The inception of IELC is rooted in the mission work of LCMS, beginning in 1894. Over the following decades, the LCMS sent more than 60 missionaries to serve in India. The work in India was known as the Missouri Evangelical Lutheran Mission (MELIM) and was carried out in areas of the Tamil and Malayalam languages. In 1959, the IELC was established as an LCMS partner church and now does work in an additional seven languages.
The IELC has approximately 764 congregations, 115,000 baptized members, 70,000 communicant members, and 220 active pastors. It also has 59 elementary schools, 11 high schools, 7 schools for the handicapped, and three hospitals. There about 800 teachers serve those schools, many of them graduates of the IELC's teachers training institute.[1]
Concordia Theological Seminary in Nagercoil was founded in 1924 to train pastors.[1] On 30 November 2017, Cyclone Ockhi damaged the seminary campus so severely that IELC leaders doubted that they would ever be able to reopen. Nevertheless, the seminary was able to rebuild. The new and renovated structures have retained the historic appearance of the campus. The rededication in June 2022 included representatives from the LCMS, which had helped with the reconstruction. The reopened seminary has almost 100 students, with plans to increase enrollment to 130 in two years.[4]
A new Seminary "Concordia Theological Seminary "was also constituted by the Kerala Synod at Thiruvananthapuram.
The current president of the IELC is Rev. Suviseshamuthu, who was elected as president of the IELC in May 2017, succeeding President Gambeeram, who presided at the election; President Suviseshamuthu's election was also observed by two representative of the Office of International Mission of the LCMS.[6] LCMS representatives likewise witnessed the election of Rev. Gambeeram on 27 May 2014, who succeeded President Samuel.[7] President Harrison officially recognized Rev. Raja Gambeeram as the president of the IELC on behalf of the LCMS on Epiphany, 6 January 2015.[8]
