Missions – Page 2 – What Does This Mean?

Early Years of Friedrich Wyneken

Encore Post: 216 years ago, on May 13, 1810, Friedrich Conrad Dietrich Wyneken was born in what would soon become the Kingdom of Hanover. On the 22nd, Fritz’s proud father, Pastor Heinrich Christoph Wyneken, baptized his youngest son at his parish, St. Andreas of Verden.

The Young Fritz Wyneken was the tenth of eleven children. He joined a family of dedicated and prominent servants of heavenly and earthly kingdoms. When Fritz was five years old, his father died, leaving his mother, Louise, to raise their eleven children. To accomplish this, she depended on a meager church pension, took in boarders, and called on family and friends to make ends meet.

Friedrich attended a Gymnasium in his hometown of Verden. At age seventeen, he enrolled at the University of Göttingen, the traditional Wyneken alma mater. After one year in Göttingen, Friedrich enrolled in the Theological Faculty at the University of Halle, where he remained until he graduated two and a half years later. At Halle, Friedrich found a mentor in Augustus Tholuck, a leader of the 19th-century German Awakening and supporter of the Prussian Union. During Friedrich’s years at Halle, Tholuck taught courses in New Testament, Dogmatics, and the History of Doctrine. Through his influence, Wyneken became an “awakened” and “believing” Christian.

Upon graduation, Wyneken served as a private instructor in the home of Consistorial Counselor von Henfstengel at Leesum, a town near Bremen. The area was a stronghold for the Awakening and a place where Friedrich Wyneken would grow both in his faith in Christ and zeal for missions. After four years in Leesum, he briefly served in a few other positions. His education and experience had made him into a strong, convinced pietist.

Wyneken returned to Germany in 1837, fully groomed for a promising career in the Church. He would soon read accounts of the spiritual needs of German Lutherans on the American frontier in mission societies’ journals. Perhaps he read the reports of survey missionaries, sent out by the Pennsylvania Ministerium to measure the need and do what they could to meet it. Perhaps it was the letters of F. A. Schmidt, pastor in southwest Michigan, who served as a missionary of the Basil
Mission Society. In any case, what Wyneken learned about German Lutherans in America set off a struggle in the young man’s heart. He came to the conclusion that God was calling him to serve on the American frontier.

At peace with God and sure of his decision, Friedrich Wyneken obtained release from his duties as a tutor. After a memorable candidate’s examination, he was ordained at Stade with fellow candidate C. W. Wolf. General Superintendent Ruperti, his sister’s father-in-law, conducted the rite at St. Wilhadi Church of Stade on 8 May 1837. With the help of Gottfried Treviranus, the Reformed pastor of St. Martin Church in Bremen, Wyneken and Wolf made the acquaintance of Captain Stuerje, who provided the pair of missionaries free passage to America on his ship, the Brig Apollo.

Originally posted at What does this Mean? Blog: https://whatdoesthismean.blog

The posts in the blog What does this Mean? are now available at What does this Mean? | Rev. Robert E. Smith | Substack

Rev. Robert E. Smith
Pastor Emeritus
Fort Wayne, Indiana

Meet Fritz Wyneken

Encore Post: The Young Fritz Wyneken was the tenth of eleven children, the sixth of six sons. He joined a family of dedicated and prominent servants of heavenly and earthly kingdoms. One uncle served as the Court Preacher of the King of Hanover, another the commander of the Queen of Denmark’s bodyguard, and a brother the Rector of a seminary. Other Wynekens served as pastors and officers in various occupations in Denmark and Germany.

When Friedrich was five years old, his father died, leaving his mother, Louise, to raise their eleven children. To accomplish this, she depended on a meager church pension, took in boarders, and called on family and friends to make ends meet.

Friedrich attended a Gymnasium in his hometown of Verden. At age seventeen, he enrolled at the University of Göttingen, the traditional Wyneken alma mater. Yet the school’s strict atmosphere and its students’ vulgar behavior proved intolerable to the young man. After one semester, Friedrich enrolled in the University of Halle’s Theological Faculty, where he remained until he graduated two and a half years later.

At Halle, Friedrich found a mentor in Augustus Tholuck, a leader of the 19th-century German Awakening and supporter of the Prussian Union. During Friedrich’s years at Halle, Tholuck taught courses in New Testament, Dogmatics, and the History of Doctrine.

