The late 1980s merger of the old American
Lutheran Church (ALC),
Lutheran Church in America (LCA), and Association of Evangelical
Lutheran Churches (AELC, a much smaller body that broke earlier with the
Lutheran Church» Missouri
Synod) resulted in an organization of 5.3 million members that has been producing red ink, membership losses, and
general demoralization since its start.
Yet the dramatic growth in the 1970s of schools within «conservative» Protestant religious movements led to a narrower definition: a «Christian school» is one that's affiliated with one of the conservative Protestant denominations, such as Southern Baptist and
Lutheran Church - Missouri
Synod, and, in
general, with one of the dominant streams within conservative Protestantism — the evangelical, charismatic, fundamentalist, and Pentecostal religious movements.