EVANGELICAL SYNOD OF NORTH AMERICA, a Protestant church dating from Oct. 1840, and known, in its early years, as the German Evangelical Church Association of the West. It was formed under the leadership of missionaries from the mission institutes of Basle and Barmen who were engaged in pioneer work in Missouri and Illinois. The original organization was strengthened in 1858 by amalgamation with the German Evangelical Church Association of Ohio, and later by the inclu sion of the German United Evangelical Synod of the East (186o), the Evangelical Synod of the North-West (1872) and the United Evangelical Synod of the East (1872). The church bases its posi tion on the Bible as interpreted by the symbols of the Lutheran and Reformed churches so far as they are in agreement, points of difference being left to "that liberty of conscience which pre vails in the Evangelical Church." The church, which has I,197 ministers and 350,000 communicant members, is divided into dis tricts, with officers responsible to the General Synod, which meets every four years. There are boards for home and foreign missions, the latter operating chiefly in the Central Provinces of India and in Honduras, C.A. The literature of the church is in German and English, chiefly the latter.