The International Lutheran Council (ILC) is a worldwide association of confessional Lutheran denominations. Member bodies of the ILC hold "an unconditional commitment to the Holy Scriptures as the inspired and infallible Word of God and to the Lutheran Confessions contained in the Book of Concord as the true and faithful exposition of the Word of God." The member church bodies are not required to be in church-fellowship with one another, though many of them are.
The organization was constituted in 1993 at a council held in Antigua, Guatemala, although it traces its roots back to theological conferences held in various locations during the 1950s and 1960s. It is to be distinguished from the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) and the Confessional Evangelical Lutheran Conference.
The council has 59 participating churches as of 2022. Among its larger members are the Malagasy Lutheran Church (5.3 million members), the Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod (LCMS 1.6 million members ), the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Brazil (243,093 members), and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Kenya (350,000 members). Altogether, approximately 7,150,000 adherents belonged to ILC member churches in 2018, with other churches such as the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Latvia (250,000 members) and the Evangelical Lutheran Synod Church of South Sudan and Sudan (150,000 members) being added to the ILC in 2022–2024.
The council's chairman is Bishop Juhana Pohjola of the Evangelical Lutheran Mission Diocese of Finland. The executive secretary is Albert B. Collver III of the LCMS. Delegates to the ILC meet every two years.
The organization has not accepted the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification, an agreement reached by the Catholic Church's Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity (PCPCU) and the Lutheran World Federation, in 1999. However, the ILC has been involved in dialogue with the PCPCU, with a final report released on 30 November 2021.
In recent years, several churches affiliated with the LWF have expressed interest in building closer ties to or applying for membership in the ILC due to its traditional theological viewpoints, which has caused the LWF to completely sever ties with the ILC.
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History
The origins of the ILC go back to a meeting at Uelzen, Germany, in July 1952 by Lutherans who were not happy with the theological course being taken by the Lutheran World Federation. Among the participants were delegates from the LCMS who had been observers at the LWF assembly in Hannover. Other delegates were present from churches affiliated with the LCMS from Germany, Australia, Denmark, and the United Kingdom. Two further meetings were held, in Oakland, California, in 1958 and in Cambridge, England, in August 1963. At the latter meeting it was decided to create a permanent organization, a "Continuation Committee", to act for the group in between meetings, which were now dubbed International Lutheran Theological Conferences. The committee was also tasked with publishing a theological journal and a committee bulletin, and with facilitating exchanges of pastors, theological professors, and students. However, the meeting explicitly disclaimed it was founding a group in opposition to the LWF.
Five more "theological conferences" were held until the name was shortened to International Lutheran Conference at the Eighth Conference in Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. Resolutions passed during this period described the ILC as a partnership, forum, or "group of independent Lutheran churches". At the Fifteenth Conference in Antigua, Guatemala, the group decided on creating a more formal structure as an association of churches and adopted a set of Guiding Principles that would serve as a constitution and theological point of reference. The "Continuation Committee" was replaced by an "Executive Council".
At the 2018 World Conference meeting, held in Antwerp, Belgium, on 25–26 September 2018, the ILC voted to admit 17 new church bodies, 11 as full members and 6 as associate members. This increased the church members of ILC to 54 and their faithful to 7.15 million members.
At the 2022 World Conference meeting, the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Latvia was accepted as a full member. It had already been accepted as an observer member in February 2022.
Chairmen
1993–1995: Edwin Lehman, Lutheran Church – Canada
1995–1998: Leopoldo Heimann, Evangelical Lutheran Church of Brazil
1998–2007: Ralph Mayan, Lutheran Church – Canada
2007–2010: Gerald B. Kieschnick, Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod
2010–2022: Hans-Jörg Voigt, Independent Evangelical-Lutheran Church, first as interim chairman, and since September 20, 2012, as regular chairman
2022–present: Juhana Pohjola, Evangelical Lutheran Mission Diocese of Finland
World Conferences
The organization has held a number of conferences over the years.
Members
By country in alphabetical order
Full members
Argentina
Evangelical Lutheran Church of Argentina (Iglesia Evangélica Luterana Argentina)
Belgium
Evangelical Lutheran Church in Belgium (Evangelisch-Lutherse Kerk in België)
Benin
Lutheran Church in Africa—Benin Synod
Bolivia
Christian Evangelical Lutheran Church of Bolivia (Iglesia Cristiana Evangélica Luterana de Bolivia) - also a member of the Global Confessional and Missional Lutheran Forum
Brazil
Evangelical Lutheran Church of Brazil (Igreja Evangélica Luterana do Brasil)
Canada
Lutheran Church – Canada
Chile
Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Republic of Chile (Iglesia Evangélica Luterana de la República de Chile)
China (Hong Kong SAR)
Lutheran Church-Hong Kong Synod (香港路德會)
China, Republic of (Taiwan)
China Evangelical Lutheran Church (中華福音道路德會)
Ethiopia
Ethiopian Evangelical Lutheran Church
Denmark
Associate members
Indonesia
Indonesian Lutheran Christian Church - also a member of the Global Confessional and Missional Lutheran Forum
Peru
Evangelical Lutheran Church - Peru (Iglesia Evangélica Luterana - Perú) - also a member of the Global Confessional and Missional Lutheran Forum (Note: this is not the same Lutheran denomination as Iglesia Evangélica Luterana en el Perú, known as Christuskirche, member of the Lutheran World Federation).
Rwanda
Lutheran Mission in Africa—Synod of Thousand Hills
South Africa
St. Peter Confessional Lutheran Synod of South Africa
South Sudan
South Sudan Evangelical Lutheran Church
Taiwan
The Lutheran Church of the Republic of China - also a full member of the Lutheran World Federation
Turkey and Bulgaria
Istanbul Lutheran Church
Additionally, there exist multiple churches which though not yet members of the ILC but have been allowed as guests within ILC conferences, including the Cambodia Lutheran Church, the Myanmar Lutheran Church, and the Lutheran Brethren – Japan. There are also several churches that are not yet in the ILC but are in full altar-pulpit fellowship with multiple active ILC member churches or have been established by ILC-affiliated churches, including the fast growing Confessional Lutheran Church in Angola and the Concordia Lutheran Church in Mozambique, born out of LCMS and IELB missionary efforts, and the The Union of Independent Evangelical Lutheran Congregations in Finland, which is in full communion with the Finnish Mission Diocese.
Former members
The Lutheran Church of Australia and the Japan Lutheran Church were removed from associate membership on March 21, 2025, due to their failure to adhere to the doctrinal position of the ILC. In particular, both churches had decided to allow the ordination of women into the pastoral office.
The Lutheran Ministerium and Synod – USA was a member, but that church body is no longer active.