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Were The Reformers Mission-Minded?., Thomas Coates

Concordia Theological Monthly

The subject "The Reformation and Missions" might well suggest a very short paper indeed. Both theologically and practically, the Reformation period is notable chiefly for its lack of missionary emphasis.

The Ecumenical Century And The Parish, Alvin N. Rogness

Concordia Theological Monthly

I am not audacious enough to think that I can say anything new or solve any of the many problems which our day enforces upon us. I hope I may call into focus some of the issues that face us now and others that assuredly will be upon us in acute shape in the years ahead. At the outset I want in all candor to say that I am more terrified than exhilarated by the ministry which my son and his generation must face in the next 40 years. And it follows that I must confess that I have no …

August Hermann Francke, 1663-1963, Philip J. Schoeder

Concordia Theological Monthly

Why remember August Hermann Francke on the 300th anniversary of his natal year?

Certainly association and identification with Pietists and Pietism should not disqualify him for a niche in the hall of remembered saints. Though some still speak with caution and even opprobriously about Pietists and Pietism, the climate has changed especially with reference to the earlier Pietists. Much of the suspicion, detraction, and obloquy which became attached to the name and fame of Pietism stems from falsely attributing many excrescences and aberrations of later Pietism to the early founders of the movement.

Editorial Comment, Walter R. Roehrs

Concordia Theological Monthly

In his instructive novel about the cure of souls entitled The Hammer of God (recently brought out in an excellent English translation by Augustana Book Concern of Rock Island, Ill.) Bishop Bo Giertz of Sweden touches one of his deep pastoral and episcopal concerns in a bit of dialog.

What Is A "Missionary," Anyway?, Graeme M. Rosenau

Concordia Theological Monthly

What is a "missionary," anyway? The answer cannot be given in 30 minutes or 30 hours. Some things that are extremely important can be said, and this iS an attempt to say them. But what is said can by its very generality point only beyond itself to the greatness of the work we missionaries have laid upon us and to the incalculable magnitude of the divine grace that has called us, even us, in our weakness and incapability, to perform it and has given us the power and promise that guarantee success. Only let us remember that the succes will …

February's Festivals, Arthur Carl Piepkorn

Concordia Theological Monthly

The two minor festivals of February focus attention on two important tasks that faculty and field, the editors and most of the readers of this magazine, share with each other.

Toward An Understanding Of Our New Sister Synod In India, M. H. Grumm

Concordia Theological Monthly

At the San Francisco convention of The Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod the India Evangelical Lutheran Church was accepted in fellowship as a sister synod. Though this young church is still heavily dependent on our American church for support in money and missionary personnel, it has been accepted as a church in its own right, and it is following a phased plan working toward its own support. The American church may feel a justified sense of satisfaction in seeing a small but living church established in this faraway country through the work of its Mission, and it can also justly …

The Batak Protestant Christian Church, Jospeh Ellwanger

Concordia Theological Monthly

When the Batak Protestant Christian Church in Indonesia applied for membership in the Lutheran World Federation in 1951, one of the largest Christian church bodies in the non-West was catapulted out of relative obscurity into a limelight position on the stage of world Lutheranism. Some were quick to question the Lutheran character of the Batak Church. Chiefly they asked these questions: How can the Batak Church be Lutheran when it was founded by the Rhenish Mission Society, a combination of Lutheran and Reformed elements? And how can the Batak Church be Lutheran when it has not officially adopted the 16th-century …

Saint Boniface, Lewis W. Spitz

Concordia Theological Monthly

Twelve centuries have passed since St. Boniface on June 5, 754, died as a martyr on the banks of the Borne at Dokkum, in Friesland. Much is being made of the anniversary of his death. Roman Catholics have organized pilgrimages both to Dokkum, the place of his death, and to Fulda, where his body now rests. Protestants, too, have honored his memory with special services. Many thousands of both Roman Catholic and Protestant Christians have thus paid their respects to a great man of God and to their common Christian heritage.

The Relationship Between The Church's Program For Ministerial Training And Her Mission Program, W. C. Birkner

Concordia Theological Monthly

The formulation of the theme to which I am to address myself indicates that our Church has become aware that the relationship of two vital parts of her program, namely, Missions and Ministerial Training, deserves some attention and a closer scrutiny at this time. The fact that occasionally the expressions "problem," or "dilemma," or "difficulty," or even "rivalry" are heard when the relationship of these two areas of activity is under discussion, is in itself an admission that this question has not always been clearly defined and a confession that not all members of the Church have arrived at the …

The Relation Of The Liturgy To The Word, H. Richard Klann

Concordia Theological Monthly

The essential aim of this investigation is not merely the historical delineation of liturgical practices, nor the consideration of liturgical minutiae in their historical setting and development, nor the establishment of a theological basis against liturgical innovations, but rather to state the Lutheran principles by which a pastor will be able to judge the relation of the liturgy to the proclamation of the Word in the worship of a congregation.

