| Pennsylvania Ministerium | |
|---|---|
 Seal of the Pennsylvania Ministerium | |
| Classification | Protestant |
| Orientation | Lutheran |
| Associations | General Synod (1820–1823; 1853–1864) General Council (1867–1918) |
| Region | In and near Pennsylvania |
| Founder | Henry Melchior Muhlenberg (1711–1787) |
| Origin | August 26, 1748 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Merged into | United Lutheran Church in America (1918) |
| Other name(s) | German Evangelical Lutheran Ministerium of North America (1748–1792) German Evangelical Lutheran Ministerium of Pennsylvania and Adjacent States (1792–1918) |
The Pennsylvania Ministerium was the first Lutheran church body in North America. With the encouragement of Henry Melchior Muhlenberg (1711–1787), the Ministerium was founded at a Church Conference of Lutheran clergy on August 26, 1748. The group was known as the "German Evangelical Lutheran Ministerium of North America" until 1792, when it adopted the name "German Evangelical Lutheran Ministerium of Pennsylvania and Adjacent States".
The Pennsylvania Ministerium, also referred to as the Ministerium of Pennsylvania, was the source of the first Lutheran liturgy in America. Because of its unique place in the history of North American Lutheranism, the Ministerium continued to influence the church politics of Lutherans in America into the 20th century.[1]
- ^ See Lowell Almen, One Great Cloud of Witnesses: You and Your Congregation in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1997) pp. 38–40