Monday, September 30, 2013

Reflections on the ECAV v ČR for the 20th Anniversary


The following article is a translation of "Kristův úřad ve světě" by Rev. James Krikava from Evangelicus, Reformation 2013, a publication of the Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession in the Czech Republic (ECAVvČR). 


Christ’s Ministry to the World
by Rev. James Krikava

As the Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession in the Czech Republic (ECAVvČR) celebrates the 20th anniversary of her founding, it is well for us to reflect upon the many blessing bestowed upon her with thanksgiving to God, our Father, whose love for fallen mankind so moved Him to send His only-begotten Son, becoming true Man, yet very God, without sin, that He might redeem mankind by His holy life and His atoning sacrifice upon the cross as the payment for the sins of the world. By His victorious resurrection from the grave, by which all power in heaven and on earth has been given to Him, Christ has established His ministry of the Word, by which God the Holy Spirit creates and sustains faith in the hearts of all believers and accomplishes His mission in the world. As the foundational symbol, after which the ECAVvČR is named, says, “To obtain such faith God instituted the office of the ministry, that is, provided the Gospel and the sacraments. Through these, as through means, he gives the Holy Spirit, who works faith, when and where he pleases, in those who hear the Gospel. And the Gospel teaches that we have a gracious God, not by our own merits but by the merit of Christ, when we believe this” (AC V:1-3). Indeed, this is what we who believe celebrate on an anniversary occasion such as this.

But as Christ was both God and Man in one person, so the ministry of the Spirit has both a divine and human side to it. The divine side is clear, as St. Peter references the prophet Isaiah, “‘The word of the Lord remains forever.’ And this word is the Gospel that was preached to you” (1 Pt 1:25). This Gospel, which is preached to you, while divine, is presented in a very human way, suited for our humanity. St. Paul says, “We have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us” (2 Cor. 4:7). For “we are not sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God, who also made us sufficient as ministers of the New Testament, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life” (2 Cor 3:5-6). The letter that kills is the law, and by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin” (Rm 3:20). But the Spirit that gives life is the Gospel, that is, the forgiveness of sins, that through this Man the forgiveness of sins is preached to you; and by Him everyone who believes is justified from all things from which you could not be justified by the law” (Acts 13:38-39).  

If the very apostles of Christ could claim nothing as coming from themselves in the mission of the Church, how much more must the Church in mission today make this claim? This is a matter for sober contemplation as the Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession looks back on 20 years of grace in the Czech Republic. To this end, and as one who worked in this mission field, I have been asked to reflect on the following questions: 1) In what condition was the church when you came? (V jakém stavu byla církev, když jsi do ní přišel?) 2) What emphases did you bring to the church? (Jaké důrazy jsi do ni vnesl?) and 3) Can you explain the idea with which you guided the church and the goal of the path toward which we have taken steps? (Můžeš vysvětlit ideu, se kterou jsi církev směroval a cíl cesty, na kterou jsme nakročili?)

I. In what condition was the church when you came?

No doubt this question refers to the condition of the emerging ECAVvČR at its inception. It was a chaotic time when only 3 years after the “Velvet Revolution” Czechoslovakia found itself on the verge of a “Velvet Divorce,” which would leave the Slovak Lutheran congregation in Prague organizationally cut off from her mother church in the soon to be established Slovak Republic. Ironically, the terms of the “divorce” included a grandfather clause, which allowed the Slovak congregation in Prague to become registered as its own Lutheran Church in the newly established Czech Republic. The congregation had to act quickly in order to take advantage of the opportunity. A constitution had to be hastily put together, which included the essential statement acknowledging the Holy Scriptures as the very Word of God and the sole source of doctrine and life in the church, and holding to all the Lutheran Confessions contained in the Book of Concord because they are a correct exposition of Scripture regarding the articles of faith treated therein. In my mind, that was the condition in which I found the ECAVvČR when I came, the one condition without which it would have been impossible to work together with blessing.

This, however, was not the main question I was really asking myself at the time. Before coming to Prague and finding a lone Slovak Lutheran congregation meeting at St. Michael’s church in Jirchářích, I had spent several years working in Plzeň as a Lutheran missionary sent by a small American Lutheran Church known as the Evangelical Lutheran Synod (ELS). It was founded in the 19th century by Norwegian immigrants who settled in the American Mid-West. By the time I was born in the mid 1950s this church was, for the most part, Americanized. That is, it had made the transition from Norwegian to English as had the larger Lutheran churches of German, Swedish and other ethnic extractions.

Still, there were certain elements of ethnic heritage that seemed to cling to these so-called American Lutheran churches. Some were innocent enough, like the annual Lutefisk Festivals (cod fish preserved in lye with the distinct flavor of soap) among the Scandinavian Lutherans or the Oktoberfest celebrated by the Germans. But some were not so innocuous. During the 18th and 19th centuries, when most of these Lutherans came to America the Lutheran Church was imbued with the spirit of “Pietism,” a movement that began in the late 17th century as a reaction against the dogmatism of the period of Lutheran Orthodoxy following the Reformation era. To a great extent, what was imported to America by the immigrants was a Lutheranism with a different spirit than Luther, Chemnitz, and others, who solidified the Reformation faith with the Book of Concord of 1580.