Through his influence, Wyneken became an “awakened” and “believing” Christian. Upon graduation, Wyneken served as a private instructor in the home of Consistorial Counselor von Henfstengel at Leesum, a town near Bremen. The area was a stronghold for the Awakening and a place where Friedrich Wyneken would grow both in his faith in Christ and zeal for missions. No doubt his relatives played a part in this development, since many of them lived in the area. After four years in Leesum, he briefly served as the director of a Latin School in Bremervörde and then as a private instructor of a boy, whose health required him to live in Italy and the South of France.

Wyneken’s education and experience had made him into a strong, convinced pietist, full of zeal for the Lord and “a fanatic full of fire to oppose strict churchhness.” Wyneken returned to Germany in 1837, fully groomed for a promising career in the church. Then he read accounts of the spiritual needs of German Lutherans on the American frontier in mission society journals. Everything changed.

Originally posted at What does this Mean? Blog: https://whatdoesthismean.blog

The posts in the blog What does this Mean? are now available at What does this Mean? | Rev. Robert E. Smith | Substack

Rev. Robert E. Smith
Pastor Emeritus
Fort Wayne, Indiana

Church Words: The Church

[First in a series of posts on church words]

Encore Post:

A little Sunday School song shows a few of the many ways we use the word church in English: “The church is not a building. The church is not a steeple. The church is not a resting place. The church is a people.” The problem, of course, is that it is all of these!

The meanings of two ancient Greek words merge together into our English term. The word church itself comes to us from the phrase κυριακός οἰκία (kuriakos oikia = the Lord’s house), used by the early church, it passed through Germanic and Scandinavian languages (think kirk and kirche), and means the place where Christians gather to worship. (so… it is a building!) The other word, ἐκκλησία (ekklesia = an assembly called together), means both a local congregation and all Christians worldwide. This is the term used for “church” in the New Testament. (so.. it is a people!)

Besides these two meanings, we use the word church to refer to what Christian people do in this building — we talk about going to church and going to worship. There is some reason to do so. In the Smalcald Articles, Luther says:

God be praised, a seven-year-old child knows what the church is: holy believers and “the little sheep who hear the voice of their shepherd.” This is why children pray in this way, “I believe in one holy Christian church.” This holiness does not consist of surplices, tonsures, long albs, or other ceremonies of theirs that they have invented over and above the Holy Scriptures. Its holiness exists in the Word of God and true faith. — Smalcald Articles 3.12.2

Yet the main way we use the word is for the whole church in heaven and on earth. It comprises all who have ever trusted in God’s promises, especially those to save us. The first generations of Missouri Synod pastors tended to use the word kirche (church) for the invisible church (that term in another post), synode (synod) for church bodies, and gemeinde (local community) for congregations. It is this church that has one Lord, one faith, and one God the Father. (Ephesians 4:4-5) They are “the assembly of all believers and saints” (Augsburg Confession 1.8)

Originally posted at What does this Mean? Blog: https://whatdoesthismean.blog

The posts in the blog What does this Mean? are now available at What does this Mean? | Rev. Robert E. Smith | Substack

Rev. Robert E. Smith
Pastor Emeritus
Fort Wayne, Indiana

©2019-2026 Robert E. Smith. All rights reserved. Permission granted to copy, share and display freely for non-commercial purposes. Direct all other rights and permissions inquiries to cosmithb@msn.com.

Who do you think you are?

[Seventy-first in a series of posts on Martin Luther’s Small Catechism]

Encore Post:

“What are you going to be when you grow up?” American adults love to ask children. We teach our youth to dream. If you work hard enough, there is no limit to what you can do or be. You might even be President of the United States someday! We grow up trying to find ourselves. And when we get to age eighteen, we go off to “find ourselves” in the world or college. Yet in doing so, we miss some very important things we already have and a call, a vocation, every Christian has. It begins with knowing not who you are, but whose you are.

You see, you belong to God. When you were lost in the darkness of sin and death, Jesus came and sought you to be his holy bride. With his own blood, he bought you, and for your life, he died. Not with silver or gold were you bought back from sin, the devil, and death, but with his precious blood and his suffering and death. He did this for a purpose — not that you would move along the path to the American Dream or self-fulfillment, but that you would live with him in his kingdom forever.

