The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Ingria in Russia (ELCIR) is nearly 400 years old. The region of Ingria, south and east of the Gulf of Finland, and the Russian province of Karelia, along the Finnish border, have been home to Lutherans since the late 16th century. As early as 1655, there were 58 Lutheran parishes, 36 churches and 42 pastors.

By the time of the 1917 Russian revolution there were 32 Finnish Lutheran congregations, 300 elementary schools, a teacher training academy and a Lutheran high school in St. Petersburg and the surrounding area. During the communist regime, churches were closed. 80,000 Ingrians were liquidated; others were deported to Siberia and other parts of Russia. Still, members continued to meet secretly and illegally, with worship often led by widowed women.

During the 1950s surviving Ingrians gradually returned home. Two Ingrian Lutheran congregations were permitted to organize in the 1970s. Since 1990 and the collapse of communism, the ELCIR has grown to nearly 70 congregations, most in the former area of Ingria and Karelia but extending all the way to Vladivostok in the far east. The ELCIR is now the fastest growing Lutheran church in Europe.