Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Key Dates

June 2002 - Members approve a new name - Thrivent Financial for Lutherans - following a mail ballot vote of adult contract benefit holders.

January 1, 2002 - The merged organization officially begins operation. The organization adopts the trade name of AAL/LB until a new name can be approved.

September 29, 2001 - At special meetings of the Lutheran Brotherhood General Convention and AAL Board of Directors, unanimous approval is granted to merge the two organizations.

June 27, 2001 - Aid Association for Lutherans CEO John Gilbert and Lutheran Brotherhood CEO Bruce Nicholson formally announce the proposed merger of the two fraternal benefit societies via a satellite teleconference.

Our proud heritage

Shortly after the turn of the 20th century, two grassroots groups - one made up of German Lutherans in Wisconsin and the other of Norwegian Lutherans in Minnesota - were concerned about the security and well-being of their fellow Lutherans. Each group was determined to start a fraternal benefit society that would provide Lutherans with life insurance.

Aid Association for Lutherans was certified for business on Nov. 4, 1902, but only after several years of hard work by dedicated churchmen such as Albert Voecks, Gottlieb Ziegler, William Zuhlke and John Grupe. They canvassed Lutherans throughout much of eastern Wisconsin to sign up the 500 members required for the new organization to obtain its first charter.

The founding of Lutheran Brotherhood had its roots with the 1917 convention of the Norwegian Lutheran Church of America. Lifelong Lutherans Jacob Preus, a Minnesota insurance commissioner, and Herman Ekern, a former Wisconsin insurance commissioner, proposed launching a not-for-profit mutual aid society. After much debate, the proposal passed and the society began life as "Lutheran Union." Three years later, the organization was renamed "Lutheran Brotherhood."

From the beginning, Aid Association for Lutherans and Lutheran Brotherhood offered similar life insurance products. Over the years, the product offerings expanded to include annuities, mutual funds and bank products - marketed by subsidiaries of Aid Association for Lutherans and Lutheran Brotherhood.

The two fraternal benefit societies have remained true to their heritage of helping others through charitable outreach. Aid Association for Lutherans and Lutheran Brotherhood created branch systems nationwide to provide financial assistance and volunteerism for members, their families, and their communities following natural disasters and other catastrophic events. That spirit of helping others continues today.