What came to America was a Lutheranism with an anti-clerical bent, stressing a universal priesthood that could govern itself and was suspicious of the intellectualism of the ordained clergy. Certain acts of piety were required as indispensible signs of true faith. Lutheran Orthodoxy in matters of Christian doctrine was construed as unloving and the errors of heterodox churches were met with a sympathetic ear so long as “Christian piety” was evident. The training of pastors in the traditional theological disciplines waned, giving more prominence to devotional life and acts of piety. With the need to assimilate into English, fluency in German and Latin became casualties of the great melting pot of the new American culture, and with it the writings of Luther and other important Lutheran Reformers were lost for generations.

By this neglect, the preaching of the objective truths of Scripture in the form of Law and Gospel, sin and grace, repentance and the forgiveness of sins, gave way to subjectivism and its stress on the fruits of the Christian life over against the objective truths of Scripture. And the chief article of the faith, the doctrine of justification by faith alone without the deeds of the law (AC IV) was pushed into the background enough that Lutherans found themselves embracing the rugged individualism of Wesleyan Methodism or worse, incorporating reformed hymns into Lutheran hymnals and eroding the old Lutheran liturgy at every turn, including the removal of the Lord’s Supper from the regular Sunday service and a rejection of Lutheran liturgical richness and ceremonial in favor of the emotional appeal of American Reformed Revivalism.

Not that there weren’t good Lutheran theologians who stood face to the wind against these trends. There were. Men like Charles Porterfield Krauth struggled for a rebirth of authentic Lutheranism in the pietistic environment of Lutheranism in the eastern states. In the Mid-West men like Carl Ferdinand Wilhelm Walther, the first president of the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod, and Ulrik Vilhelm Koren, the “patriarch of Norwegian American Lutherans,” played significant roles in the renewal of Confessional Lutheranism among their German and Norwegian immigrant flocks. A golden thread of orthodox men continued to weave its way through the fabric of the American Lutheran landscape in the struggle for authentic Lutheranism through the generations to come. But the wave that washed onto the American shore was so great that no one escaped getting wet. We were all baptized with the waters of pietism, some driven toward the subjectivism of liberal theology by which the Scriptures and the Lutheran Confessions were made to conform to the church’s pious self-consciousness rather than being informed by them; others driven toward a legalistic Biblicism, by which Christ as the center of all fell into obscurity, and with it much of the richness of Lutheran theology and liturgical practice.

What was needed was a fresh look at nascent Lutheranism, which might by-pass the rationalism of liberal Lutheranism, the pietism of conservative Lutheranism, and, to some extent, even the age of Lutheran orthodoxy. From the mid 20th century this new kind of ad fontes approach to understanding Lutheranism began to emerge. By the 1960s the American Edition of Luther’s Works appeared with over 50 volumes in English, and over the following decades important writings of Martin Chemnitz, the so-called “second Martin” of the Reformation, were also published in English.

Pandora’s Box had been opened, and just in time for my own theological formation as a young student at our Lutheran theological faculty. The effect was revelatory. Our class was privileged to study under some of the best minds of our synod’s history. Most influential among them was the Rev. Dr. Bjarne W. Teigen, who taught Symbolics, Liturgics, and Church History. Through his own research he inspired his classes to look critically at the state of Lutheranism in America, particularly in the area of sacramental theology, which heretofore had been uncritically accepted from the 17th century Lutheran dogmaticians. Dr. Teigen introduced us to significant modern Luther scholars such as the Rev. Professor Dr. Hermann Sasse and his most prized student, the Rev. Dr. Tom G. A. Hardt, among others. Their monumental research on Luther’s understanding of the Lord’s Supper, together with Dr. Tiegen’s own research on the same in the theology of Martin Chemnitz, perhaps more than anything else, revealed aspects of pietism in the American Lutheran churches we called confessional, including our own.

Being part of this emerging critic of American Lutheranism in the light of renewed Luther scholarship would prove to be of great value on the foreign mission field. In the American parishes to which we were assigned after ordination, the wheels of change turned ever so slowly. Attempts to heighten awareness of a more prominent role of the sacraments in the life of God’s people were met with resistance, and progress required methodical and evangelical patience. Not only that, but the synodical leadership was inclined to defend the status quo driven more by the traditions of Pietism tied to ethnic loyalty than by the renewed study of Luther and the Confessions. It was an uphill battle, and still is.

So, when then the Velvet Revolution took place in 1989, and our American Lutheran Church sent me to Czechoslovakia to attempt mission work there, the question on my mind was not: “In what condition was the ECAVvČR when I came?” but, “In what condition was the American church when I came?” Was she even theologically mature enough to carry out the noble task of Lutheran mission work abroad? Or was she only capable of exporting her own brand of Lutheranism, pietistic warts and all, to a new land? 

II. What emphases did you bring to the church?

In the Czech mission field, beginning in Plzeň, there was an opportunity to start afresh. Some of our new Czech friends were receiving catechetical instruction and attending divine services. They had no knowledge of the elements of Lutheran pietism we had left behind in America. We were free to establish the kind of Lutheranism only slowly being revived at home. Some of it was only outward, though not unimportant. The black Geneva gowns, commonly worn by the clergy in American Lutheran parishes, along with the businessman’s suit worn during the week, could be quietly packed away and exchanged for the historic liturgical vestments in use during the Reformation and the daily clerical uniform reflecting the preaching office (Predigtamt).

