Who We Are
“We are God’s ministering servants, made His beloved children through his grace, and connected with the faithful of every time and place, as together we walk with Jesus.”
The word “Synod” comes from Greek, meaning “walking together” — congregations and individuals walking together in faith to offer witness and service to Jesus Christ. The Slovak Zion Synod is one of the sixty-five synods of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the largest national Lutheran church body in the United States of America. The ELCA is composed of over ten-thousand congregations, and over four million baptized members.
The Slovak Zion Synod was founded in 1919 by Slovak Immigrants, and joined the United Lutheran Church in America, remaining as a separate synod in that denomination. The larger Lutheran denomination then became the Lutheran Church in America, and now the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America as those churchwide expressions have grown and merged over the years.
Today, we remain as the only non-geographic synod with a purpose that has shifted away from decendance, to mission and outreach. In years past, we have proclaimed the love of Christ to our brothers and sisters overseas in Slovakia and Eastern and Central Europe during the oppressive period of communism, and today we are inspired by our past to fulfill God’s work with our hands in the future wherever and whenever needed.
