ELCA family history - 1900s

American Lutheran Developments in their Historical Context -- Some Major Landmarks

Social & Scientific Developments	Year	Lutheran Events
Congress establishes civil government for Puerto Rico. Albert Schweitzer is ordained. Zeppelin passes its first test flight.	1900	The Church of the Lutheran Brethren in America is founded and centered in the Midwest.
Clara Maas, one of the first five graduates of the nursing school at Newark German Hospital, dies at 25, the only woman and the only American, to give her life in the research that demonstrated the manner of propagation of yellow fever.	1901
Women in Australia gain the right to vote. U.S. Supreme Court states Congress can ignore Indian treaties when in the interest of the nation. Caruso makes the first vocal music recording.	1902	The Slovak Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Augsburg Confession in the U.S.A. is founded. Its name later is changed to the Synod of Evangelical Lutheran Churches (SELC) and in 1970 it merges into the Missouri Synod as the SELC District.
Wright brothers fly successfully at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. F. Melius Christiansen begins directing the St. Olaf Lutheran Choir.	1903	Two African-American colleges open -- Immanuel in Concord, N.C., and Lutheran College in New Orleans.
	1904	Under what tragic circumstances were almost 1,000 members of St. Mark Lutheran Church, New York City, lost in one afternoon?
Einstein publishes his Special Theory of Relativity.	1905
Roald Amundsen determines the position of the magnetic North Pole. Major earthquake does extensive damage in San Francisco.	1906	In Philadelphia, Sister Marie Roeck, concerned with the effects of tuberculosis, opened the Kensington Dispensary for the Treatment of Tuberculosis. River Crest, a large farm near Philadelphia, served as a center for preventing tuberculosis. These facilities provided the beginnings for what today is Ken-Crest Centers.
	1907	Finnish-born pastor V.W. Rautinen arrives in Calumet, Michigan. During his tenure there the copper strike of 1913-14 took place, in which he and other members of the Finnish community made vital contributions to the society. The full story is told as a case history in the Factory building. Howard Gold is called as the nation's first Lutheran campus pastor in Madison, Wisconsin.
"Gentleman's Agreement" restricted immigration of Japanese laborers into U.S. Federal Council of Churches is established.	1908	Who was the first African-American deaconess?
Ecumenical movement begins to grow. Stravinsky composes The Firebird.	1910	The Board of Deaconess Work opens the first specialized school to prepare women for full-time service in the church, affiliated with the Baltimore Motherhouse. More than 1,000 women would train at the school for service in parish work, Christian education, health and welfare services.
Titanic sinks.	1912	Alabama Lutheran Academy and College opens in Selma. Rosa Young opens a private school for African-Americans in Rosebud, Alabama.
California law makes it illegal for "aliens ineligible for citizenship" to own property. Since a 1790 federal law granted naturalization only to White immigrants, Asian immigrants were barred from owning land.	1913
World War begins, and the U.S. becomes a world power. Gandhi returns to India.	1914
First Gershwin tune published: "When You Want 'Em, You Can't Get 'Em; When You've Got 'Em, You Don't Want 'Em."	1916
Puerto Ricans become citizens of the U.S.	1917	How did Lutheran ministry with Hispanics in Texas begin?
Mount Wilson telescope is completed. World-wide influenza epidemic strikes, kills 22 million people. U.S. population is 103.5 million.	1918	Why did five different inter-Lutheran endeavors culminate in 1917-1918? The Norwegian Synod of the American Evangelical Lutheran Church is established. The Lutheran Free Church begins publishing Lutheran Messenger. Maud Powlas becomes a missionary teacher in Japan, is followed a year later by her sister Annie.
Peace Conference at Versailles opens. First experiments conducted with short-wave radio.	1919	The Slovak Evangelical Lutheran Zion Synod, organizes the Slovak congregations otherwise without synodical affiliation. It is received as a non-geographical synod of the United Lutheran Church in America in 1920. The Rev. F. A. Neumeister, missionary in Sinton and Woddsboro, Texas, starts conducting worship services at the Mellenbruck farm for Mexicans in San Juan, using interpreters. Mary Markley (1881-1945) becomes first woman secretary with the ULCA Board of Education, assigned to administer religious work with college students. First position of its type in an American church.
