# List of Lutheran clergy
Lutheran clergy are the ordained ministers of the churches descended from the sixteenth-century Lutheran Reformation, serving under titles that range from pastor and bishop to president, superintendent, and ephorus depending on the national church. Because Lutheran polity was never standardized, a "list of Lutheran clergy" is best organized by office, by era, and by the bodies that ordain them.
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Oversight titles | Lutheran churches assign regional oversight to bishops and to officials with other titles: church president, ephorus, or synodal pastor[1](https://ecumenism.net/archive/docu/2007_lwf_lund_episcopal_ministry_apostolicity_church_en.pdf) |
| Historic episcopate | Sweden preserved the episcopal succession after the Reformation; Denmark's personal succession was broken when Bugenhagen consecrated seven new bishops[2](https://ctsfw.net/media/pdfs/MeyerApostolicityMinistryLutheranView.pdf) |
| Porvoo Agreement | In 1992 it declared full fellowship between the Church of Sweden, Lutheran churches deriving their episcopacy from Sweden, and the Church of England[3](https://files.lcms.org/api/download/file/ctcr-report-apostolic-succession-in-lutheran-theology-2026) |
| Women's ordination | 119 of 145 Lutheran World Federation member churches ordained women as of January 2016; the first North American ordination of a woman of European descent was Elizabeth Platz on November 22, 1970[4](https://img1.wsimg.com/blobby/go/002e9040-edd7-46a2-9a7e-d564d9977eb2/downloads/Womens_50th_Banners.pdf?ver=1791202298736) |
| Scale | The LWF counted 150 member churches and 78,431,111 affiliated members in 2023[5](https://lutheranworld.org/sites/default/files/2024-06/LWF%20Membership%20Statistics%202023%20-%20EN.pdf) |
| Clerical marriage | Luther held obligatory celibacy to be a human law contrary to creation and married Katharina von Bora in 1525[6](https://theologia-reformata.ch/en/modules/clerge-ministeres.html) |
| Recent leadership | Yehiel Curry became the first Black presiding bishop of the ELCA in 2025; Matthew C. Harrison won a sixth LCMS term in 2026[7](https://www.elca.org/news-and-events/yehiel-curry-elected-presiding-bishop-of-the-elca) • [8](https://reporter.lcms.org/2026/harrison-elected-to-sixth-term-as-lcms-president/) |
## Overview of Lutheran ministry and offices
The word episcopacy derives from the Greek verb *episkopein*, to look upon, discern, and exercise oversight[1](https://ecumenism.net/archive/docu/2007_lwf_lund_episcopal_ministry_apostolicity_church_en.pdf). Lutheran churches exercise this oversight (*episkopé*) through ordained persons, synods, and collegial institutions, and they assign regional oversight to bishops and to similar officials under other titles such as church president, ephorus, or synodal pastor[1](https://ecumenism.net/archive/docu/2007_lwf_lund_episcopal_ministry_apostolicity_church_en.pdf). A 1981 Roman Catholic/Lutheran joint document likewise notes that holders of the superordinated ministry bear a variety of titles, bishop, church president, superintendent, and that its concrete ordering was taken to be a human and historical matter[9](https://www.christianunity.va/content/dam/unitacristiani/Relazioni%20ecumeniche/Sezione%20occidentale/Luterani/1981%20Ministry%20in%20the%20Church_OCR.pdf).
The pattern goes back to the [Reformation](https://www.edgepedia.org/reformation) itself. Melanchthon's 1528 *Instructions for the Visitors of Parish Pastors* provided for superintendents without referring to apostolicity or apostolic succession[2](https://ctsfw.net/media/pdfs/MeyerApostolicityMinistryLutheranView.pdf), and a 1529 visitation of Saxon churches appointed superintendents for oversight of congregations and schools[10](https://ccel.org/ccel/schaff/encyc07/htm/ii.vi.xlvi.i.iv.htm). In Germany, church government has been executed by consistories of ministers and laymen together with superintendents, who appoint, examine, and remove pastors[10](https://ccel.org/ccel/schaff/encyc07/htm/ii.vi.xlvi.i.iv.htm).
**Presidents instead of bishops.** The Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod (LCMS) uses the title President rather than bishop: the President is a full-time executive, the chief ecclesiastical officer of the Synod, supervises the doctrine taught and practiced in the Synod, and holds ecclesiastical supervision of all officers and agencies[11](https://www.lcms.org/convention/governance/nominations/president-vice-presidents). In LCMS terms, the Synod president and the district presidents exercise the ecclesiastical supervision that bishops exercise elsewhere[3](https://files.lcms.org/api/download/file/ctcr-report-apostolic-succession-in-lutheran-theology-2026).
