The
Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod (
LCMS), often referred to simply as the
Missouri Synod, is a traditional,
confessional Lutheran denomination in the United States. With 2.1 million members, it is both the eighth-largest
Protestant denomination and the second-largest
Lutheran body in the U.S., the largest being
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. The LCMS was organized in 1847 at a meeting in
Chicago, Illinois as the
German Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Missouri, Ohio, and Other States, a name which reflected the geographic locations of the founding congregations. The LCMS is headquartered in
Kirkwood, Missouri.