It is in his kingdom that we have our most sacred call. We are called to be a royal priesthood, a holy nation, set apart to be his favorite possession. (1 Peter 2) A priest is someone who stands between a god and his people. His role is to bring the god’s instructions and blessings to people and their prayers and their sacrifices to the god. Our role as the nation of the priests of the Holy Trinity is to bring the good news of salvation to the nations and to pray for them, calling on God to have mercy on them.

This Priesthood of All Believers, as Martin Luther called it, has received God’s call to forgive sins for Christ’s sake, to proclaim the good news to all the ends of the earth, to baptize and to teach them. Together we have done these things for 2000 years and counting. As God’s church, we primarily do this through the men God has called to represent us — our pastors. Yet we do not sit back and watch. We are all his priests, his messengers, his witnesses to everyone. This is who you really are.

Originally posted at What does this Mean? Blog: https://whatdoesthismean.blog

The posts in the blog What does this Mean? are now available at What does this Mean? | Rev. Robert E. Smith | Substack

Rev. Robert E. Smith
Pastor Emeritus
Fort Wayne, Indiana

Meet Wilhelm Löhe

Encore Post: 154 years ago, Wilhelm Löhe was the pastor of a small, rural parish in Neuendettelsau, Bavaria. He was a leader in Germany’s then-new Confessionalist movement. Because of this role, he always had a strained relationship with the leaders of his church body and so was kept out of the way — or so they thought.

Löhe was a man of boundless energy, persuasive when advocating a cause, and highly skilled at marshaling talent and funds to accomplish a goal. In 1842, he read Friedrich Wyneken‘s appeals for the spiritual need of German Lutherans on the American frontier and his stirring plea for pastors. Löhe published his own appeal. He arranged to meet Wyneken to publish a polished version of the missionary’s appeal, titled Die Noth der deutschen Lutheraner in Nordamerika (The Need of the German Lutherans in North America). These appeals caused donations to flow in, and soon, second-career men volunteered to meet the need.

But Loha was just getting started. With his friend Johann Friedrich Wucherer, he provided a basic education to second-career men who volunteered to go to America. Soon they founded a mission society, raised funds, wrote manuals, instructions, and churchly books. He at first sent these men and donations to the Ohio Synod’s seminary in Columbus, Ohio. When cultural and theological differences made that no longer possible, he worked with Wilhelm Sihler, pastor at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church of Fort Wayne, Indiana, to found a “practical seminary” — an institution focused on providing pastors for the church as quickly as possible. In October 1846, this institution opened in his parsonage. This institution is now known as Concordia Theological Seminary — but that is another story!

Wilhelm Löhe, his friends, and his small parish were just getting started, though. Seeing the suffering of the poor, the ill, the widowed, and the orphaned, he revived the office of deaconess. He also sent men and material to the Wartburg Seminary and its church body, the Iowa Synod (now a part of the ELCA), to Australia, the German colonists of Russia, and other places. To provide a Christian witness to native Americans, he organized and founded Frankenmuth, Michigan, and neighboring communities. His liturgies and worship books became the foundation of the Missouri Synod’s liturgy.

At the age of 63, Wilhelm Löhe died still serving as the pastor of his rural parish on January 2, 1872. He is buried where he served. His institutions still continue to this day, serving God and his church worldwide.

Originally posted at What does this Mean? Blog: https://whatdoesthismean.blog

The posts in the blog What does this Mean? are now available at What does this Mean? | Rev. Robert E. Smith | Substack

Rev. Robert E. Smith
Pastor Emeritus
Fort Wayne, Indiana

Last Things #14: The Missing Millennium

[Twenty-Third in a series of posts on Last Things] Encore Post: Called the “Jewish opinion” by the Lutheran Confessions, the belief in a Millennium comes from a face value reading of Old Testament prophecy and poetry about the Church or about eternal life with God after the Second Advent. It also treats the Book of Revelation, written in a symbolic code called apocalyptic, in a similar way. By doing so, it uses difficult to understand passages to complicate the very clear words of Jesus, Peter, Paul, and other New Testament writers. It is the view of the Pharisees that caused them to rule out Jesus as the Messiah, because he did not intend to battle the Romans and to miss that the Scriptures pointed to the birth, life, sufferings, death, and Resurrection of the Son of God.

