A Decade of Mergers.

The 1930s saw a series of unions among Protestant groups, usually bringing together people of different ethnic backgrounds who shared a religious tradition. In 1931 members of the Lutheran Synod of Buffalo joined the Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Iowa and the Evangelical Lutheran Joint Synod of Ohio to form the American Lutheran Church; in 1934 two groups from the Calvinist tradition joined to create the Evangelical and Reform Church out of the Reformed Church in the United States and the Evangelical Synod of North America; and in 1931 two theologically liberal and congregationally organized denominations, the National Council of Congregational Churches and the General Convention of Christian Churches, joined to form the General Council of Congregational and Christian Churches.

The Methodists Merge.

The most impressive and important merger of the decade took place in 1939, when three branches of American Methodism finally...