Herman Rorschach devises the inkblot test. League of Nations is established in Geneva. Earthquake in China kills 200,000. 19th Amendment to the Constitution gives women the vote in U.S.	1920
	1921	Lutheran Social Services of South Dakota is established as an orphanage under the direction of Bertha Bragsted by the Norwegian Lutheran Synod.
Soviet states form the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (U.S.S.R.) Sound films developed. Insulin first given to diabetic patients. Reader's Digest is founded.	1922	The Evangelical Lutheran Good Samaritan Society is born. In 75 years it becomes the nation's largest nonprofit provider of long-term health care and retirement living services, with 240 facilities in 26 states. Lutheran university students vote into existence the Lutheran Student Association of America, now known as the Lutheran Student Movement-USA. Sister Emma Francis is consecrated in New York.
George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue debuts. Ku Klux Klan conclave in Indianapolis draws 200,000. Hitler's Beer Hall Putsch fails.	1923	Lutheran World Convention, the first international, inter-Lutheran organization, held its first meeting in Eisenach Germany. Many Americans participate. Later, during World War II, American support keeps the organization going. What made Jesus Cantu's baptism special?
	1925	Martin Luther Home Society is founded at Sterling, Neb., to serve individuals with developmental disabilities and other special needs.How many people are served by this agency today?
Immigration Act passed which curtailed and rendered nearly impossible any immigration from non-European countries. Filipinos were exempted from these restrictions because they were residents of a U.S. territory. Germany is admitted to the League of Nations.	1926	Who was the first Puerto Rican president of the ULCA's Caribbean Synod?
Charles A. Lindbergh flies solo across the Atlantic. On the radio, the Duke Ellington Orchestra was heard direct from the Cotton Club. Grandma Moses begins painting full-time.	1927	The United Evangelical Lutheran Church (UELC), a Danish group, begins publishing in English theAnsgar Lutheran.
Alexander Fleming discovers penicillin. First scheduled TV broadcasts are produced in New York.	1928
Stock Market Crash on "Black Friday" signals the beginning of a world economic crisis.	1929	The Finnish Apostolic Lutheran Church of America is organized.
First supermarket opened. Planet Pluto is discovered. Name of Constantinople changed to Istanbul.	1930	What two organizations with the same acronym started in the same year?
Empire State Building is completed.	1931	The new American Lutheran Church Board of American Missions took responsibility for Mexican Missions, which became the Commission of Mexican Missions; pastors serving such missions now spoke Spanish.
President Roosevelt introduces the "New Deal." Adolf Hitler is appointed chancellor in Germany and granted dictatorial powers.	1933
Tydings-McDuffie Act restricts immigration from the Philippines to 50 people annually.	1934
Roosevelt signs U.S. Social Security Act. Germany introduces "Nuremberg Laws" against Jews. Will Rogers, Cherokee, dies in plane crash.	1935
Hindenberg crashes. Delawares (in Oklahoma) finally recognized as an Indian tribe by U.S. government.	1937	ULCA joins Faith and Order Commission. True Light Lutheran Church, New York City, is founded as the first Asian Lutheran congregation in America by The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod.
Kristallnacht begins anti-Jewish pogroms in Germany.	1938	Anne Carlsen becomes a teacher at the Good Samaritan Society Crippled Children's School.
Gone With the Wind film is made. Nylon stockings appear.	1939
First successful helicopter flight takes place in U.S. Hemingway writes For Whom the Bell Tolls. Seminoles refuse to register for the draft; they are technically still at war with the U.S. Walt Disney Studios produce the film Fantasia.	1940	Lutheran World Action is coined as fundraising campaign slogan; in 1944 it becomes an ongoing appeal administered by the National Lutheran Council for overseas relief. What was the logo of LWA?
Japan bombs Pearl Harbor. Citizen Kane hits the box office. McMillan and Seaborg discover plutonium.	1941	Lutheran Hymnal, LCMS worship book, is published. The National Lutheran Council establishes a Service Commission to provide chaplaincy services to the armed forces. E. Theodore Bachmann marries Mercia Brenne.
