established The Luther League. The organization soon extended to other
parts of the State and subsequently to the entire country. It has
splendidly attained its objective, that of rallying and training the
young people in the support and service of the church. Its official
organ, The Luther League Review, is published in this city under the
editorship of the Hon. Edward F. Eilert. Eleven hundred members are
enrolled in the local Leagues of New York City.
The first practical attempt of the ministers to get together was in the
organization of "Koinonia." This took place in the home of the writer in
1896. The society meets once a month for the purpose of discussing the
papers which each member in his turn is required to read. Representing
as it does Lutherans of all kinds, species and varieties, it serves as a
clearing house for the theological output of the members. It has been
helpful in removing some of the misunderstandings that are liable to
arise among men of positive convictions.
On the third Sunday in Advent, 1898, Sister Emma Steen, of Richmond,
Indiana, the first Lutheran deaconess to engage in parish work in New
York, was installed in Christ Church. She had received her preparation
for this ministry in the motherhouse at Kaiserswerth on the Rhine, and
was one of the first six sisters to enter the motherhouse of the General
Synod in Baltimore. After four years of faithful service she was
succeeded by Sister Regena Bowe who has now for fifteen years by her
devoted work illustrated the value of the female diaconate in the work
of our churches in New York. Deaconeses are now laboring in seven of
our churches. They are needed in a hundred congregations.
The revival of this office is due to the genius and zeal of Pastor
Fliedner who established the first motherhouse at Kaiserswerth on the
Rhine in 1833. In America there are eight motherhouses with an
enrollment of 378 sisters.*
*In 1885 the author was appointed chairman of a committee of the
General Synod to report on the practicability of establishing the office
of deaconess in the parish work of our American churches. In pursuit of
information he visited the principal Deaconess Houses of Europe. His
reports were published in the Minutes of the Synod from 1887 to 1897 and
contributed to the introduction of the office into the Synod's scheme of
church work.
The years under review, the closing period of the nineteenth century,
were years of stress and storm in our synodical relations. But the
questions that divided us did not stop the practical work of the synods.
Under the stimulus of a generous rivalry some things were accomplished
and foundations were laid for still larger work in the new century.
In the Twentieth Century
1900-1918
Our churches entered the twentieth century with hope and cheer. With an
enrollment of 94 congregations in the greater city and an advance patrol
of many more in the Metropolitan District, it had become an army of
respectable size among the forces striving for the Christian uplift of
our city.
What a contrast between this picture and that of our church at the
beginning of the nineteenth century! Then two moribund congregations
were feebly holding the fort. One of these soon surrendered, "on account
of the present embarrassment of finances." Now a compact army had
already been assembled, while new races and languages were beginning to
reinforce our ranks. Even the English contingent, which had so long
maintained an unequal fight, was securely entrenched in four boroughs
with seventeen congregations on its roll.
At this writing, in May, 1918, we number in Greater New York 160
churches with an enrollment of sixty thousand communicant members. At
the close of the nineteenth century, in 1898, we had 90 churches with
43,691 communicants. The rate of increase in twenty years was 35 per
cent., not very large but sufficiently so to awaken favorable comment
from Dr. Laidlaw, an expert observer of church conditions in this city.
In 1904, in an article in "Federation," on "Oldest New York," he wrote
as follows:
"There are now over fifty Christian bodies in this city, and "Oldest
New York's" history shows the fatuity of expecting that the
heterogeneous population of the present city will all worship in the
same way within the lifetime of its youngest religious worker. Man's
thoughts have not been God's thoughts, nor man's ways God's ways, in the
mingling of races and religions on this island. The Lutheranism that so
sorely struggled for a foothold in the early days is now the second
Protestant communion in numbers, and its recent increment throughout
Greater New York, contributed to by German, Scandinavian, Finnish and
many English Lutheran churches, has exceeded that of any other
Protestant body."
