TheEvangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria (German:Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche in Bayern) is aLutheran member church of theProtestant Church in Germany in theGerman state ofBavaria.
The seat of the church is inMunich. TheLandesbischof (bishop) of the church isHeinrich Bedford-Strohm. There are six regional bishops (Regionalbischöfe).[1] The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria is one of 20 Lutheran,United Protestant andReformed churches of the EKD. The church has 2,252,159 members (2020)[2] in 1,540 parishes. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria is a member church of theUnited Evangelical Lutheran Church of Germany, theCommunity of Protestant Churches in Europe and of theLutheran World Federation. The Church runs a conference venue atTutzing calledEvangelische Akademie Tutzing.[3] The most prominent churches of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria are St. Matthäus Church inMunich andSt. Lorenz Church inNuremberg where new state bishops get inaugurated. Munich is predominantlyCatholic, whereas Nuremberg is aLutheran stronghold.
The theological teaching goes back onMartin Luther. Theordination of women is allowed. Theblessing of same-sex marriages has been allowed by thesynod and depends on the local church administration.[4]
During theProtestant Reformation, Bavaria (consisting at that point only of what is today calledAltbayern) remained predominantly Catholic. In the early 19th century, the largely ProtestantPalatinate andFranconia were annexed to theKingdom of Bavaria, and all Protestant churches in the kingdom were administratively subordinated in 1817 to an upperconsistory in Munich. These congregations consisted of Lutheran andCalvinist congregations in today's Bavaria and congregations ofunited Protestant confession in the then BavarianGovernorate of the Palatinate on the left bank of the river Rhine.
In 1822, an umbrella organization, theProtestant Church in the Kingdom of Bavaria (German:Protestantische Kirche im Königreiche Bayern), was founded.
Since 1848 the Palatine congregations formed a separate church body (United Protestant Evangelical Christian Church of the Palatinate (Palatine State Church)). Thus the remaining church body was renamed theProtestant State Church in the Kingdom of Bavaria right of the Rhine (German:Protestantische Landeskirche im Königreiche Bayern rechts des Rheins).
In 1918 the Calvinist congregations seceded and formed their own church, theEvangelical Reformed Church in Bavaria (which merged with the Evangelical Reformed Church in Northwest Germany in 1989 to form theEvangelical Reformed Church – Synod of Reformed Churches in Bavaria and Northwestern Germany).
In 1921 the Protestant state church renamed intoEvangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria right of the Rhine when the newchurch constitution accounted for the Kingdom having become arepublic and the Reformed congregations having formed their separate church body. On 1 April 1921 theEvangelical Lutheran State Church ofSaxe-Coburg merged into the Bavarian church body, consistent with theFree State of Coburg's referendum on which emerging state to join.
The number of parishioners amounted to 1,575,000 in 1925.[5]
During thestruggle of the churches under the Nazi dictatorship the Bavarian Lutheran church body remained an intact church (German:intakte Kirche), since the Nazi-submissiveGerman Christians fraction remained a minority in the synod after the unconstitutional election imposed by Hitler on 23 July 1933. Nazi opponents, forming theConfessing Church, could act within the official bodies of the church. The prior name extensionright of the Rhine was removed in 1948, after Bavaria left of the Rhine, i.e. the Palatinate, had been separated from Bavaria by the Allies in 1945.
The election of thesynod is for six years.
The administrative headquarters are calledMunich Church Office (Landeskirchenamt) which is based inMunich.
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