The roots of the LWML reach back to the 1850s, when women of The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod formed local auxiliaries to meet the needs around them: mending clothes for seminarians, equipping hospitals, establishing schools, supporting orphanages and residences for people with disabilities, gathering clothing, furniture, and food, and funding mission work at home and abroad.
In the 1920s congregational societies began uniting into state and regional leagues - Oklahoma first, in 1928. After the 1938 LCMS convention appointed a study committee and the Synod encouraged a national organization of women, delegates from 15 districts founded the Lutheran Women's Missionary League on July 7-8, 1942, at St. Stephen Lutheran Church in Chicago, Illinois. Today the LWML is active in every district of the LCMS and has set the pattern for similar organizations in LCMS partner churches around the world.
Why purple and gold? The official colors were adopted by the LWML Executive Board on July 24, 1951, following the lead of the Southern Illinois district: purple for royalty, gold for value and integrity.