But some of it touched the very prominence of the Gospel itself, the forgiveness of sins, so richly found in nascent Lutheran practice. The so-called truncated divine service or service of the Word without the Lord’s Supper, so common in America, would never need to be mentioned, and love for the Sacrament of Christ’s body and blood could be so instilled in  new converts that to them it would seem contrary to the gospel if it were absent from the service. The old rationalistic harangue of American Lutheran pietism that frequent communion leads to taking it for granted, or that, as long as the gospel is preached, absolution and the sacrament are redundant and unnecessary, could be easily replaced by Luther’s own catechesis concerning the means of grace. In his Short Order of Confession Before the Priest for the Common Man, after the confession of sin, the petition for grace, and the absolution, the pastor asks the penitent,

“Why do you desire to receive the sacrament [of the altar]? Answer: Because I desire to strengthen my soul with God’s Word and sign and to obtain grace. [Confessor]: But have you not [already] found forgiveness of sins by the absolution? Answer: So what! I want to add the sign of God to his Word. To receive God’s Word in many ways is so much better” (Luther’s Works American Edition, vol. 53, p. 118, emphasis mine).

And in the Smalcald Articles, Luther’s last will and testament to the church, his praise of all of God’s means of grace is unmistakable:

“We shall now return to the Gospel, which offers council and help against sin in more than one way, for God is surpassingly rich in his grace: First, through the spoken word, by which the forgiveness of sin (the peculiar function of the Gospel) is preached to the whole world; second, through Baptism; third, through the holy Sacrament of the Altar; fourth, through the power of the keys; and finally, through the mutual conversation and consolation of brethren. Matt. 18, ‘Where two are gathered,’ etc.” (Smalcald Articles, Part III, IV. emphasis mine).

Nor would we need to shrink from St. Paul’s admonition, “Test all things; hold fast what is good” (1 Thessalonians 5:21), in matters pertaining to the conduct of the Lutheran mass. Without the pietistic baggage of our past we could finally honestly confess with our Lutheran Fathers at Augsburg:

“We are unjustly accused of having abolished the Mass. Without boasting, it is manifest that the Mass is observed among us with greater devotion and more earnestness than among our opponents. Moreover, the people are instructed often and with great diligence concerning the holy sacrament, why it was instituted, and how it is to be used (namely, as a comfort for terrified consciences) in order that the people may be drawn to the Communion and Mass. The people are also given instruction about other false teaching concerning the sacrament. Meanwhile no conspicuous changes have been made in the public ceremonies of the Mass, except that in certain places German hymns are sung in addition to the Latin responses for the instruction and exercise of the people. After all, the chief purpose of all ceremonies is teach the people what they need to know about Christ” (Augsburg Confesssion, Article XXIV:1-3, emphasis mine).

In Catechesis the evangelical confessional could again be imagined, by simply teaching article XI of the Augsburg Confession: “It is taught among us that private absolution should be retained and not allowed to fall into disuse. However, in confession it is not necessary to enumerate all trespasses and sins, for this is impossible. Ps. 19:12, ‘Who can discern his errors?’” (Augsburg Confesssion, Article XI:1-2). Even such innocent and lovely practices as adorning our sanctuaries with a crucifix, portraying Christ among the people as being crucified (cf. Galatians 3:1), or making the sign of the cross according to Luther’s rubric for morning and evening prayers (cf. Small Catechism VII:1 and 4), lost as casualties of American Lutheran pietism, could be taught without wondering if someone might accuse us of “Romanizing tendencies.” And the best of Lutheran hymnody could be instilled in the ears of young and old, leaving behind that not unsizable collection of Reformed hymns, so beloved by American frontier Lutherans.

These were some of the desired emphases for mission work in the Czech Republic. After moving to Prague and getting involved with the ECAVvČR, a group of American expatriates expressed their desire for Lutheran services in English, which we were glad to do, but on the condition that our English services would be modeled after the Divine Service of Word and Sacrament established in the Czech congregation in Plzeň. The reason for this condition was that one could expect that Czechs and Slovaks, who understood English, might visit this service from time to time, and it would be important for them to see that the English worship was the same, especially because we also hoped to establish worship in Czech at St. Michael’s as well. It occurred to me that from these expatriate’s American Lutheran background, they might be shocked by the “high church” Lutheran liturgical practices revived in the Czech Republic. To my surprise, the reaction was the opposite. They welcomed such a service for its Confessional and liturgical richness, especially considering that the Protestant alternatives for English worship in Prague tended to be rather “low church” and un-Confessional.

The Slovak congregation of the ECAVvČR had its own traditions, in many ways reminiscent of my own upbringing in Scandanavian Lutheranism imported to America via the Ritual of the Church of Denmark and Norway of 1685, yet somewhat reduced over the years by its English recension. The Slovak worship reflected Lutheranism of a similar age and style. It was unmistakably Lutheran in its retention of the basic form of the Lutheran mass, a sung liturgy, including the chanting of the Epistle and Gospel, which had long ago fallen into disuse in America, and the retention of individual absolution with the laying on of hands before communion. But the truncated service of the Word without the Sacrament was well entrenched, with the Lord’s Supper being offered only once a month. An increase in the frequency of communion, however, cannot be compelled. It must come from the Christian desire for the Gospel of the forgiveness of sins, of which both absolution and the sacrament are forms established by Christ. As Luther says in his Brief Exhortation to Confession [with individual absolution] before the Sacrament:

“In short, we approve of no coercion … If you are a Christian, you should be glad to run more than a hundred miles for confession, not under compulsion but rather coming and compelling us [pastors] to offer it. For here the compulsion must be inverted; we [pastors] must come under the command and you must come into freedom. We compel no man, but allow ourselves to be compelled, just as we are compelled to preach and administer the sacrament” (Large Catechism, Part V:30-31).