The causes which contributed to our progress in the latter part of the
nineteenth century were still effective. The consolidation of Greater
New York, bringing together into one metropolis the scattered boroughs,
marked the advent of a Greater Lutheran Church in New York. The bridges
and the subways, the telephone and the Catskill Aqueduct, public works
of unprecedented magnitude, were among the material foundations of the
new growth of our churches.
We were beginning to reap in the second and third generations the fruits
of the vast immigration of the nineteenth century.
A new era began for the use of the English language. There had been a
demand for English services as early as 1750, but in the eighteenth and
the greater part of the nineteenth centuries it had not been met. Fifty
years ago, with its two churches, and even twenty-five years ago with
four churches, English was a forlorn hope. The advance began in the last
decade of the 19th century when twelve English churches were organized.
In 1900 there were seventeeen English churches on the roll. Since then
32 have been added, five in Bronx, fifteen in Brooklyn, eleven in
Queens, one in Richmond. Besides these forty-nine churches in which the
English language is used exclusively, almost all of the so-called
foreign churches use English to a greater or less extent as the needs of
the people may require.
But there was a deeper reason for the growth of our church. Ever since
the Luther Centennial of 1883 the young people of our churches had begun
to understand not only the denominational significance of their church
but also something of its inner characteristics and life. In various
groups, in Manhattan, Bronx and Brooklyn, they got together and
organized English congregations in which an intelligent Lutheran
consciousness prevailed.
The Home Mission and Church Exension Boards of the General Synod
recognized the importance of the moment in the metropolis of America and
gave their effective aid. In Brooklyn and Queens the work received large
support from Charles A. Schieren and the Missionary Society with which
he co-operated. Sixteen churches were established through the aid of
this Society. Schieren was a native of Germany but he early saw the
importance of reaching the people in the language which they could best
understand. As a citizen he was public spirited and progressive. From
1894 to 1895 he was mayor of Brooklyn.
The pastors of these incipient congregations were men of vision who had
been attracted to the work in New York by its difficulty and its
opportunity. They came from different seminaries and synodical
associations and they had to minister to congregations in which all
varieties of the older churches were represented. But they soon learned
to cooperate with one another in measures looking to the larger
interests of the entire field. Team work became possible. A stimulus was
given to the work such as had never before been felt in the Lutheran
churches of New York.
A Ministers' Association, to which all Lutheran pastors of the
Metropolitan District, are eligible, was organized in 1904. Its monthly
meetings brought about a mutual understanding and fostered a fraternal
spirit that have been of great value in the promotion of the general
work of the church.
The synod of New York and New England, composed of the English churches
of the New York Ministerium was organized in 1902. It found its special
mission in planting and rearing English missions in the new sections of
the greater city. It has added nine English churches to the roll.
The Synod of New York, a merger of the New York and New Jersey, the
Hartwick and the Franckean synods also devoted itself to the special
task of caring for the English speaking young people. Under its auspices
thirteen new churches have been organized. To the indefatigable labors
of its Superintendent of Missions, Dr. Carl Zinssmeister, much credit is
due for the success of the work.
The Synod of Missouri, although largely a German body, rivals the other
synods in its fostering care of the English work. At least thirteen
English congregations in this city have been organized by "Missouri"
since the beginning of this century.
The relation of the various boroughs to the growth of the church may be
seen from the following figures in which the number of communicants in
1918 is compared with that of 1898.
Boroughs 1898 1918 Increase
Manhattan 21,611 15,928 5,683*
Bronx 2,048 5,932 3,884
Brooklyn 17,405 28,270 10,865
Queens 1,671 7,139 5,468
Richmond 956 1,948 992
43,691 59,217 15,526
*Decrease
The starred figures for Manhattan call attention to the change of
population that has taken place in New York, particularly as it affects
Manhattan. While the total increase of population in New York from 1910
to 1915 was 667,928 there was a decrease in Manhattan of 193,795.
This decrease in numbers, and still more the substitution of Catholic
and Jewish peoples to an unprecedented extent for those of Protestant
antecedents, produced a marked change in the membership of Protestant
churches. The decline in Protestant membership in Manhattan from 1900 to
1910, according to Dr. Laidlaw, amounted to 74,012.