The word itself comes from Revelation 20, where the reign of Christ through his church is described as 1000 years. This number is not a literal 1000 years, but is Jewish numerology. The number ten meant to them perfection, and when multiplied by three, the number of God, it means everything is completed. It points to our times when the Gospel has reached every corner of the earth.

While it may seem harmless to believe such things, it detracts from what Christ has commanded us to do. It reads every event, looking for the return of Christ. Instead, we should be ready, as Jesus instructs us, making disciples of all nations by baptizing and teaching them, knowing he is with us always.

Originally posted at What does this Mean? Blog: https://whatdoesthismean.blog

The posts in the blog What does this Mean? are now available at What does this Mean? | Rev. Robert E. Smith | Substack

Rev. Robert E. Smith

Pastor Emeritus

Fort Wayne, Indiana

©2018, 2023 Robert E. Smith. All rights reserved. Permission granted to copy, share and display freely for non-commercial purposes. Direct all other rights and permissions inquiries to cosmithb@gmail.com

Last Things 7G: Stay Awake! Don’t Close Your Eyes!

[Thirteenth in a series of posts on last things] Encore Post: Even with the effects of the fall, the world can be very sweet, pleasant, and beautiful. When God finished creating the world, he stood back, looked it all over and said, “very good.” (Genesis 1:31) Even after sin entered the world, bringing with it death, sorrow, grief, pain, disease, and disaster, the hand of the creator is present everywhere. Breathtaking sunrises and sunsets, seashore views and gentle, warm breezes, mountain valleys and peaks all speak to us of his majesty. Even cloud patterns before a storm cause us to admire his majesty. There is the pleasure of the presence of loved ones, holding your child or grandchild for the first time.

Life is very precious to us. It absorbs us in planning, working towards goals, saving, dreaming, and enjoying the many gifts God gives to us. We deal with it as best as we can with the tragedies of life, but there are long stretches of time when we think it will never end. We forget that this world—and, more to the point, our world — is passing away. We go to sleep spiritually. The work that God calls us to do, especially to witness to the Good News of salvation in Jesus, doesn’t seem quite so important. When sports tournaments are held on Sunday, we skip worship to watch our kids compete. We put caring for the poor, contributing to the work of the church with our resources and time second; we put off uncomfortable conversations with loved ones who wander from the faith.

Yet it is very much at times like these that our Lord will return for us. He will do so suddenly, without warning, the way that the flood came in the day of Noah, the way the sudden attacks on Pearl Harbor Day and 9/11 came. It may be at the end of time or at the end of our time. It is why Jesus calls on us to stay awake! We remember he came at the fullness of time, lived the perfect life for us, suffered and died for us, rose again for us, and ascended to prepare a place for us. And so we set the watch, day and night, knowing that he is coming for us. In the meantime, we work for the day, and the time will come when we can no longer work. All the while, we pray: Come, Lord Jesus, come!

Originally posted at What does this Mean? Blog: https://whatdoesthismean.blog

The posts in the blog What does this Mean? are now available at What does this Mean? | Rev. Robert E. Smith | Substack

Rev. Robert E. Smith

Pastor Emeritus

Fort Wayne, Indiana

The Great Library of Alexandria

Encore Post: Ptolemy I, one of Alexander the Great’s generals, claimed the throne of Egypt and painted a layer of Greek culture over the top of Pharaonic Egypt. He claimed he was a true pharaoh, which also his heirs did. He assumed the gods, trappings, and some customs of ancient Egypt. His dynasty lasted until the death of his descendant, Cleopatra, and the Roman conquest of Egypt.

His son, Ptolemy II Philadelphus, enriched the capital of Alexandria, building the two great wonders of the world — the lighthouse of Pharos, which guided navigation on the Mediterranean Sea for nearly 100 miles until its destruction in the 14th Century, and the Ancient Library of Alexandria. He became an aggressive collector of books, including the searching of incoming ships. Copies of these books were made, and the copy was given to the owner. The originals ended up in the Library of Alexandria. According to tradition, Ptolemy II commissioned the translation of the Old Testament into Greek. Known as the Septuagint and abbreviated LXX, this translation was quoted by the writers of the New Testament when they mentioned the Old Testament.

The Ptolemies were defenders of the Jewish people. As a result, the largest Jewish population outside of Israel settled in Alexandria. One of these Jews, Philo of Alexandria, became the most prominent philosopher of Judaism in ancient times.

