The Northern Illinois Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) is a gathering of people created by God in Christ, empowered by the Holy Spirit, called and sent to bear witness to God’s creative, redeeming, and sanctifying activity in the world.
Our mission is Walking Together - loving Christ, loving all, for the sake of the world.
The Northern Illinois Synod is home to 136 congregations with a total combined membership of more than 45,000 baptized members. The synod covers the following counties in Northern Illinois: Boone, Bureau, Carroll, DeKalb, Grundy, Henderson, Henry, Jo Daviess, Kendall, Knox, LaSalle, Lee McHenry, Mercer, Ogle, Putnam, Rock Island, Stephenson, Warren, Whiteside, Will, and Winnebago.
The Northern Illinois Synod is one of 65 synods in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA).
The ELCA has 2.7 million members across more than 8,300 communities in 50 states and the Caribbean, who gather around the word and sacraments, trusting God’s grace, shaped by Jesus Christ.
The ELCA’s values are rooted in faith, shaped by the Bible and the Lutheran tradition, and grounded in our love for God and our neighbor. These values guide how we, as the church, live our faith each day and shape how we move forward as the body of Christ.
Journeying together as we love Christ and love all for the sake of the world, the Northern Illinois Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America strives to reflect the expansive diversity of the Body of Christ. We welcome, celebrate, embrace, and uplift people of every race, national origin, immigration status, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, age, disability, health and mental health status, neurodiversity, and socioeconomic status. We reject any other boundaries humans use that separate us from the body of Christ. We realize we are saints and sinners redeemed by God’s grace; we commit ourselves to the ongoing work of anti-racism and racial equity. We continue to work to ensure the welcome of all historically marginalized communities as full participants in our life together in Christ.
