The Independent Evangelical-Lutheran Church (, abbreviated SELK) is a confessional Lutheran church body of Germany. It is a member of the European Lutheran Conference and of the International Lutheran Council (ILC) (of which the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod of North America is also a member). The SELK has about 33,000 members in 174 congregations. The seat of SELK is in Hanover. History In 1817, King Frederick William III of Prussia ordered the Lutheran and Reformed churches in his territory to unite, forming the Evangelical Church of the Prussian Union, a predecessor to today's Union of Evangelical Churches. As the uniting of Lutheran and Reformed Christians in Germany proceeded, some Lutheran groups dissented and formed independent churches, especially in Prussia, Saxony, Hanover and Hesse. These Lutherans held that Reformed doctrine and Lutheran doctrine are contradictory on many points (especially on the nature of the Real Presence of Christ in the Lord's Supper), and that such doctrinal differences precluded altar fellowship. So in the 1820s and 1830s Lutherans in Prussia and their congregations formed a new Lutheran church, recognised by the king in 1845 as the Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche in Preußen (Evangelical Lutheran Church in Prussia). It was seated in Breslau and presided over by the Oberkirchenkollegium (Supreme Church Collegial Body). The confessional Lutherans were persecuted during the first half of 19th century by the state. Many of them were not allowed to hold church services or have their children baptized or confirmed according to the liturgy of the Lutheran Church. In some areas of Germany, it took decades until the Confessional Lutherans were granted religious freedom. In 1972 most of the Confessional Lutheran Church bodies in West Germany united to form the SELK. In 1991 the East German Evangelisch-Lutherische (altlutherische) Kirche (the Evangelical-Lutheran (Old-Lutheran) Church) joined the SELK. Doctrine Basics The SELK bases its teaching on the Bible, consisting of the Old and New Testaments, which it confesses to be God's inerrant and infallible Word. The specific doctrines taught in the SELK are contained in the Book of Concord, to which SELK pastors profess a "quia" subscription, meaning that they subscribe to them, "quia" (because) they correspond to the Bible. These Confessions are: The Apostles' Creed The Nicene Creed The Athanasian Creed The Augsburg Confession (1530) The Apology of the Augsburg Confession The Smalcald Articles The Small Catechism of Dr. Martin Luther The Large Catechism of Dr. Martin Luther The Formula of Concord