Elling Eielsen

Bible Translators Theologians Elling Eielsen (September 19, 1804 – January 10, 1883) was a Norwegian-American minister and Lutheran Church leader.

The son of Eiel Ingebrigtsen Sundve and Anna Ellingsdatter Sundsvaal, he was brought up in the Lutheran religious tradition of Hans Nielsen Hauge.

Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (Eielsen Synod) founded in 1846 at the Jefferson Prairie Settlement, was to bear his name.

He remained with the synod over the next 30 years and also continued as pastor-at-large for Norwegian-American communities in Wisconsin, Minnesota, South Dakota, and Texas.

[5][6][7][8] Eielsen was a leader in the Haugean pietistic Lutheran church reform movement which encouraged evangelism and vigorous lay leadership.