CHICAGO — A 1 percent drop in membership in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America has caused the church to dip below 5 mil- lion members for the first time in its history.
The ELCA lost 53,081 baptized members last year for a total of 4.98 million members. The number of Lutherans who were actively involved as “communing and contributing” members fell slightly to 2.34 million.
Lowell Almen, secretary of the Chicago-based denomination, attributed the losses to “roll cleaning” in many churches, the disbanding of 36 churches, and the withdrawal of eight congregations (with a combined membership of 11,000) from the denomination.
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