American Lutheran Church (1930)

{{Short description|Defunct Christian denomination in the United States}}

{{for|the successor church body of the same name|American Lutheran Church}}

{{Infobox Christian denomination

|name = American Lutheran Church

|image =

|imagewidth =

|caption =

|main_classification = Protestant

|orientation = Lutheran

|theology = Confessional Lutheran

|structure = National synod, middle level districts, and local congregations

|leader =

|headquarters = Columbus, Ohio

|founder =

|founded_date = 1930

|founded_place =

|separated_from =

|merger = Joint Synod of Ohio, Iowa Synod, and Buffalo Synod

|absorbed =

|separations =

|merged_into = American Lutheran Church (1960)

|associations =

|area = United States and Canada

|congregations = 1,961 (1959)

|members = 1,002,015 (1959)

|other_names =

|ministers = 2,156 (1959)

|footnotes =

}}

The American Lutheran Church (ALC) was formed in 1930 from the merger of the three conservative Lutheran synods of German-American origin: The Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Iowa and Other States (Iowa Synod), established in 1854; the Lutheran Synod of Buffalo, established in 1845; and the Evangelical Lutheran Joint Synod of Ohio and Other States (Joint Synod of Ohio), established in 1818 from the Ministerium of Pennsylvania. The headquarters of the ALC were in Columbus, Ohio, which had been the headquarters of the Joint Synod of Ohio, the largest of the three synods.

In 1960, the ALC merged with the Evangelical Lutheran Church, which was of Norwegian-American origin, and the United Evangelical Lutheran Church, of Danish-American origin, to form a new body that was also named the American Lutheran Church. After the merger the original ALC was informally referred to as the "old American Lutheran Church" or the "first American Lutheran Church" to distinguish it from the later body, while the second was often referred to as "The American Lutheran Church" (or TALC), with a capital "T" in the definitive article.

In 1959, just before its merger into the TALC, the ALC had 2,156 pastors, 1,961 congregations, and 1,002,015 members.{{cite web|title=American Lutheran Church (1930-1960)|url=http://www.thearda.com/Denoms/D_1298.asp|work=American Denomination Profiles|publisher=Association of Religion Data Archives|accessdate=October 31, 2015|archive-date=November 1, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151101042711/http://www.thearda.com/Denoms/D_1298.asp|url-status=live}}