**The ELCA pattern.** The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) comprises nearly 8,400 congregations organized into 65 synods plus a churchwide organization; each synod elects a bishop, and the synod bishops together with the presiding bishop and secretary form the Conference of Bishops, an advisory body[12](https://www.elca.org/about/leadership). Its rostered ministers serve on two rosters, pastors (ministers of Word and [Sacrament](https://www.edgepedia.org/sacrament)) and deacons (ministers of Word and Service), both completing candidacy and theological training[12](https://www.elca.org/about/leadership).
## Historic episcopate and apostolic succession
**Sweden kept the chain; Denmark broke it.** In Sweden the episcopal succession was preserved after the Reformation: Petrus Magni was consecrated bishop of Västerås in Rome in 1524, consecrated three bishops in 1528, and Laurentius Petri was consecrated archbishop in 1531[2](https://ctsfw.net/media/pdfs/MeyerApostolicityMinistryLutheranView.pdf). In Denmark the personal apostolic succession (*successio personalis*) was broken when Bugenhagen, a priest but not a bishop, consecrated seven new bishops of the Danish church in the sixteenth century; the first bishops under the new Danish regime were called superintendents (1538)[2](https://ctsfw.net/media/pdfs/MeyerApostolicityMinistryLutheranView.pdf) • [10](https://ccel.org/ccel/schaff/encyc07/htm/ii.vi.xlvi.i.iv.htm).
**The Lutheran theological claim.** Lutheran theology holds that no particular organization of the church and its ministry is instituted *iure divino*, and that fidelity to the apostolic Word, not an unbroken chain of episcopal consecration, constitutes apostolicity[2](https://ctsfw.net/media/pdfs/MeyerApostolicityMinistryLutheranView.pdf). The LCMS Commission on Theology and Church Relations states the point as: Scripture does not institute a specific office of bishop, yet it does require oversight by and of the one divinely instituted pastoral office; how churches structure oversight is a matter of freedom[3](https://files.lcms.org/api/download/file/ctcr-report-apostolic-succession-in-lutheran-theology-2026).
**Porvoo and ecumenical recognition.** The Church of Sweden entered intercommunion with the [Church of England](https://www.edgepedia.org/church-of-england) in the twentieth century on the basis of apostolic succession, while declaring that the office of bishop was not by divine right[3](https://files.lcms.org/api/download/file/ctcr-report-apostolic-succession-in-lutheran-theology-2026). The Porvoo Agreement of 1992 then declared full fellowship between the [Church of Sweden](https://www.edgepedia.org/church-of-sweden), other Lutheran churches deriving their episcopacy from Sweden, and the Church of England[3](https://files.lcms.org/api/download/file/ctcr-report-apostolic-succession-in-lutheran-theology-2026). In some Lutheran areas, where this was possible, the historical continuity of the episcopal office has been maintained[9](https://www.christianunity.va/content/dam/unitacristiani/Relazioni%20ecumeniche/Sezione%20occidentale/Luterani/1981%20Ministry%20in%20the%20Church_OCR.pdf).
Rejection of episcopal symbolism has also occurred: in 1930 the Augustana Synod formally rejected adopting episcopal insignia when Archbishop Nathan Söderblom presented a bishop's crozier to its president[2](https://ctsfw.net/media/pdfs/MeyerApostolicityMinistryLutheranView.pdf).
## Notable Lutheran clergy by era
- **Martin Luther** ordained with his own hands the first minister of the new order, his amanuensis G. Rörer, and pronounced the ministry a matter of expediency; for Luther the title bishop could be applied to any pastor or parish clergyman[13](https://ccel.org/s/schaff/encyc04/htm/iii.x.xiii.htm).
- **Philipp Melanchthon** provided for superintendents in his 1528 *Instructions*, without referring to apostolicity or apostolic succession[2](https://ctsfw.net/media/pdfs/MeyerApostolicityMinistryLutheranView.pdf).
- **Johannes Bugenhagen**, a priest but not a bishop, consecrated the seven new bishops of the Danish church[2](https://ctsfw.net/media/pdfs/MeyerApostolicityMinistryLutheranView.pdf).