It is not surprising therefore that the Lutheran churches were called
upon to bear their share of the loss. As we have seen, it amounted in
two decades to 5,623 [sic]. Most of this deficit, 4,042, is chargeable
to the churches south of Fourteenth Street, where Protestants of all
denominations fail to hold their own. The balance, 1,837, came from
other churches south of Forty-second Street.
Three churches were added during the past twenty years, Our Saviour
(English) in 1898, Holy Trinity (Slovak) in 1904 and a mission of the
Missouri Synod in 1916 in the Spuyten Duyvil neighborhood, the most
northern point thus far occupied by us on Manhattan.
For three churches gained there is an offset of four churches lost:
Bethlehem in East Sixty-fifth Street, Christ Church in West Fiftieth
Street, Immanuel in East Eighty-third Street and the Danish church in
Yorkville. The Danish church removed to Bronx while the others effected
mergers with sister congregations.
The present indications are that we have come to a standstill on
Manhattan Island and that it is no longer a question of how many
churches we shall build, but how many we shall lose.
Our assets at present may be described as follows: We have thirty
congregations, twenty-six of them owning their houses of worship. The
net value of their property, deducting debts, is $3,160,000. The average
value of each church is $100,000. Besides the thirty organized
congregations there are seven missions in which services are maintained
in the following languages: Finnish, Lettish, Esthonian, Polish, Italian
and Yiddish.
The number of communicants is 15,978. The number of pupils in the Sunday
Schools is 7,245. The number of children in eight parochial schools is
669. The number attending instruction in religion on weekdays, including
catechumens, is 1,580.
But although our churches in Manhattan are declining in numbers while
those of the other boroughs are growing, Manhattan still holds the key
to the city. For generations it will be the community in which the most
serious problems of church and society will have to be studied and
solved. Manhattan has strategical value not merely for Greater New York
but for every city in the land where similar problems must be solved.
If our churches run away from such a field, we shall never gain a
victory else where. If we win here, we shall be entitled to a place in
the legion of honor.
Four higher schools connected with the churches of New York have
endeared themselves to the hearts of their friends and are giving
promise of growing usefulness.
Concordia College originated in St. Matthew's Academy, in 1881. After
years of struggle and sacrifice it was moved to Bronxville in 1908,
where it occupies a valuable property. It has 110 students.
Wagner College was called into being in 1883 in Rochester. It belongs to
the New York Ministerium. Numerous pastors in this city are alumni of
Wagner College. In 1916 it was decided to move the college to New York.
A splendid property of 38 acres was purchased on Grymes Hill near
Stapleton, Staten Island, and in the Fall of 1918 it will take up its
work within the precincts of Greater New York.
Upsala College began as an academy in Brooklyn in 1893. It belongs to
the Swedish Augustana Synod. It was moved to Kenilworth, N. J., in 1898,
and became a college in 1904. Within ten years it has contributed more
than forty pastors, missionaries and teachers to the work of the church.
Hartwick Seminary is on the headwaters of the Susquehanna in Otsego
County. It is a product of the eighteenth century and not of the
twentieth. But since Johann Christopher Kunze, pastor of the Old Swamp
Church, was one of its founders, and since it still contributes pastors
to the work of the churches in New York, in spite of its distance from
the city it must not be overlooked in our mention of the schools of New
York.
Under the auspices of the Inner Mission Society Pastor Buermeyer has
developed a much-needed work among our brothers and sisters who in their
old age or by reason of sickness, loneliness or poverty are not reached
by the ordinary ministrations of the congregation. It is known its the
City Mission and it will doubtless receive the continued support of all
who read carefully the 25th chapter of St. Matthew.
The Hospice for Young Men is another form of Inner Mission work in which
a good beginning has been made.
The Lutheran Society was organized in 1914. "Its object is to promote
the general interests of the Lutheran Church by encouraging a friendly
intercourse among its members." At this writing, in 1918, it numbers
over four hundred members. By bringing together in friendly intercourse
active churchmen of otherwise widely separately congregations and synods
it has contributed materially to a better understanding of the aims and
the tasks of our entire communion.
