• Of 17,436 ELCA clergy, 3,690 are female and 13,746 male.
• Of the 65 synod bishops, six are female, 59 male.
• The average age of active clergy is 53 (51 for females, 54 for males).
In 1970, Lutheran churches in the U.S. voted to ordain women — the Lutheran Church in America in June, followed by the American Lutheran Church in October. The Association of Evangelical Lutheran Churches allowed women's ordination at its 1976 inception.
• 1970: Elizabeth A. Platz (Lutheran Church in America) currently is chaplain at the University of Maryland, College Park.
• 1970: Barbara Andrews (American Lutheran Church) served in Minneapolis and Detroit before dying in a house fire in 1978.
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