President Roosevelt signs Executive Order 9066, authorizing the incarceration of Americans of Japanese ancestry during World War II. First sustained nuclear reaction at Manhattan Project after Fermi splits the atom.	1942
Italy declares war on Germany after Mussolini is dismissed.	1943	ALC invites the ULCA and LCMS to pulpit and altar relations; the ULCA says yes.
Vietnam declares itself independent of France. First jet airplanes become operational.	1944
Truman becomes president. First atomic bomb detonated in New Mexico. Dietrich Bonhoeffer is martyred after a failed attempt to assassinate Hitler. World War II ends.	1945	Founding of Lutheran World Relief, the inter-Lutheran agency that aided in reconstruction after World War II and continues to respond on behalf of American Lutherans to crises around the world. NLC forms Division of American Missions. Arthur Carl Piepkorn serves as senior chaplain of the U.S. occupational forces in Germany.
Xerography process is invented by Carlson. Benjamin Spock publishes Baby and Child Care. Churchill gives his "Iron curtain" speech. Church World Service begins its work, later becomes a part of the National Council of Churches.	1946	Sister Anna Ebert, former directing deaconess of the Philadelphia Motherhouse, becomes the first woman president of Diakonia, a world federation of deaconess groups.
Puerto Ricans allowed to elect their own governor. India becomes independent and is partitioned into India and Pakistan. Dead Sea scrolls are discovered at Wadi Qumran. Sound barrier broken in first supersonic flight. Jackie Robinson becomes a Brooklyn Dodger, breaking the color barrier in professional baseball. Transistor is invented in Bell Laboratory.	1947	Where was the first assembly of the Lutheran World Federation held? After World War II, the ALC Luther League and Women's Missionary Society were involved in Mexican mission. A church was built in Elsa, Texas; a newspaper,El Mansajero Luterano, was published; and a Bible school organized for training lay workers. Lutheran Vespers radio ministry begins broadcasting. Go to the Media Center in the village to learn more about Lutheran Vespers'ministry. The Associates in Diaconal Service is started as a volunteer ministry sponsored by the Deaconess Community of the ULCA. The program is to become the Diaconal Year Program in the ELCA. Mildred Winston publishes her second book, Women, A Resource in the Church.
Jewish state of Israel is established, first war occurs between Israel and the Arab states over Palestine. Mahatma Gandhi is assassinated in India.	1948	World Council of Churches is established. Cordelia Cox becomes first woman to head a major U.S. Lutheran agency as director of Lutheran Immigration.
Luis Munoz Marin inaugurated as first elected governor of Puerto Rico. First credit card. Mao Tse-tung declares People's Republic of China.	1949
National Council of Churches is founded. Senator McCarthy begins Anti-Communist hearings. Korean War begins.	1950	The Rev. David Orea Luna is the first Lutheran pastor ordained in Mexico. He is called to the church in Mexico City. The Rev. Rene Gonzalez was installed at the first Lutheran church built in Mexico, in Tapachula. Who were the first Asian Americans ordained by ELCA predecessor churches?
Einstein dies. Color television is introduced in U.S.	1951	Carl E. Lund-Quist (1908-1965), an American Lutheran pastor, becomes the second Lutheran World Federation General Secretary, serving until 1960. The Orthodox Lutheran Conference is formed.
P.R. adopts a constitution and becomes a commonwealth. First contraceptive pill is introduced.	1952	Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary in Berkeley, Calif.,founded in 1950, accepted its firststudents.
Elizabeth II crowned queen in England. Eisenhower becomes president in U.S. Sir Edmund Hillary and party climb Mt. Everest. Dag Hammarskjold becomes U.N. Secretary General. Stalin is succeeded by Malenkov and Kruschev.	1953
Nasser seizes power in Egypt. Brown vs. Board of Education ends legal segregation in schools. Disneyland opens in California. Dien Bien Phu is taken by the Vietminh.	1954	The Caribbean Synod is started by the United Lutheran Church in America, joining congregations in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. The first president was Eduardo Roig.
