Thrivent’s predecessor organizations were established in an era of industrialization, urbanization and immigration. People were moving to cities and working dangerous jobs. They needed a safety net to help protect their families, so they turned to fraternal benefit societies for affordable life insurance.
However, these societies had lodges with lengthy rituals that did not align with the beliefs of Lutheran immigrants. Life insurance was suspect, as they were not putting their faith in God to provide for their family. Lutherans who sought out insurance through these lodges risked excommunication. But what if they purchased life insurance through a Lutheran fraternal organization?
In 1899, the Aid Association for Lutherans (AAL) founders began to gather the required 500 charter members, at a cost of $5 each, to establish a fraternal benefit society in Wisconsin. The risky venture failed.
John Grupe reinvigorated the effort in 1902, traveling across Wisconsin to get the remaining charter members. In November 1902, AAL was born.
In 1917, Lutheran Brotherhood (LB) was founded in Minneapolis, originally named Luther Union. At the organizing convention of the Norwegian Lutheran Church of America, Jacob Preus and Herman Ekern, politicians and insurance activists, argued for a mutual aid society to support church members.
“A mutual aid society, administered through our own church, will simply guarantee that our widows and orphans who live in the midst of strangers in large cities are cared for in the same manner as those who live in the midst of friends in small communities,” Preus argued. The vote to establish the committee passed, creating LB.
Thrivent was formed in 2002 by the merger of AAL and LB, continuing to provide financial advice, investments, insurance, banking, generosity programs and solutions to Christians.
Lauren Gaines is Thrivent’s corporate historian and archives manager.
