[1] The Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (FELC) was organized at Calumet, Michigan in 1890.

In 1896, the church established Suomi College and Theological Seminary (now called Finlandia University) in Hancock, Michigan.

At the time of its closure in 2023, Finlandia was the only private institution of higher learning in Michigan's Upper Peninsula and the only remaining university in North America founded by Finnish immigrants.

At that time, FELC had 36,274 members and 105 ministers in 153 congregations, and was the smallest of LCA's founding church bodies.

[4] The LCA was subsequently party to the merger that created the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America in 1988.