Salk vaccine brings polio under control. Elvis Presley has his first hit record. On December 1, Ms. Rosa Parks refuses to give up her seat on a bus to a white passenger and is arrested for violating a Montgomery, Ala., law against desegregation.	1955	Where was Pastor Paul Nakamura born?
Hungarian Revolution is suppressed by Soviet troops. Nasser seizes control of Suez Canal. First nuclear power plant built in U.S. First transatlantic phone cable is laid.	1956	Joint Commission on Lutheran Unity is formed. Eric Modean is saluted as "Dean of the Lutheran Press Corps" by his journalist colleagues.
Term "Beat" introduced by Kerouac in On the Road. Mau-Mau revolt occurs in Kenya. Federal troops enforce integration of Little Rock, Arkansas, public schools.	1957	Evangelical Lutheran Synod is started. What other major North American Lutheran church is founded the same year? The Lutheran World Federation meets in the U.S. for the first time in Minneapolis. Chrismon ministry started by Frances Spencer at Ascension Lutheran Church, Danville, Virginia.
Egypt and Syria form United Arab Republic. U.S. launches satellite Explorer I. John XXIII becomes Pope.	1958	Service Book and Hymnal is published and used by the church bodies that will merge in 1960 and 1962. C.P. Harry, "Father of the U.S. Lutheran Student Movement," dies.
Alaska and Hawaii become 49th & 50th states. Frank Lloyd Wright builds Guggenheim Museum. Four-year Cuban Revolution comes to an end.	1959
U.S. launches first weather satellite. 16 African nations become independent. U2 flight intercepted, Powers jailed in U.S.S.R. Ruth Youngdahl Nelson is named Church Woman of the Year (becomes Mother of the Year in 1973).	1960	The American Lutheran Church is founded by merger of the UELC (1896), the ALC (1930) and the ELC (1917). Who is its first president? The Canada District of the American Lutheran Church is formed. In 1966 it becomes the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Canada, a separate autonomous church. Lutheran churches first start providing pension and health benefit plans. Church of the Lutheran Confession is formed.
Berlin Wall is built. Second Indochinese War begins, lasts until 1975. Kennedy becomes president, establishes the Peace Corps. Yuri Gagarin becomes first human in space. Joseph Sittler publishes The Ecology of Faith.	1961	The Department of Welfare, National Lutheran Council, begins first work relating to refugees. Lutheran Refugee Service, is established also under auspices of the National Lutheran Council and later adds immigration services. It is continued under Lutheran Council in the U.S.A., and became a separate agency after LCUSA ended in 1987.
Second Vatican Council opens in Rome. John Glenn becomes first astronaut to orbit earth. U.S. blockade of Cuba begins, U.S.S.R. withdraws Cuban missiles aimed at U.S. Andy Warhol paints Marilyn Monroe.	1962	The Lutheran Church in America results from a merger of the Augustana Church (1860), the AELC (1872), the Suomi Synod (1890) and the ULCA (1918).Who is its first president? Lutheran-Reformed Dialogue begins. Association of Free Lutheran Congregations is formed.
Nuclear test ban treaty is signed. President Kennedy is assassinated Freedom Marchers, 200,000 in number, demonstrate in Washington.	1963	The Lutheran Free Church (1897) joins the ALC (1960). The LCA establishes a long-range program of Parish Education, producing markedly different curricula. Lutheran Social Services of Minnesota is the first Lutheran agency to have a budget of $1 million. Eiichi Matsushita begins 21 years of service with LCA's Board of American Missions.
Joint U.S.-P.R. commission to study Puerto Rico's relationship with U.S. "Beatlemania" sweeps the U.S. Civil Rights Act is passed. First woman in space Zanzibar and Tanganyika unite to form Tanzania.	1964	Lutheran colleges show growth in numbers of students. Statement on Race Relationships is passed in LCA. Rebellion brews in LCMS.