Under its auspices the quadricentennial anniversary of the Reformation
was celebrated in this city in a manner worthy of the occasion. The
executive secretary of the committee, Pastor O. H. Pannkoke, reports as
follows on the general results of the celebration:
"Two facts are of considerable interest, such as to class them as worthy
of recording as a permanent accomplishment. In the first place we have
had the cooperation in this undertaking of every Lutheran synod
represented in New York, and I believe we have succeeded in carrying
through the undertaking without violating the confidence placed in us by
any section of the Lutheran Church.
"In the second place, our Committee has injected into the general
Reformation influence the question of the wider influence of the
Reformation. Practically every section of the country has taken up the
discussion of the religious influence of the Reformation, also of the
influence of the Reformation on every side of life."
On the roll of Former Pastors, in the Appendix, are recorded the names
of men who laid the foundations of the present congregations. Their
labors and their sacrifices entitle them to a place in a book of
remembrance. Some names are missing. We tried hard to obtain them. For
these lacunae we offer our apologies to the historians of the next
centennial. In 1918 we were still struggling with the problem of
statistics.
Nowhere are ministers forgotten so soon as here in New York. The
congregations themselves are rapidly engulphed in the ceaseless tides
of humanity that sweep over the island. Now and then some beloved
pastor is remembered by some faithful friends, but in a few years the
very names of the men who built the churches are forgotten. Like the
knights of old:
"Their swords are rust,
Their steeds are dust.
Their souls are with the saints we trust."
Before ending the story of which a faint outline has here been given, we
recall with affection and reverence some of the men whose outstanding
personality has not yet faded from our memory. Their labors prepared the
ground for the harvests which a younger generation is now permitted to
reap.
Stohlmann was the connecting link with the earlier periods. He was an
able preacher, a warm hearted pastor and a conscientious man.
Geissenhainer, the pastor of St. Paul's, which he organized in 1841
after having been an assistant of his father in St. Matthew's since
1826, was another connecting link with the past.
Held of St. John's was a pupil of Claus Harms. His eloquent sermons
attracted great congregations to Christopher Street.
After fourteen fruitful years in St. James' Church, Wedekind was called
to Christopher Street in November, 1878, to succeed Pastor Held. Here he
labored for twelve years, edifying the church and inspiring St. John's
to bcome one of our most efficient congregations. Under his direction at
least four young men of the congregation were led into the ministry. He
died April 8, 1897.
[illustration: "Augustus Charles Wedekind, D.D."]
Under a quiet exterior Krotel concealed a forceful personality. He was a
born leader and took a large part in the development of the General
Council. As editor of the Lutherischer Herold for three years and of The
Lutheran for many years his writings had a wide influence. From 1868 to
1895 he was pastor of Holy Trinity Church. In 1896, in the 71st year of
his age, he accepted a call to the newly organized Church of the Advent,
which he served until his death on May 17th, 1907. Under the pen name of
Insulanus he delighted the readers of The Lutheran for forty years with
his reflections on men and things in New York. Among his published works
are a Life of Melanchthon, Meditations on the Beatitudes and
Explanations of Luther's Catechism.
Julius Ehrhardt was an unassuming, lovable and scholarly Suabian. He
laid the foundations of St. Paul's in Harlem, when the little wooden
church stood among the truck gardens. He died in 1899.
Moldenke was a descendant of Salzburg exiles who settled in East Prussia
in 1731. He came to us from Wisconsin, organized Zion Church which was
subsequently merged with St. Peter's after he had accepted a call to
succeed Hennicke in that church. He was an able preacher and a scholarly
writer. Under his leadership St. Peter's became a strong congregation.
In 1872 he contributed a series of articles on _Die Lutheraner des
Ostens_ to Der Pilger of Reading. A reprint of these articles in book
form would be a valuable contribution to the story of the Lutherans of
New York and a fitting memorial of a minister of mark and influence.