III. Can you explain the idea with which you guided the church and
the goal of the path toward which we have taken steps?

As in all mission work, foreign or domestic, the goal of Christ’s ministry to the world is the same now as it was when He established it, saying: “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:18-20). “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins shall be proclaimed in his name to all nations” (Luke 24:46-47). “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you … Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld” (John 20:21-23). And, “Take, eat, this is My Body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of Me … Drink of it all of you. This cup is the New Testament in My Blood, which is shed for you for the forgiveness of sins. This do as often as you drink it in remembrance of me” (Matthew 26:26-28; Mark 14:22-24; Luke 22:17-20; I Corinthians 11:23-25).

This is the ministry of the Gospel, instituted by Christ Himself, in the forms of Word and Sacrament. These are means by which Christ still implants in the hearts of His people the salvation he won for all mankind on the cross. These create and sustain in the hearts of His people the faith, which alone justifies the sinner before a just and holy God. As our chief symbol so clearly states:

“It is also taught among us that we cannot obtain forgiveness of sin and righteousness before God by our own merits, works, or satisfactions, but that we receive forgiveness of sin and become righteous before God by grace, for Christ’s sake, through faith, when we believe that Christ suffered for us and that for his sake our sin is forgiven and righteousness and eternal life are given to us. For God will regard and reckon this faith as righteousness, as Paul says in Romans 3 and 4” (Augsburg Confession, Article IV).

This faith cannot exist apart from the ministry of Christ. Indeed, it can be said that Baptism, the preaching of Christ, Absolution, and the Sacrament of the Altar are our justification by faith alone. For in them and by them this justifying faith is created and sustained, which clings to Christ and His forgiveness in them by faith alone. With Luther’s monumental rediscovery of this all-important truth, the Church, which bears his name, has taken care to make this ministry of Christ to the world a bright light by everything she does.

Over the past 20 years of grace, the ECAVvČR has entered upon this path. But because she has, she must all the more bear the warning of her own battle hymn, “A Mighty Fortress is our God”: “The old evil foe now means deadly woe; deep guile and great might are his dread arms in fight. On earth is not his equal” (Ten starý nepřítel zkazit by nás chtěl, moc a mnohá lest hrozná zbraň jeho jest, v světě nemá rovného“) (Brněnský Kancionál 2012, č. 109:1). While Christ alone is the “Valiant One” (rek udatný“) who “fights for us” (hájí nás) and “holds the field for ever” („pole jistě obdrží“) (Brněnský Kancionál 2012, č. 109:2), He does this among us through His ministry of Word and Sacrament: “The Word they still shall let remain nor any thanks have for it; He’s on our side upon the plain with His good gifts and Spirit” („Ďábel, svět musejí jistě ustoupit slovu jeho, neb s námi jest v každém místě Pán s dary Ducha svého“) (Brněnský Kancionál 2012, č. 109:4, emphasis mine).

Therefore, the ECAVvČR must look forward to the next 20 years of grace with the firm conviction to be ever more Lutheran and never less. For, to be Lutheran is to possess to the fullest the ministry of Christ to the world. As the American General, George S. Patton was fond of quoting, “L'audace, l'audace, toujours l'audace!” so the Lutheran Church, wherever she exists in the world, must forge ahead boldly, remembering that every step forward is propelled by a giant leap back to the Lutheran Reformation sources. On this 20th anniversary may the ECAVvČR treasure her Lutheran heritage and ever more make its treasures her own by letting the Gospel have free course in all the churches through Christ’s Ministry of Word and Sacrament.

“And God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that [faith] not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:4-10).

Soli Deo Gloria!





Sunday, September 29, 2013

20th Anniversary Service at St Michael's in Prague


Today, on the Feast of Saint Michael and All Angels (29 September 2013), the Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession in the Czech Republic (ECAV v ČR) celebrated it's 20th anniversary. The ECAV v ČR was established in 1993 when Czechoslovakia was divided into the Czech Republic and Slovakia. The Saint Michael's Congregation on V Jircharich Street in Prague was established as a Slovak Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession in 1946 when German Lutherans were transferred out of the country after World War II. Prior to this, the Saint Michaels had been the German Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession in Bohemia, Moravia, and Silesia.

The Saint Michael's Congregation on V Jircharich Street in Prague
The service on Saint Michael and All Angels marked the highpoint of three days of celebration which began with an organ concert, followed by lectures with the theme "Our Lutheran Heritage in Central Europe." The service was broadcast on national Czech radio.
Superintendent of the ECAV v ČR, Pastor Marion Čop, with Pastors Kratka and Šípka conducted the liturgy. Parts of the Slovak liturgy are nearly identical to Lutheran Service Book, such as the Agnus Dei.
Pastor Marion Čop preached the sermon for the anniversary service.
As might be expected, the closing hymn was Hrad prepevny (A Mighty Fortress).