Immigration Act abolishes the national quota system established in 1924 and permits up to 20,000 people per country to immigrate annually, beginning the second surge of Asian immigration. Malcolm X is killed in New York. COCU -- Consultation on Church Union begins.	1965	What major ecumenical dialogue series begins? Wilson Wu is ordained by LCA and begins work in Monterey Park, Calif. His congregation organizes in 1968 as Faith Lutheran Church, first Asian Lutheran congregation in what is now ELCA.
Indira Gandhi takes office in India. U.S. build-up in Vietnam is protested around the world in "International Days of Protest." Buckminster Fuller introduces his geodesic sphere.	1966	Lutheran Church and Indian People (LUCHIP) begins convening annually to bring Lutherans together to discuss better ways of advancing and supporting the churches' mission among Native Americans. Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada is established. Task Force on Justice and Social Change is formed in LCA. Inter-Lutheran Commission on Worship formed to plan new worship book. The deaconess motherhouses in Philadelphia, Omaha and Baltimore merge to form the Deaconess Community of the LCA.
Puerto Rico votes to remain a commonwealth. Six Day War between Israel and Arab nations when Israel occupies the West Bank, Sinai and Jerusalem. First successful heart transplant	1967	What happens to the National Lutheran Council? Lutheran-Episcopal Dialogue begins.
Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy are assassinated Vietcong Tet offensive forces President Johnson not to run for reelection.	1968	Formation of Association of Concerned Black Clergy by pastors of LCA, ALC and LCMS.
Neil Armstrong becomes first human to land on moon. Woodstock music fair attracts 300,000 people to farm in upstate New York. Large demonstrations in many cities oppose the war in Vietnam. Navajo Community College opens as first Indian-controlled college.	1969	LCMS convention in Denver elects J.A.O. Preus as president and approves altar and pulpit fellowship with ALC. At the invitation of Augustana College, Sioux Falls, S.D., E.W. Mueller sets up the Center for Community Organization and Area Development, an experimental research center for rural ministry.
Four students killed during Vietnamese war protest at Kent State University. Flood kills 500,000 people in East Pakistan.	1970	Why is this woman smiling? ALC adopts provisional use of the title bishop. ALC and LCA conventions also received and approved the report of the six-year-old inter-Lutheran confirmation commission that recommended separating confirmation from first Communion, allowing children to commune at earlier ages and allowing confirmation instruction to take place at later ages. Who was Eugene Crawford?
Greenpeace founded in Vancouver, Canada. Idi Amin becomes ruler in Uganda. Pocket calculator comes on the market. Marc Chagall paints Circus with Jugglers.	1971
"Jesus Christ Superstar" is produced on Broadway. President Nixon visits China. Terrorists murder 11 Israeli Olympians in Munich. CAT scan is used for medical diagnoses.	1972	Lutheran-Episcopal dialogue produces its first publication. LCA does a "Study of Generations."
Allende is overthrown in Chile. Arab oil-producing states embargo shipments to U.S., Europe and Japan, leading to an energy crisis in the West. Roe vs. Wade -- abortion becomes legal Wounded Knee is occupied by American Indians.	1973	The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod New Orleans convention becomes known as "the Battle of New Orleans," with struggles between "conservatives" and "moderates" increasing. Evangelical Lutherans in Mission (ELiM) formed by "moderates" within the Missouri Synod as a "confessing movement" in response to actions taken at the LCMS convention. ELiM begins publishingMissouri in Perspective. How many church bodies adopted the "Key 73" evangelism program?
Emperor Haile Selassie is deposed in Ethiopia. Watergate scandal leads to Nixon resignation. Picasso dies.	1974	What seminary is established? American Lutheran pastor, Carl H. Mau, Jr. (1922-1995), becomes the fifth General Secretary of the Lutheran World Federation, serving until 1985. Motivated in part by the youth departments of the two church bodies, The American Lutheran Church and Lutheran Church in America both begin World Hunger appeals in response to a famine situation in West Africa.