Johann Heinrich Sieker was born in Schweinfurth, Bavaria, October 23d,
1839. He received his theological education at Gettysburg. His early
ministry was in connection with the Wisconsin Synod. In 1876, when
Ruperti resigned at St. Matthew's, Sieker was called from St. Paul,
Minnesota, to become his successor. For 28 years he was the pastor of
St. Matthew's and a leading minister of the Missouri Synod. In
synodical matters he was an uncompromising defender of the faith as he
understood it. He left the record of a singularly devoted and successful
ministry. At least thirty young men were led into the ministry under his
influence. Roesner's "Ehrendenkmal," a sketch of his life and character,
ought to be read by every Lutheran minister in this city. He died in
1904.
John Jacob Young was a native of the Rhenish Palatinate, born at
Langenkandel, September 13th, 1846. He came to America in his boyhood.
He served in the Union army during the Civil War. When the war was over
he studied for the ministry at Gettysburg. He served a number of
congregations in Maryland and Indiana till 1893, when he was called to
the pastorate of St. John's in Christopher Street. Here for 21 years he
faithfully followed his calling as a shepherd of souls.
Charles Armand Miller came to us from the South. He was born in
Sheperdstown, West Virginia, March 7, 1864. He was educated at Roanoke
College and after his ordination he was for a time pastor of the College
Church. He succeeded Dr. Krotel in Holy Trinity Church in 1896 and gave
twelve years of devoted and successful service to this congregation. His
subsequent fields of labor were in Charleston, South Carolina, and in
Philadelphia. He was a scholarly writer, an able preacher, a sympathetic
pastor and a loyal friend. Among his published writings were The Perfect
Prayer, The Sacramental Feast, The Way to the Cross and a volume of
poems entitled Ad Astra.
[illustration: "Pastor J. H. Sieker"]
He died in the prime of his life, September 9th, 1917. Who that knew him
will ever forget the genial spirit of Charles Armand Miller?
It would be a congenial task to give a fuller account of these men and
of Ruperti, Vorberg, Raegener, Hennicke, Waetter, Foehlinger, Koenig,
Halfmann, Frey, Weissel, Beyer and others whose names and lives a few of
the older preachers will recall. Perhaps some who read this book will
accept the suggestion and write accounts of these pioneer workmen. What
a Ministers' Association they would have formed if we could have gotten
them together into a conference to discuss the terms of agreement. But
that was impossible thirty years ago.
A singularly interesting career came to a close just as I was concluding
these memorial paragraphs. Dr. Charles E. Weltner died in Brunswick,
Georgia, December 22d, 1917.
He was born in Wilhelmshoehe, January 28th, 1860, where his father
commanded a company of soldiers in the royal castle. In his early youth
he was sent to New York to meet a relative whom he never found. One
Sunday morning, homeless and friendless, he accosted me after service at
the door of the church. I offered him employment in my office and for
several years he was an efficient helper in the educational and mission
work of my parish. Although he was already suffering from defective
eyesight, which not long afterward resulted in total blindness, he
expressed an ardent desire to enter the ministry. Under the
circumstances this seemed to be impossible, but his earnest pleas
overcame every objection. In 1884 he entered Hartwick Seminary where he
was graduated with honor in 1888. Unable himself to read the text books,
his friends read them for him. Especially helpful to him in his studies
were Professor Hiller and his wife, the daughter of the sainted Dr.
George B. Miller.
Upon the completion of his course in 1888 he was ordained to the Gospel
ministry and for the next four years rendered faithful service as the
assistant of his pastor in Christ Church. Few that heard him would have
suspected his blindness. His remarkable memory enabled him in conducting
the Service to use the Bible and the Liturgy as though he could see. In
the library he could go to the shelves and place his hands upon the
books that he needed. His reader then supplied him with the material
needed for study.
In 1893 he took temporary charge of St. John's Church in Christopher
Street.
In the Fall of 1893 he accepted a call to St. Matthew's Church in
Augusta, Georgia. His retirement in 1896 to take charge of a mission
among the cotton mill operatives of Columbia, S. C., was deeply
regretted not only by his congregation but by the entire city.