God prepared the way for His Son when He installed the Ptolemies. They provided a home for his people where they could be safe, learn Greek culture, and be introduced to the Scriptures. With the translation of the Septuagint, he provided the Apostles with a tool accessible to the pagan world around them, where the church grew and thrived.

Originally posted at What does this Mean? Blog: https://whatdoesthismean.blog

The posts in the blog What does this Mean? are now available at What does this Mean? | Rev. Robert E. Smith | Substack

Rev. Robert E. Smith

Pastor Emeritus

Fort Wayne, Indiana

Note: This series of blog posts is available as a Kindle book and eventually as a print booklet at: Amazon.com: Preparation for the Gospel. Please note the author makes a small profit on the sale of this book.

Alexander the Great

Encore Post: Alexander the Great, King of Macedonia, one of the greatest generals in history, reigned in Macedonia and Greece beginning in 336 B.C. and reigned until 323 B.C. He conquered Greece, Persia, Egypt, and Palestine. As a student of Aristotle, he had a vision of extending the Greek language and culture throughout his lands and merging the peoples of his empire into a unified nation. At his death, the vision of a single empire died, but three large kingdoms, ruled by his generals and their heirs, emerged and established Greek culture throughout the Western world.

In 277 B.C., after years of civil war, the empire was divided into three hereditary kingdoms: one under Ptolemy in Egypt, Macedonia and Greece under Antigonus II, and the Seleucid Empire in Syria, Palestine, and Asia. These kingdoms shared the same language, Koine (Common) Greek, the same culture, philosophy, love of learning, and a similar appreciation for sports. Even the up-and-coming Roman Republic, which came early to absorb Greek colonies in southern Italy, came to appreciate much of Greek culture and to use common Greek to communicate with other nations.

God used Alexander and the Greeks, then, to prepare the way for the birth of his Son. Jesus may have taught in Greek and communicated in Greek. The New Testament was written in that language, and it used the Greek translation of the Old Testament when quoting Scripture. Paul also employed this language and its common culture to share the Good News of salvation through the death and resurrection of Jesus.

Because of this common culture, the disciples of Jesus established the church throughout the entire Roman world within one generation.

Originally posted at What does this Mean? Blog: https://whatdoesthismean.blog

The posts in the blog What does this Mean? are now available at What does this Mean? | Rev. Robert E. Smith | Substack

Rev. Robert E. Smith

Pastor Emeritus

Fort Wayne, Indiana

The Harvest is Plentiful

Encore Post: Our Lord Jesus Christ liked to use agricultural imagery when teaching about the Kingdom of God. On one such occasion he talked about the sower recklessly sowing his seed. Sowing seed anticipates having a harvest.

In the Midwest United States, corn is finally being planted after a long and grueling winter. The farmers are working hard to prepare the ground for the seed hoping for a bountiful harvest. They fertilize and treat the ground to make the seed bed as fertile as possible.

Likewise the seminaries of Ft. Wayne and St. Louis have been cultivating not the ground but men to serve as pastors. They have worked hard to send these men into the the Lord’s fields to plant the seed of our Lord’s Gospel. Soon they will be planted in their first calls working in the Lord’s fields of their respective congregations. What a joyful time!

Jesus tells His disciples in Matthew 9:37-38, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefor pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send laborers into his harvest.” Our Lord anticipates a great harvest not of grain but of souls. But how can there be a harvest if no one hears the Gospel?

It is nothing short of astonishing, at least in my mind, that just as soon as Jesus tells his disciples to pray for more workers he answers his own plea. For in Matthew 10 Jesus answers the prayer. He sends his disciples out, giving them authority but also to preach the kingdom of heaven is at hand. This vocation is serious business. Looking at the end of the Gospel Jesus again gives authority to his disciples, also giving the mandate to baptize and teach the nations all that He taught them.

And these men being called to work in the harvest fields now have the same mandate, to baptize and to teach in their respective congregations. They are to preach Law and Gospel, that by their preaching faith may be created. They are to sow Jesus’ Gospel, to plant that seed. All Pastors are called to be workers in the field. Yet it is the Lord who gives the growth. It He who produces a harvest.

As the Franzmann hymn says in the final stanza, “The Harvest Lord Who gave the sower seed to sow will watch and tend His planted Word.” May we always trust in the Lord and promise that His word never returns void.

Rev. Jacob Hercamp
Christ Lutheran Church
Noblesville, Indiana