Fall of Saigon triggers wave of Vietnamese, Lao, Hmong immigration to U.S. Altair personal computer is introduced by MIT. FBI agents and Indians on Pine Ridge reservation confront each other; one Indian and two agents are killed. Henriette Lund receives the United Nations peace medallion.	1975	Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service places 15 percent of all immigrants throughout the Southeast Asian wave and beyond, lasting through the 1980s and 1990s Eastern European waves, working with congregations and Lutheran social ministry agencies. Stanley R. Goodwin and George Tinker are the first American Indian Lutherans to be ordained as Lutherans.
Alex Haley publishes Roots. Earthquakes in Italy, Bali, Turkey, China and the Philippines result in 780,000 deaths. Elvis dies, as does Mao Tse-Tung.	1976	The Association of Evangelical Lutheran Churches (AELC) is founded by "moderates" who left the Missouri Synod, including many of those who had formed ELiM.
First space shuttle, "Enterprise," makes first trip. Egypt's President Sadat becomes first Arab leader to visit Israel.	1977
First "test tube baby," Louise Brown, is born in Britain. Israel and Egypt sign Camp David Accords. Cult members commit mass suicide in Jonestown, Guyana.	1978	Lutheran Book of Worship is published. AELC issues "Call to Union."
Margaret Thatcher becomes first woman prime minister in Great Britain. Ayatollah Khomeini overthrows Shah of Iran, sets up an Iranian "republic." U.S. embassy staff are taken hostage by Iranians, among them Katherine Koob.	1979	Why should Earlene Miller smile? The Association of Black Lutherans is formed.
Archbishop Romero is killed. World Health Organizations announces eradication of smallpox. Solidarity trade union formed after shipyard strike at Gdansk, Poland.	1980	LCA adopts the title bishop.
Anwar Sadat is assassinated in Cairo. Ronald Reagan becomes president, and Iran frees U.S. hostages. AIDS is diagnosed for the first time.	1981	AELC begins publishing Lutheran Perspective.
Israel invades Lebanon. Falklands War between Britain and Argentina. "Rap" music makes first public appearances.	1982	ALC, LCA, AELC conventions meet simultaneously, decide on merger, appoint the Commission for a New Lutheran Church, formed with 70 representatives from the ALC, LCA and AELC. What major ecumenical documents began to be studied in churches? The Rev. Cherian C. Puthiyottil develops a number of refugee resettlement ministries at Central Lutheran Church, Minneapolis, working in cooperation with the Southeast Asian community.
Compact disk is introduced with first digital recordings of music. Drought in Ethiopia brings famine to millions. Ruth Sovik becomes general secretary of the World YWCA.	1983	Nelson Trout (1920-1996) is first African-American elected bishop of South Pacific District, ALC.
Toxic gas leak in Bhopal, India, kills 2,500. RAM memory chip Indira Gandhi is assassinated by bodyguards.	1984	Will Herzfeld (1939-2002) becomes first African-American bishop of an American Lutheran church body, the AELC.
Scientists discover hole in the ozone layer over Antarctica. "Live Aid" rock concert is held in London for Ethiopian famine relief. Gorbachev unilaterally halts deployment of missiles in Europe.	1985	What major North American Lutheran church body is formed? Vietnamese Lutheran Church, Seattle, Wash., was the second Vietnamese Lutheran congregation to be organized in the U.S.
Chernobyl reactor disaster fallout affects all of Europe and results in relocation of 133,000 people. Ouster of Marcos in Philippines, Corazon Aquino becomes president. William Rehnquist becomes U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice.	1986	ALC, AELC, LCA conventions approve merger plans
World stock market crashes. Bangladesh's worst floods make millions homeless. U.S. and U.S.S.R. sign treaty to ban short- and medium-range nuclear weapons in Europe.	1987	What happened in Columbus, Ohio, on April 30?
PanAm flight 103 destroyed over Locherbie, Scotland. Armenian earthquake kills 80,000, leaves 500,000 homeless. Nationalist demonstrations and strikes in Albania, Poland, the Baltics and Caucasus.	1988	Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) begins operations in Chicago on January 1. Publications: The Lutheran,Lutheran Woman Today, Lutheran Partners, Seeds for the Parish.
East German government resigns, Berlin Wall is torn down.	1989	What documents were adopted by the ELCA at its first assembly? The American Association of Lutheran Services for the Aging and the Lutheran Association of Housing Ministries merge to form the National Association of Lutheran Ministries with the Aging.