Shortly before the benediction and closing hymn, guests from various churches were able to give greetings. The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod was offered the opportunity to present greetings first. Dr. Albert Collver, Director of Church Relations, presented the greetings to the ECAV v ČR:

On behalf of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod and President Matthew Harrison, I bring you greetings in the Name of Jesus! 
Today, the Feast of Saint Michael and All Angels marks the 20th anniversary celebration of the Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession in the Czech Republic (ECAV v ČR). This is fitting as Satan, the accuser of the Lord's people has been cast down from heaven, no longer able to slander God's people before His throne. Satan and his evil angels were defeated by the  Word of God. 
In Martin Luther's famous hymn, "A Mighty Fortress Is Our God," one little Word from the Scriptures sends Satan to flight. Over the years, the ECAV v ČR has faced many challenges, but the Word of God has preserved you. 
The Missouri Synod only became involved with you a short time ago. We are happy that our churches have formed a working agreement that allows one of our pastors to serve the English speaking congregation. We pray that our churches may grow closer together and that Christ would bless us both. 
As you celebrate your 20th anniversary, may it be a time of remembrance: Remembrance of how the Lord has blessed you through the years. A time of prayer: Prayer that the Lord would preserve the pure preaching of the Word of God among you. A time of thanksgiving: Thanksgiving for the Word of God in this place, for the pastors who preached to you, and for the tremendous grace the Lord has shown you. May it be a time of repentance: Repentance for neglecting the Word of God and for unthankfulness for His blessings.  
As you celebrate today, remember Christ and his forgiveness. May He grant you many more years in His service. 
Thank you.

----

The bulletin for the service is provided below.


Posted by Rev. Dr. Albert B. Collver, LCMS Director of Church Relations

Lectures: Our Lutheran Heritage in Central Europe




Luther Academy hosted lectures for the 20th Anniversary of the Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession in Czech Republic (ECAV v ČR) at Saint Charles University Theological Faculty in Prague on 28 September 2013.


Rev. James Krikava, an ELS missionary to the Czech Republic for 15 years and a Luther Academy Fellow, introduced the lectures: Our Lutheran Heritage in Central Europe.

The theme is: Our Lutheran Heritage in Central Europe


Introduction - The Rev. James Krikava, Luther Academy European Regional Fellow


Lecture 1) Overview of Lutheran Churches in Central Europe - The Rev. Dr. L'ubomír Batka, Dean of the Evangelical Lutheran theological faculty at Comenius University in Bratislava.


Lecture 2) History of Lutherans in Bohemia and Moravia - Dr. Jiří Just, church historian at Charles’ University in Prague and contributing author of “Lutherans in the Czech Lands Through the Centuries,” the most recent work on the subject.


Lecture 3) German Lutherans in Bohemia and Moravia - Professor Dr. Karl Schwarz, church historian from the University of Vienna with expertise in the area of German Lutheranism in Bohemia, Moravia, and Silesia.


Lecture 4) A Vision for Lutheranism in Central Europe - The Rev. Dr. Albert Collver, Director of Church Relations for the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod.


In between lectures, the group went to the coffee shop for further discussion and fellowship. The lectures were well receive. Some were described as provocative. Much discussion ensued, particularly around the topics of the authority of the Scriptures and subscription to the Lutheran Confessions.


When the lectures concluded, the participants went to St Michael's for a sausage supper. On the next day, on St Michael and All Angels, St Michael's will celebrate her 20th anniversary in the ECAV v ČR.

- Posted by Rev. Dr. Albert Collver using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Křemencova,Prague,Czech Republic

Friday, September 27, 2013

Celebration Concert at Saint Michael's in Prague

This evening in Prague (27 September 2013), a Celebration Concert (or literally a "praise concert") was held at Saint Michael's Church. The "praise concert" consisted of songs by Charpentier, Bach, Vivaldi, Clarke, Dvorak, Brahms, Loeiller, Mozart, and Handel, not the typical music many Americans would associate with praise. The concert was set to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession in the Czech Republic (ECAV v CR). The church has been affiliated with the Lutheran church for several hundred years. The columns of the building itself dates back to around 800 or 900 A.D. 

Pictured above are the musicians and a completely filled church to hear the concert. There were 11 songs from a variety of classical composers which lasted about 55 minutes. Afterwards there was a reception in the parish hall. Below is a recording of the concert. The Dvorak piece, "Hospodin jest mûj pastyr" (The Lord is my shepherd) brought many of the concert attendees to tears.



The Lutheran congregation in Prague has a history of music concerts. In 1922, Albert Schweitzer performed at an organ concert at Saint Michael's.

Tomorrow, the celebration continues with lectures sponsored by the Lutheran Academy.  The theme of the lectures are "Our Lutheran Heritage in Central Europe." On Sunday, the Feast of St. Michael and All Angels, a festival service will be held to celebrate the 20 years of the Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession in the Czech Republic (ECAV v CR). 

-- Posted on 27 September 2013 by Rev. Dr. Albert Collver, Director of Church Relations


Saturday, September 21, 2013

Ethiopia Update




Mr. Darin Storkson, Dr. Timothy Quill, Dr. Joel Lehenbauer, Rev. Tony Booker, Dr. Albert Collver, Dr. Michael Rodewald visit Guder Waterfall near Ambo, Ethiopia. The purpose of the trip was to become better acquainted with the Mekane Yesus in Ethiopia.



Rainbow over Ambo, Ethiopia.


President Wakseyoum discussing relations between the Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus (EECMY) and the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod (LCMS) with Dr. Joel Lehenbauer, Executive Director of the Commission on Theology and Church Relations (CTCR) and Dr. Albert Collver, Director of Church Relations.


