LUTHERAN CHURCH IN WRTTEMBERG

independent Lutheran church established in the duchy of Wrttemberg in 1534 during the Protestant Reformation in Germany. A strong Lutheran church throughout the centuries, it was influenced in the 17th and 18th centuries by Pietism, the Lutheran-based movement that emphasized personal religious experience and reform. It became independent of the state after Germany became a republic at the end of World War I. During the Nazi period (193345) the church remained independent and successfully resisted the efforts of the national government to gain control of all the churches. A bishop, elected for life, is the head of the church. Congregations belong to conferences that are combined into districts. The church is a member of the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD), a federation of Lutheran, Reformed, and United (Reformed and Lutheran) churches. It is also a member of the World Council of Churches and the Lutheran World Federation. It did not enter the United Evangelical Lutheran Church of Germany (VELKD), a union of German Lutheran territorial churches organized in 1948.