- **Justus Falckner** received the first Lutheran ordination in North America on 24 November 1703[2](https://ctsfw.net/media/pdfs/MeyerApostolicityMinistryLutheranView.pdf).
- **Nelson Wesley Trout** was the first Black ELCA synod bishop, and **Will Herzfeld** was a Black presiding bishop of a predecessor ELCA denomination[14](https://www.npr.org/2025/10/04/nx-s1-5562642/yehiel-curry-evangelical-lutheran-church-us-first-black-presiding-bishop).
- **Elizabeth Eaton** was elected the ELCA's first female presiding bishop in 2013 and served two terms[15](https://elcamediaresources.blob.core.windows.net/cdn/wp-content/uploads/50th_Anniversary_Ordination_of_Women_Survey_Report.pdf) • [16](https://religionnews.com/2025/07/31/elca-elects-yehiel-curry-its-first-black-presiding-bishop-calls-israels-actions-in-gaza-a-genocide/).
- **Matthew C. Harrison** was elected to a sixth LCMS term for 2026–2029[8](https://reporter.lcms.org/2026/harrison-elected-to-sixth-term-as-lcms-president/).
- **Yehiel Curry**, previously bishop of the Metropolitan Chicago Synod, became ELCA presiding bishop in 2025[7](https://www.elca.org/news-and-events/yehiel-curry-elected-presiding-bishop-of-the-elca).
## Women in Lutheran ministry
For centuries Lutheran churches restricted ordination to men, but today the great majority of Lutherans belong to churches that ordain both women and men[1](https://ecumenism.net/archive/docu/2007_lwf_lund_episcopal_ministry_apostolicity_church_en.pdf). As of January 2016, 119 of 145 [Lutheran World Federation](https://www.edgepedia.org/lutheran-world-federation) member churches ordained women[4](https://img1.wsimg.com/blobby/go/002e9040-edd7-46a2-9a7e-d564d9977eb2/downloads/Womens_50th_Banners.pdf?ver=1791202298736). Lutheran women's ordination is described as beginning with Sweden in 1958, with the Pauline restrictions read as contextual rather than universally normative[6](https://theologia-reformata.ch/en/modules/clerge-ministeres.html).
In the United States, the American Lutheran Church and the Lutheran Church in America each voted to ordain women in 1970; these bodies later merged into the ELCA in 1988[15](https://elcamediaresources.blob.core.windows.net/cdn/wp-content/uploads/50th_Anniversary_Ordination_of_Women_Survey_Report.pdf). Elizabeth Platz was ordained in the Lutheran Church in America on November 22, 1970, the first woman of European descent ordained in a Lutheran church body in North America[4](https://img1.wsimg.com/blobby/go/002e9040-edd7-46a2-9a7e-d564d9977eb2/downloads/Womens_50th_Banners.pdf?ver=1791202298736). April Ulring Larson in 1992 became the first woman of European descent elected an ELCA synod bishop and at that time only the second female Lutheran bishop in the world[4](https://img1.wsimg.com/blobby/go/002e9040-edd7-46a2-9a7e-d564d9977eb2/downloads/Womens_50th_Banners.pdf?ver=1791202298736).
**Women in the episcopate.** In many LWF member churches, and in the majority of the larger Lutheran churches, women are not only ordained as pastors but also elected to the episcopal ministry[1](https://ecumenism.net/archive/docu/2007_lwf_lund_episcopal_ministry_apostolicity_church_en.pdf). In 2020 women made up 46 percent of ELCA bishops (30 of them), up from 15 percent (10) in 2015[15](https://elcamediaresources.blob.core.windows.net/cdn/wp-content/uploads/50th_Anniversary_Ordination_of_Women_Survey_Report.pdf). In Africa, LWF member churches with women bishops include the Evangelical Lutheran Church in [Southern Africa](https://www.edgepedia.org/southern-africa), the [Moravian Church](https://www.edgepedia.org/moravian-church) in South Africa, and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Namibia[17](https://lutheranworld.org/news/lwf-welcomes-kenyas-first-lutheran-woman-bishop-catherine-ngina-musau). On 24 May 2025 Bishop Catherine Ngina Musau was installed as the first woman to lead the Kenya Evangelical Lutheran Church[17](https://lutheranworld.org/news/lwf-welcomes-kenyas-first-lutheran-woman-bishop-catherine-ngina-musau).