Dr. Carl Rockrohr, Dean of Theology for the Mekane Yesus Seminary (MYS), Dr. Joel Lehenbauer, and Dr. Albert Collver look at the construction of a dinning hall at MYS, being completed with LCMS assistance.


Dr. Michael Rodewald with Kes Abraham introducing Missouri Synod visitors to the Central Ethiopian Synod.


Addis Ababa in the morning.

- Posted on 21 September 2013 by Dr. Albert Collver using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Dejazmach Belay Zeleka St,Addis Ababa,Ethiopia

Sunday, September 1, 2013

Review and Comment on Into All the World: The Story of Lutheran Foreign Missions

Review and Comment on Into All the World: The Story of Lutheran Foreign Missions
By Rev. Dr. Albert Collver, Director of Church Relations

 Polack, W. G. Into All the World: The Story of Lutheran Foreign Missions. Saint Louis, Missouri: Concordia Publishing House, 1930.

 Some 36 years after the Missouri Synod engaged into foreign mission work (1894), William Gustave Polack (1890-1950†), a professor of history and liturgics at Concordia Seminary Saint Louis from 1925 to 1950, wrote the story of Lutheran foreign missions. The book apparently was written as a text for mission classes at the seminary. Eighty-three years later the book has value for a couple of reasons. First, the book attempts to address the accusation that Martin Luther, the Reformation, and the Lutheran church were not interested in mission. Second, the book provides a history of Lutheran mission work that is unknown to most contemporary church goers and leaders alike. For those interested in contemporary church relations and ecumenism, the book details the work of 19th century Lutheran mission societies which provided the genesis of churches such as the Lutheran churches in India, Liberia, Madagascar, and Ethiopia. The book also demonstrates that the church in general, and Lutherans in particular, have taken an approach to mission that sends pastors to proclaim the Gospel and to establish seminaries, that establishes schools to educate children, that provides for human care, and that translates important texts beginning with the Scriptures, the Small Catechism, the Book of Concord, selected writings of Luther, and then other helpful Christian literature.

The Introduction defines a missionary as “one who is sent” (pg. 1) and quotes John 20:21, “As My Father hat sent Me, even so send I you.” He states that Jesus Christ is the “great Master Missionary,” and because of this Jesus sent out apostles to be his missionary. Next to address at this point the unstated criticism that Luther believed the task of proclaiming the Gospel to the nations was completed by the Apostles, Polack writes, “The apostles did a great work, but they did not complete the task. Other Christians who came after them continued the work of teaching and preaching the Word of Salvation.” (pg. 1) Polack’s point is that the task of proclaiming the gospel is handed down generation to generation.

He concludes the Introduction, “The church of to-day is also engaged in this work, and every Christian bears a part of the responsibility.” (pg. 1) In describing the story of Lutheran foreign missions, Polack demonstrates by example how “every Christian bears a part of the responsibility,” from the sent missionaries which included pastors proclaiming the Gospel, school teachers bringing Christian instruction to the young, doctors and nurses, agricultural experts, and other workers and laborers who assisted. For those not sent, both pastor and lay, his story shows how they supported the mission work with prayer and financial support. 

The first chapter, titled, “The Biblical Background for Mission-work,” and the second chapter, titled, “Survey of Missions from the Days of the Apostles to the Reformation,” seeks to provide a brief history of missions before the Reformation. Polack notes that although the missionary work of the Christian church began with Christ and particularly the out pouring of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost, the Old Testament contains a number of passages on the subject. The Old Testament “indicated in various ways the growth and glory of His Church.” (pg. 3) After discussing various Old Testament passages, Polack states that the New Testament provides a fuller revelation regarding the missionary idea. The main New Testament passage for mission work in the New Testament is “Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creation.” Polack notes that the “Great Commission” appears five times in the New Testament but “not always in the same form and in the same connections and relations.” (pg. 7) He concludes “no one can read the New Testament without being impressed by the fact that missions are a most vital factor in Christianity and that the men most closely associated with our Lord during His earthly ministry were thoroughly awake to this fact.” (pg. 11)

In the second chapter, Polack recounts the missionary activity of the Apostles. He also indicates where tradition said the various Apostles brought the Gospel to the world. Saint Paul crosses the sea bringing the Gospel to Asia Minor, Cyprus, Macedonia and finally to Rome. John to Asia Minor. Matthew to Ethiopia. Peter to Palestine and Babylon. Thaddeus went to Armenia and Persia; Andrew beyond the Black Sea; Philip to Scythia and Phrygia (modern Turkey); Bartholomew to Arabia. Thomas went to India. The Gospel went to the entire world known to the Apostles. Over the next 200 years in the post-apostolic period, Christians were persecuted and the blood of the martyrs were the seed of the Church. Polack highlights key individuals who were missionaries to the pagans such as Ulfilas, Martin of Tours, Patrick, Columba the Elder, Augustine of Canterbury, Boniface, Ansgar, and Cyril and Methodius. Polack notes, “Thus the Church of Christ was spread during these centuries into all parts of Europe ... By the end of the Middle Ages all of Europe had been brought within the pale of the Christian Church, but the Church itself had become seriously corrupted.” (pg. 25) As Christianity advanced in the North, in the South where it had once flourished it was overtaken by Islam. The Middle Ages drew to a close, with the discovering of the New World and new opportunities for mission work.

