The American Lutheran Church (ALC) was a Christian Protestant denomination in the United States from 1960 to 1987. On 1 January 1988 it ceased to exist when it, along with the Lutheran Church in America and the Association of Evangelical Lutheran Churches, joined together to form the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

The American Lutheran Church was formed out of

• American Lutheran Church (note lack of "The") which was formed in 1930 from a merger of the German Iowa Synod (1854) and the Joint Synod of Ohio (1818)

• United Evangelical Lutheran Church formerly known as the United Danish Evangelical Lutheran Church founded in 1896.

• Evangelical Lutheran Church founded in 1917 as the Norweigan Lutheran Church of America. The NLCA had been formed from a merger of the Hauge Synod (1876) , Norwegian Synod (1853) and the United Norwegian Lutheran Church (1890). The NLCA changed its name in 1946 to Evangelical Lutheran Church.

• Lutheran Free Church which had broken away from the United Norweigan Lutheran Church in 1897 joined the ALC in 1963.

The article "The" is used to note the ALC after the 1960 merger the 1930-60 ALC does not use it.

Bishops of the ALC

• 1960 - 1970 Fredrik A. Schiotz
• 1970 - 1974 Kent S. Knutson
• 1974 - 1987 David W. Preus