## By the numbers
The Lutheran World Federation counted 150 member churches plus two associate member churches in 2023, with total LWF-affiliated membership of 78,431,111[5](https://lutheranworld.org/sites/default/files/2024-06/LWF%20Membership%20Statistics%202023%20-%20EN.pdf). Regionally, Africa had 30,753,298 LWF-affiliated Lutherans and the [Nordic countries](https://www.edgepedia.org/nordic-countries) 17,177,471[5](https://lutheranworld.org/sites/default/files/2024-06/LWF%20Membership%20Statistics%202023%20-%20EN.pdf). The largest single churches by membership included the Church of Sweden at 5,484,000, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Denmark (including [Greenland](https://www.edgepedia.org/greenland)) at 4,235,575, and the [Church of Norway](https://www.edgepedia.org/church-of-norway) at 3,611,670[5](https://lutheranworld.org/sites/default/files/2024-06/LWF%20Membership%20Statistics%202023%20-%20EN.pdf).
In the United States, the ELCA reports about 2.7 million members in more than 8,400 worshiping communities, down from 5.3 million members in 1988[7](https://www.elca.org/news-and-events/yehiel-curry-elected-presiding-bishop-of-the-elca) • [14](https://www.npr.org/2025/10/04/nx-s1-5562642/yehiel-curry-evangelical-lutheran-church-us-first-black-presiding-bishop). Ordinations have declined with membership: in 2019 the ELCA ordained 32 percent fewer people than in 2015 and 50 percent fewer than in 1988, while the share of women among those ordained rose from one-third in 1988 to almost 54 percent in 2019[15](https://elcamediaresources.blob.core.windows.net/cdn/wp-content/uploads/50th_Anniversary_Ordination_of_Women_Survey_Report.pdf).
## How it compares with other traditions
Where Lutheran churches retain the name bishop, the authority of the official is regarded as of human bestowment, and the parity of the ministry is a fundamental Lutheran tenet[13](https://ccel.org/s/schaff/encyc04/htm/iii.x.xiii.htm). The Lutheran office of pastor took over the spiritual functions of the bishop's office and was at times theologically interpreted as identical with it[9](https://www.christianunity.va/content/dam/unitacristiani/Relazioni%20ecumeniche/Sezione%20occidentale/Luterani/1981%20Ministry%20in%20the%20Church_OCR.pdf). This differs from the Catholic position, which holds that women cannot be ordained to the priesthood per *Ordinatio Sacerdotalis* (1994), and from Anglican practice, where United States provinces began ordaining women in 1974 and England in 1992, with England's first woman bishop in 2015[6](https://theologia-reformata.ch/en/modules/clerge-ministeres.html). The Reformed churches recognize two orders of ministry, presbyters and deacons, and deny apostolic succession in the Anglo-Catholic sense[13](https://ccel.org/s/schaff/encyc04/htm/iii.x.xiii.htm). In Orthodox churches, priests may marry before ordination but bishops are drawn from the monastic or widowed state, per the Council in Trullo (692)[6](https://theologia-reformata.ch/en/modules/clerge-ministeres.html).
## Recent developments
**ELCA.** [The Rev](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-rev). Yehiel Curry was elected presiding bishop on July 30, 2025, on the fifth ballot with 562 of 799 votes (400 needed), defeating the Rev. Kevin Strickland (237 votes), to a six-year term at the 2025 Churchwide Assembly in Phoenix; he is the first Black presiding bishop of the ELCA[7](https://www.elca.org/news-and-events/yehiel-curry-elected-presiding-bishop-of-the-elca). His term began October 1, 2025, with an installation at Central Lutheran Church in [Minneapolis](https://www.edgepedia.org/minneapolis), succeeding Elizabeth Eaton, who served two terms and was the first woman to lead the ELCA[14](https://www.npr.org/2025/10/04/nx-s1-5562642/yehiel-curry-evangelical-lutheran-church-us-first-black-presiding-bishop) • [16](https://religionnews.com/2025/07/31/elca-elects-yehiel-curry-its-first-black-presiding-bishop-calls-israels-actions-in-gaza-a-genocide/). Since 2009 the ELCA has blessed same-sex marriages and welcomed LGBTQ+ clergy, elevating its first openly gay regional bishop in 2013 and its first openly transgender regional bishop in 2021[14](https://www.npr.org/2025/10/04/nx-s1-5562642/yehiel-curry-evangelical-lutheran-church-us-first-black-presiding-bishop).