In chapter three, Polack treats “The Age of the Reformation.” At the beginning of the chapter, Polack notes that of the past four hundred years of Lutheran history, “the last one to two hundred years of the history of the Christian Church have been years of exceptional missionary activity.” (pg. 34) In the 500 years since the Reformation, the church has had the opportunity to proclaim the Gospel over a larger geographical area and to more people than at any other time. The church has had more converts over the past 500 years than during the previous 1,500 years of the church’s history before the Reformation. The church also has had more martyrs. More Christians were killed for their faith in the 20th century than in the previous nineteen centuries of the church’s history. It is estimated that there were 45 million martyrs during the 20th century. In other words, a Christian is martyred every five minutes — making Christians the most persecuted group of people on earth. The new missionary age also has brought about a new period of martyrdom.

Polack begins his discussion about “The Age of the Reformation” by stating, “The Reformation restored to the Church the Gospel in its purity and in all its fulness.” (pg. 34) It is of great significance that the Reformation restored the Gospel, for without knowing the pure Gospel, without have the message and doctrine to preach, in the worst case there is no mission activity and in the best case, it is hindered. People frequently take for granted that the church possess the pure Gospel and do not realize the challenge in keeping the purity of the Gospel. Mission work involves two aspects summarized succinctly by former Missouri Synod President Alvin Barry, “Get the Message Straight! Get the Message Out!”

The contemporary era seems to have emphasized one over the other at various time, usually at the expense of getting the message straight. Polack correctly notes the major aspect of the Reformation was “getting the message straight” and would encourage the reader not to underestimate the importance of that. In fact, the movement of the church from one region of the world to another region is in part caused by a lack of thankfulness by people for the Lord’s Word proclaimed in truth and purity. In formerly Christian lands, such as North Africa, Europe, and perhaps the United States are caused in part by a lack of thankfulness and a lack of concern about keeping the message straight.

Even in 1930, the Lutherans in general and the Missouri Synod in particular faced the accusation that Reformation was not interested in mission. Polack quotes Dr. Gustav Warneck’s monumental work History of Protestant Missions: “Notwithstanding the era of discovery in which the origin of the Protestant Church fell, there was no missionary action on her part in the age of the Reformation.” This accusation against Martin Luther and the Reformation is oft repeated in missiology books throughout the 20th and 21st centuries. These accusations continue to be leveled against the Lutheran church both by people outside the Lutheran church and by those within who have been influenced by these missiology thinkers. Behind these charges are assumptions both about the definition of mission and the church. If “mission” is defined as “Go into the world,” then Luther and the Reformation were not missional. If “mission” is defined according to the verb in Matthew 28:19 as “make disciples” wherever you are at by baptizing and by teaching, then Luther and the Reformation were among the greatest missionaries in the history of the church. Most contemporary works on missions define being missional as “going” someplace, even though this is not the verb used by Jesus in the “Great Commission.”

As to the charge the Reformation and Luther did not “Go” into the world, Polack notes that it is based on “insufficient knowledge of history” and “on false judgment of the circumstances.” (pg. 36) One aspect of the accusation involves Dr. Martin Luther’s understanding the preaching of the apostles “has gone out into all the world, though it has not yet come into all the world.” (pg. 37) In one sense, Dr. Luther believed that Jesus’ command to proclaim the Gospel to the world was fulfilled by the preaching activity of the Apostles. At the same time, Luther “recognized the duty of Gospel-preaching and that it is obligatory upon every age of the Church.” (pg. 37) Luther’s view is consistent with the doctrinal position that all prophecy and commands of Christ are fulfilled so that he can return in glory at any moment. At any moment from the time of the Apostles until the present, Christ could return in His glory. The gospel has gone out into the world and any delay in His return is related to his gracious will to allow more time for the Gospel to be proclaimed.

Another aspect of the accusation that the Reformation and Luther were not interested in missions revolves around the historical circumstances of the Holy Roman Empire (that is, the German lands at the time of the Reformation). The German people did not possess a navy or ships, as the predominately Roman Catholic countries of Spain and Portugal. It would be two more centuries before sea travel became relatively common place for the rest of the world. (Not unlike the present age when people can travel in relative ease around the world on jumbo jets.) Part of the so-called lack of interest among Lutherans to take the Gospel to the world was simply the inability to do so. Polack notes, “A further reason why the Evangelicals in the Reformation Age did not carry the Gospel to the heathen in foreign fields was the fact that these were inaccessible to them. Throughout the sixteenth century foreign commerce and shipping, colonization and conquest, were under the exclusive control of the servants of Rome.” (pg. 41)

Polack addresses these charges and points out: “Most of the critics of Luther hold that by missions we must think only of the evangelization of the heathen who have not the Gospel, of foreign missions in our modern acceptation of the term. That, however, is not correct, and our Church has never defined missions in this restrictive sense... we can truly say that the entire Lutheran Reformation was a missionary movement. It brought the Gospel to thousands who had had little or nothing of the saving Light before. In fact, Luther and his disciples were fairly submerged in the mightiest missionary undertaking since the days of the apostles.” (pgs. 38 - 39) He concludes, “the dissemination of Gospel-truth into all corners of Europe, beginning at Wittenberg and going out into all parts of the Continent and the British Isles, was itself one of the greatest missionary movements in history ... When Luther gave back to the world the Bible, the source of all true faith and Christian service, he laid the foundation for all the Protestant missionary movements that came after him.” (pgs. 42 - 43)