Collapse of Communism in Eastern Europe, Helmut Kohl is elected chancellor of reunified Germany. Nelson Mandela is freed from decades in jail and amnesty is declared for African National Congress. Namibia gains independence. Iraq invades Kuwait, U.S. imposes sanctions.	1990	St. Francis and First United congregations in San Francisco "ordain" openly practicing homosexuals, contrary to ELCA policy, and are suspended for five years. Women of the ELCA meet in Anaheim, Calif. Lutheran Men in Mission hold first assembly in Newberry, S.C.
Gorbachev resigns as last president of U.S.S.R. Leningrad changes its name to St. Petersburg. President deKlerk announces abolition of apartheid laws in South Africa. U.S. leads allied forces against Iraq in Persian Gulf War.	1991	Churchwide assembly in Orlando, Florida, adopts "The Church in Society -- A Lutheran Perspective," a social statement on the death penalty and a social teaching statement on abortion. Lutheran youth meet in Dallas. What happens in the Lutheran-Episcopal Dialogue? "Restructuring" of churchwide units is approved.
South Africa approves reforms, giving blacks equal legal rights.	1992	Why is this woman smiling? Lutheran Men in Mission meet in Kenosha, Wis.
Devastating floods all along the Mississippi River. Movie Schindler's List is released. European Common Market begins. Rabin and Arafat shake hands in Washington. Paleontologists discover oldest known dinosaur (225 million years old.)	1993	Study of Theological Education and Study of Ministry are approved at churchwide assembly in Kansas City, Mo. Diaconal ministry is initiated. What major social teaching statement was adopted by the ELCA in its 1993 assembly? Documents related to Lutheran-Jewish relations and Women and Children Living in Poverty are accepted. Women of the ELCA meet in Washington, D.C. First draft of human sexuality statement is published; news media sensationalize coverage, leading to extreme controversy.
Nelson Mandela is sworn in as president of South Africa. Republicans win majority in Congress, leading to "Contract with America."	1994	Lutheran youth meet in Atlanta. Lutheran Men in Mission meet in Springfield, Ohio. Second draft of human sexuality statement is released without engendering much response.
Earthquake hits Kobe, Japan. Federal building in Oklahoma City destroyed by bomb. Leaders of Serbia, Bosnia and Croatia sign peace agreement in Dayton, Ohio. Israel and Palestine sign agreement granting Palestinians autonomy in the West Bank and Gaza. Hutus massacred in refugee camps in Rwanda.	1995	H. George Anderson elected ELCA's second bishop at churchwide assembly in Minneapolis, where a social statement on peace is adopted and the final report from the Study of Theological Education is received.
100th anniversary of Howard Hanson's birth date, celebrated as this century's first great American composer.	1996	The National Association of Lutheran Ministries with the Aging merges with the Coalition of Executives to form the Association of Lutheran Social Ministry Organizations. Women of the ELCA meet in Minneapolis. Lutheran Men in Mission assemble in Minneapolis.
	1997	What major inter-Lutheran organization gets its start? Lutheran youth meet in New Orleans. Churchwide Assembly meets in Philadelphia, passes Formula of Agreement for full communion with three Reformed churches, fails to pass Concordat of Agreement for full communion with Episcopal Church. "The Use of the Means of Grace" is adopted. Conrad Bergendoff, noted theologian and writer, dies
White House sex and perjury scandal tops national news all year.	1998	Lutherans respond to 30 weather disasters. Following 30 years of conversation, Lutheran and Roman Catholic theologians reached "a consensus in the basic truths of the doctrine of justification." While the Lutheran World Federation approved the "Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification," the Catholic response was ambiguous. ELCA adopts an official emblem.
	1999	The historic signing of the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification in Augsburg, Germany, by representatives of the Vatican and Lutheran World Federation in Augsburg, Germany, and the 1999 ELCA Churchwide Assembly adopting full communion agreements with the Moravian Church and the Episcopal Church were major ecumenical initiatives. What major social statement was adopted at the churchwide assembly?