**LCMS.** The Rev. Dr. Matthew C. Harrison was elected LCMS president for the 2026–2029 triennium with 2,524 votes (50.1 percent) on the third ballot, his sixth term; the Rev. Dr. Joel D. Biermann received 2,414 votes (47.9 percent) and the Rev. Benjamin T. Ball 100 votes (2.0 percent)[8](https://reporter.lcms.org/2026/harrison-elected-to-sixth-term-as-lcms-president/).
**Kenya.** Bishop Catherine Ngina Musau's installation on 24 May 2025 made her the first woman to lead the Kenya Evangelical Lutheran Church, succeeding Bishop Johnes Meliyio[17](https://lutheranworld.org/news/lwf-welcomes-kenyas-first-lutheran-woman-bishop-catherine-ngina-musau).
## References
1. [Episcopal Ministry within the Apostolicity of the Church, Lutheran World Federation (Lund 2007)](https://ecumenism.net/archive/docu/2007_lwf_lund_episcopal_ministry_apostolicity_church_en.pdf)
2. [Carl Meyer, Apostolicity and Ministry: The Lutheran View, Concordia Theological Seminary](https://ctsfw.net/media/pdfs/MeyerApostolicityMinistryLutheranView.pdf)
3. [Apostolic Succession in Lutheran Theology, LCMS Commission on Theology and Church Relations (May 2026)](https://files.lcms.org/api/download/file/ctcr-report-apostolic-succession-in-lutheran-theology-2026)
4. [Celebrating the 50th Anniversary of U.S. Lutheran Churches' Decisions to Ordain Women (timeline banners)](https://img1.wsimg.com/blobby/go/002e9040-edd7-46a2-9a7e-d564d9977eb2/downloads/Womens_50th_Banners.pdf?ver=1791202298736)
5. [LWF Membership Statistics 2023](https://lutheranworld.org/sites/default/files/2024-06/LWF%20Membership%20Statistics%202023%20-%20EN.pdf)
6. [Clergy and Ministry, Theologia Reformata](https://theologia-reformata.ch/en/modules/clerge-ministeres.html)
7. [Yehiel Curry Elected Presiding Bishop of the ELCA](https://www.elca.org/news-and-events/yehiel-curry-elected-presiding-bishop-of-the-elca)
8. [Harrison elected to sixth term as LCMS president, LCMS Reporter](https://reporter.lcms.org/2026/harrison-elected-to-sixth-term-as-lcms-president/)
9. [The Ministry in the Church, Roman Catholic/Lutheran Joint Commission (1981)](https://www.christianunity.va/content/dam/unitacristiani/Relazioni%20ecumeniche/Sezione%20occidentale/Luterani/1981%20Ministry%20in%20the%20Church_OCR.pdf)
10. [The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia: Lutheran Church — Government and Worship](https://ccel.org/ccel/schaff/encyc07/htm/ii.vi.xlvi.i.iv.htm)
11. [Nominations: President and Vice-Presidents, The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod](https://www.lcms.org/convention/governance/nominations/president-vice-presidents)
12. [ELCA Leadership](https://www.elca.org/about/leadership)
13. [Episcopacy, Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge](https://ccel.org/s/schaff/encyc04/htm/iii.x.xiii.htm)
14. [Largest US Lutheran denomination installs first Black presiding bishop, NPR (October 4, 2025)](https://www.npr.org/2025/10/04/nx-s1-5562642/yehiel-curry-evangelical-lutheran-church-us-first-black-presiding-bishop)
15. [50th Anniversary of the Church's Decision to Ordain Women, ELCA Research, Data and Analysis](https://elcamediaresources.blob.core.windows.net/cdn/wp-content/uploads/50th_Anniversary_Ordination_of_Women_Survey_Report.pdf)
16. [religionnews.com](https://religionnews.com/2025/07/31/elca-elects-yehiel-curry-its-first-black-presiding-bishop-calls-israels-actions-in-gaza-a-genocide/)
17. [LWF welcomes Kenya's first Lutheran woman Bishop Catherine Ngina Musau](https://lutheranworld.org/news/lwf-welcomes-kenyas-first-lutheran-woman-bishop-catherine-ngina-musau)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Society and history › Philosophy, religion, and mythology › Religion and spirituality › Religious biographies › Orthodox, Eastern Catholic, Protestant, and early Christian bishops › Protestant episcopal leaders › Protestant episcopacy (overview)*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 10, 2026 · Edited: Oct 10, 2026; Oct 11, 2026; Oct 15, 2026 · Last review: Oct 10, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license