GERMAN EVANGELICAL SYNOD OF NORTH AMERICA, THE. A Church organ ized October 15, 1840, when six German minis ters doing missionary work in Missouri and Illinois met at Gravois Settlement, Mo., and formed the 'German Evangelical Association of the West.' Most of its early ministers had been ordained in the Evangelical Church of Prussia, some had been sent out by the Basel and other missionary societies, and a large number of the members of their congregations had been attached to the United Evangelical Church in their native land. Other Evangelical unions were organized in other parts of the country, and in time were united with this one; the 'German Evangelical Church Association of Ohio' in 1858, the 'Ger man United Evangelical Synod of the East' in 1860, and the 'Evangelical Synod of the North west' and the 'United Evangelical Synod of the East' in 1872. As these unions were effected the name of the Church was changed to 'Evangelical Synod of the West' in 1866, and the 'German Evangelical Synod of North America' in 1877. The doctrinal position of the Church, as defined in the declaration in its constitution (section 2), is that it "considers itself a part of the Holy Chris tian Church, and as such does acknowledge the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments as the only true and infallible guide of faith and life, and accepts the interpretation of the Holy Scriptures given in the symbolical books of the Lutheran and Reformed churches in so far as they agree. In all points of difference the Evan gelical Church refers to and abides by the words of the Holy Scriptures, availing itself of that liberty of conscience which, as a component part of the basis of man's ultimate responsibility to God Himself, is the inalienable privilege of every believer." The chief governing body is the Gen eral Synod, which meets every four years, and is composed of pastoral, lay, and teacher dele gates, chosen by the district meetings. The Church is divided into seventeen districts, which have charge of local affairs, with officers responsi ble to the General Synod or its president. The work of home missions, carried on under super vision of the various district boards and the General Board for Home Missions, and aided by the Church Extension Fund, covers ninety-five fields, and is supported at an annual expenditure of from $18,000 to $22,000. The foreign-mission
work is under the charge of a separate board, and includes, in the Central Province of India, 4 principal stations, 27 minor stations, 23 schools, and an asylum for lepers, with 4291 Church members and 1137 pupils, and 373 orphans cared for. The mission employs 107 persons, and the expenditure upon it in 1900-01 was $25,494. The institutions of learning comprise the Proseminar, at Elmhurst, Ill., and Eden Theological Semi nary, Saint Louis, Mo., which provide courses of four years for teachers and seven years for theological students. The charitable institutions are: Six orphan homes, five deaconesses' homes, an emigrant mission at Baltimore, Md., pro vision for superannuated ministers and for wid ows and orphans of deceased ministers and teach ers, hospitals, etc. In 1900-01 the synod had 922 ministers, 1153 congregations, 203,574 com municants, 10,144 teachers and 100,177 scholars in Sunday schools, 486 parochial schools, and aggregate annual contributions for the propaga tion of the Gospel of about $95,660. Provision for supplying the Church with its own literature is made at Eden Publishing House, Saint Louis, Mo. Until recently the literature has been all in German. To meet the rapid Anglicization of the children of the Church, the publication of periodicals and the preparation of books in Eng lish has been entered upon. Among the books in English already published are a large hymnal, Sunday-school hymns, catechisms, question-books, text-books, and elementary works. The peri odicals of the synod are: Der Friedensbote (week ly) ; Der Deutsche Missionsfreund (monthly) ; Magazin fur evangelische Theologie and Kirche ; The Messenger of Peace (month ly) ; Evangelical Companion (monthly) ; and children's and Sunday - school periodicals—all published at Saint Louis, Mo.
Consult: Schory, Geschichte der deutschen evangelischen Synode von Nord-Amerika (Saint Louis, 1889) ; Behrendt, Die Ileidenmission der deutschen evangelischen Synode von, ka (Saint Louis, 1901) ; Hermann Baltzer, Adolf Baltzer, Ein Lebensbild ans der deutschen evan gelischen Kirche Nord-Amerikas ; the Festschrift zur Erinnerung an das goldenc Jubillinnz des evangelischen Prediger-Seminars, 1850-1890, has historical value.