Lutheran Synod of Buffalo

Lutheran Synod of Buffalo
Classification	Protestant
Orientation	Lutheran
Theology	Confessional Lutheran
Structure	National synod and local congregations
Region	Primarily in the U.S. states of New York and Wisconsin
Headquarters	Buffalo, New York
Founder	J. A. A. Grabau
Origin	1845; Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Separated from	Prussian Union
Merged into	American Lutheran Church (1930)
Congregations	54 (1929)
Members	7,891 (1929)
Ministers	45 (1929)
Other name(s)	Buffalo Synod

The Lutheran Synod of Buffalo, founded in 1845 as the Synod of Lutheran Emigrants from Prussia (German: Synode der aus Preussen ausgewanderten lutherischen Kirche), was commonly known from early in its history as the Buffalo Synod.^[1] The synod resulted from the efforts of pastor J. A. A. Grabau and members of his Erfurt and other congregations to escape the forced union of Lutheran and Reformed churches in Prussia by immigrating, in 1839, to New York City and Buffalo, New York, and to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, with Grabau and the largest group settling in Buffalo.^[2] Internal disputes regarding theology and practice led to a major schism in the 1880s.^[3] In 1930 it merged with the Ohio Synod and the Iowa Synod to form the first instance of the American Lutheran Church (ALC).^[4] The latter body, after further mergers, became part of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America in 1988.

In 1929, just before its merger into the ALC, the Buffalo Synod had 45 pastors, 54 congregations, and 7,981 members.^[5]

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