One of the single biggest hinderances to mission was the establishment of the State Church and the rise of rationalism. By definition, the State Church is concerned with the people within the State, not outside the State. The resources given to the State Church are to be used within her territorial boundaries. Polack notes, “no Protestant state church has made foreign missions, from the beginning, the concern of the Church as such.” (pg. 81) Polack observed, “Only in a number of free churches, especially in America, are missions the affair of the Church as such. We may call this one of the evils of state-churchism.” (pg. 81) All of the Lutheran churches, and most of the other Protestant churches were state churches and as such the State did not have an interest in investing resources in foreign missions. Because Rome was not beholden to any one State (in fact, the States were beholden to Rome in many cases), mission work flourished in the New World under the direction of the Roman Catholic church. 

By the end of the eighteenth century, pious Lutherans and other pious Protestants who heard the call of Jesus to make disciples of all nations formed mission societies. Polack notes, “But as the State, of which the Church in Germany was a part, does not provide funds for missionary work, this necessitated the formation of voluntary societies in order to turn the new interest and zeal into practical execution.” (pg. 82) Bible and mission societies came into existence and were funded by individuals rather than by the State. Both pastors and lay people were members of the mission societies. Some of the mission societies established missionary seminaries or houses of study. Several mission societies founded in the nineteenth century continue to exist and function today. Although many mission societies were unionistic in nature, some intended to be distinctly Lutheran. For instance, the Leipzig Mission Society desired: 1) to carry on the work of missions in the spirit of the Lutheran Church; 2) to give the missionaries a thorough course of instruction; 3) to adapt the preaching to the needs of the people; 4) and to leave the heathen unmolested in customs not in conflict with the Word of God. (pgs. 95 - 96) The Hermannsburg Mission Society desired, “all the Lutheran symbols and especially the beautiful Lutheran liturgy to be recognized and used by mission-churches as well as by churches in the fatherland.” (pg. 97) The mission societies carried out the mission work in foreign lands that the State Churches were unwilling to do.

The history of the mission societies had a significant effect on the Missouri Synod. Some of the pastors who later joined the Missouri Synod were initially sent by mission societies in Germany. Additionally, the Missouri Synod’s Constitution did not allow members of the Synod (pastors, teachers, and congregations) to cooperate and work with “heterodox tract and mission societies.” In fact, the Missouri Synod was founded with the intention of doing missions as a church rather than through mission societies. Polack writes, “At the organization of the Missouri Synod in 1847 Foreign Mission effort was designated as one of its objectives, but the extensive Home Mission work to which the Synod was called to give immediate attention made it impossible to begin missionary operations in non-Christian countries. Nevertheless a mission among the American Indians in Northern Michigan was carried on.” (pg. 124) Polack also notes that the Synodical Conference was formed in 1872 with the intention of carrying out foreign missions between the cooperating Synods.

In Chapter Nine, Polack treats, “The Foreign Missions of the Synod of Missouri, Ohio, and Other States.” As noted above, the Missouri Synod was founded with the intention of doing foreign missions. In 1893 the Missouri Synod resolved to begin mission work in Japan, however, these plans did not materialize and the Synod began work in India. On October 14, 1894, the first foreign missionaries, Theodore Naether and Franz Mohn, for the Missouri Synod were commissioned to serve in India. These men had been affiliated with the Leipzig Mission Society but they found it necessary to depart for reasons of conscience. The Leipzig Mission Society was not remaining distinctly Lutheran so these men sought out the Missouri Synod.

Polack outlines the methodology used by the Missouri Synod in foreign mission. “Evangelization by missionary preaching tours was one of the chief methods of making Christ known to the people.” (pg. 130) “Christian day-schools are considered to be equal in importance to evangelization.” (pg. 131) “It is the policy of the mission to employ only Lutheran teachers.” (pg. 145) Medical work was begun. “Divine services are conducted regularly at all stations and outstations.” (pg. 131) Orphanages were established. A seminary was built. The elements of Missouri Synod mission, while not always called Witness, Mercy, Life Together, nevertheless followed this pattern.

Polack concludes his book: “Thousands and thousands of heathen have heard the Gospel-message, and many, far more than we know, have been won by it for life eternal. May God help us to realize this thankfully, and may the blessing of God inspire us at home and aboard to still greater self-sacrificial and consecrated service! For the love of our Savior and of the whole redeemed human race let us labor while it is day.” (pg. 156) Indeed, let us labor while it is day.

Into All the World: The Story of Lutheran Foreign Mission is a forgotten book that still tells a helpful story. A story that corrects some misperceptions some people still hold today regarding how the Reformation and Lutherans view mission. The book helps us see that mission is at its heart the sharing of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, which happens every Sunday in the local congregation, in various settings as Christians share the hope that they have, and aboard on the foreign mission field. The basic elements of mission have not changed: proclaim the Gospel (Witness), show mercy and charity to those in need (Mercy), hold divine services and build schools and seminaries (Life Together). Polack also helps to show how Lutheran and Protestant mission emerged out the State Church by using mission societies. He also shows how the Missouri Synod sought to be different by being a church engaged in mission rather than carrying out this task through “tract and mission societies.” The history of the first Lutheran mission efforts are as inspiring today as they were then. The book is a quick and easy read. Well worth the time for those interested in mission and the history of missions.

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