The Pictish Church, A Victim Of Garbled History, F. R. Webber

Concordia Theological Monthly

As Thomas Maclaughlin made clear almost a century ago the word "saint" in the early Gaelic language meant "missionary" and nothing more. The Celts were not in communion with Rome, and canonization was then unknown. St. Ninian, therefore, is not a man who has been canonized, but the Celts gave him that title to denote the fact that he was a missionary. Few men have been treated so shabbily by historians. Ninian was the great evangelical pioneer in the North of Europe, and certainly he was as great a man as St. Columba or St. Patrick; yet our leading reference …

The Pictish Church, A Victim Of Garbled History, F. R. Webber

Concordia Theological Monthly

It seems almost incredible that a powerful evangelical religious body could flourish for almost five centuries and then be all but forgotten. Moreover, it was a denomiation possessed of a form of missionary zeal that puts us to shame today; a denomination that maintained a number of powerful training schools from which Christian missionaries were sent out to evangelize the pagans; and (if we are to believe the earliest historians) a religious body that preached Christ Crucified with apostolic fervor. Such, we are assured by painstaking historians, was the early Celtic Church. The Celtic Church, like our larger religious bodies …

Our Missions In India And China, O. H. Schmidt

Concordia Theological Monthly

The second century - a century of mission expansion! What an appropriate slogan this would be for the second century of the Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Missouri, Ohio, and Other states! As we observe the one hundredth anniversary of the founding of this church organization, and as we give thanks to the Lord for the blessings of the past century, we should like to express the hope that the second century of our synodical existence will be made a century of mission expansion. And in order to stimulate interest and prompt action along this line, we beg our readers briefly …

The Greatest Missionary Problem, H. Nau

Concordia Theological Monthly

The greatest missionary problem facing the Christian Church of the future is the world of Islam, the Moslem world. While the pagan world is comparatively well stocked with Christian missions and missionaries - comparatively well, we say, because we know only too well that in some parts of the pagan world the missionary occupation is but a skeleton one - the world of Islam has been touched only on its outskirts, its fringes.

The One Hundredth Anniverary Of The Franconian Settlements In Michigan, 1845-1945, J. H. Fritz

Concordia Theological Monthly

Loehe was the man who, under the guidance of God, was responsible for the Franconian Settlements in Michigan, with Frankenmuth as a starting point in 1845. Craemer, Graebner, and Sievers were the pioneers who established the first colonies. Also the names of Lochner, Auch, Deindoerfer, Roebbelen, and others have been written into the early history. Nor can we leave Wyneken out of the picture.

The Pastor And Foreign Missions, A. M. Rehwinkel

Concordia Theological Monthly

To evangelize the world was the Great Commission which Jesus gave to His disciples when He took leave of them to return to His Father. To evangelize the world is still the great responsibility of the Church today. The apostles preached first in Jerusalem and Judea but then went down to Samaria and from thence to the great Greco-Roman world beyond. Home Missions, or the evangelization of the unchurched in our community, is our first obligation; but while doing this, we dare not neglect the "Samarias" and the partes infidelium beyond. We have done reasonably well in preaching the Gospel …

The Pastor And The Pastoral Cure Of Souls, H. F. Wind

Concordia Theological Monthly

As the pastor of today surveys the scene presented by life In twentieth-century America, the setting in which he must practise his profession, he cannot but be impressed by the increasing magnitude of the task set for him. This task is indeed many-sided. It includes the functions of the public ministry, the preaching of the Word and the public administration of the Sacraments; it includes the teaching functions of the ministry in the educational activities of the Church; it includes administrative tasks as executive head of a rather complex organization; it includes missionary activities and frequently service in synodical offices; …

"Whom Shall We Send?", F Brand

Concordia Theological Monthly

Said one of our brethren to me the other day,.”I am not in favor of sending our best men to the Orient. We need them at home. Less gifted men are good enough.'' The brother is a man of acknowledged zeal for the work of the Lord and always willing to bring a personal sacrifice in order to win a soul for Christ. His firm conviction is that we "need our best men at home." The subject challenges careful thought.