After World War II, U.S. Lutherans were interested in helping and evangelizing the Japanese, whose country had been devastated by the war. Some former servicemen were interested in returning to Japan as missionaries. During the decade of the 1950s, there was a huge influx of American missionaries to Japan, including people from several ELCA predecessors. Many of these missionaries had served in China but were expelled because of political changes in China. The Japan Evangelical Lutheran Church has a relatively small membership of 22,000.
Most congregations have less than fifty members.
Pastors are well trained at the Lutheran Seminary in Tokyo, and most congregations have their own pastor. The JELC has sent successive missionaries to serve among Japanese immigrants in Brazil, serving with the Evangelical Church of the Lutheran Confession in Brazil , as well as to the United States among expatriate Japanese. The JELC is fortunate to have a solid financial base, partly because of the value of real estate which was purchased earlier in the century for missionary residences and other mission purposes. The JELC is unique among the ELCA's overseas partners in that it contributes funds to the ELCA to help pay for missionary costs. The relationship between the JELC and the ELCA is expressed in many ways, through the exchange of personnel and visits as well as formal and historic ties.