The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada (ELCIC; ) is Canada's largest Lutheran denomination, with 95,000 baptized members in 519 congregations, with the second largest, the Lutheran Church–Canada, having 53,165 baptized members. Together with the LCC and the Canadian Association of Lutheran Congregations, it is one of only three all-Canadian Lutheran denominations. It is a member of the Lutheran World Federation, the Canadian Council of Churches, the World Council of Churches, and the Anglican-Lutheran North American grouping Churches Beyond Borders. According to the 2011 Canadian census, a larger number of 478,185 adherents identify as Lutheran. History The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada came into being in 1986 through the merger of two predecessor bodies the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Canada (started in 1966 by Canadian congregations of the American Lutheran Church) and three synods of the Lutheran Church in America, called the Canada Section. (In 1988 these two U.S. church bodies ceased to exist as they merged into the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the ELCIC's sister denomination in the United States.) Constituting Convention 1985 Winnipeg, Manitoba National Conventions 1987 Ottawa, Ontario 1989 Saskatoon, Saskatchewan 1991 Edmonton, Alberta 1993 Vancouver, British Columbia 1995 Winnipeg, Manitoba 1997 Toronto, Ontario 1999 Regina, Saskatchewan 2001 Waterloo, Ontario 2003 Camrose, Alberta 2005 Winnipeg, Manitoba 2007 Winnipeg, Manitoba 2009 Vancouver, British Columbia 2011 Saskatoon, Saskatchewan 2013 Ottawa, Ontario 2015 Edmonton, Alberta 2017 Winnipeg, Manitoba Doctrine The Church derives its teachings from the Bible and the Book of Concord which includes the three ecumenical creeds of the Christian Church—that is, the Apostles' Creed, the Nicene Creed and the Athanasian Creed. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada is in full communion with the Anglican Church of Canada under the Waterloo Declaration. Martin Luther University College and Lutheran Theological Seminary, Saskatoon are the seminaries owned by the church. Organisation The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada is composed of five geography-based synods (similar to a diocese in Anglican polity). The presiding officer and chief pastor of each synod is a bishop. The British Columbia Synod The Synod of Alberta and the Territories Robert Jacobson first bishop (1985–1995) The Saskatchewan Synod The Manitoba/Northwestern Ontario Synod The Eastern Synod This structure is identical to the synod structure of the ELCA, except that the Canadian synods cover one or more entire provinces, whereas some ELCA synods cover the whole or part of a metro area and some cover several states. Like the ELCA