Lutheranism in contrast with 2 percent, or approximately 5.2 million people, who identified with the ELCA and mainline Lutheranism. as The LCMS was organized in 1847 at a meeting in Chicago, as the German Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Missouri, Ohio, and Other States (German: Die Deutsche Evangelisch-Lutherische Synode von Missouri, Ohio und andern Staaten), a name which partially reflected the geographic locations of the founding congregations.
The LCMS has congregations in all 50 U.S. states and two Canadian provinces, but over half of its members are located in the Midwest. It is a member of the International Lutheran Council and is in altar and pulpit fellowship with most of that group's members. The LCMS is headquartered in Kirkwood, Missouri, a suburb west of St. Louis and is divided into 35 districts—33 of which are geographic and two (the English and the SELC) non-geographic. The current president is Matthew C. Harrison, who took office on September 1, 2010.
