Commemoration of Friedrich Wyneken, Pastor and Missionary
May 4
The Lord be with you
Friedrich Conrad Dietrich Wyneken (May 13, 1810 – May 4, 1876) is one of the founding fathers of The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, along with C.F.W. Walther (commemorated May 7) and Wilhelm Sihler. (Sihler, for whatever reason, does not have a date to commemorate him and his work.) Wyneken was born in Germany, studied at Göttingen and Halle, and came to Baltimore, Maryland, in 1838. Shortly thereafter he accepted a call to be the pastor of congregations in Friedheim and Fort Wayne, Indiana. Supported by Wilhelm Löehe’s mission society (Löehe is commemorated January 2), Wyneken served as an itinerate missionary in Indiana, Ohio, and Michigan, particularly among Native Americans. In 1841 he published “The Distress of the German Lutherans in North America,” which was read widely in German speaking lands in Europe and had a major influence in attracting Lutheran missionaries to America. Most of these men, with their congregations, later joined the LCMS. Together with Löehe and Sihler, Wyneken founded Concordia Theological Seminary in 1846 in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Wyneken later served as the second president of the LCMS during a period of significant growth (1850-64). His leadership strongly influenced the confessional character of the LCMS and its commitment to an authentic Lutheran witness. He died in San Francisco where he traveled to spread the Gospel. Churches he founded are still active.
The quote that follows is from an 1841 Wyneken sermon.
[Jesus] and He alone is the rock upon which your salvation is grounded. He is your justification, your sanctification, and your redemption [1 Corinthians 1:30]. He is the Rock, which follows you and gives your soul to drink [1 Corinthians 10:4]. He comes through faith to a repentant heart. And when He lives in your heart, He and He alone works through an unbroken communion—you with Him and He with you—and the Spirit bestows peace, joy, and the power of sanctification. And when, in this communion of the heart, and in a living relationship with Him, you depend upon Him in all simplicity, He will assist you in every way toward His heavenly kingdom. If Christ now lives in you, and you are a living branch connected to Him, the vine stock, then from Him, from His person, and from Him alone, you have everything that serves unto life. So what do you still seek in another fellowship? What do you seek, if you have Christ and He has you? A fellowship may have better laws, better organizations, and more lively fellowship among all its members. But it cannot have a better, stronger, more all-sufficient Christ. For there is only one Lord for everyone, and He is generous toward all who call upon Him. Nor is He Christ for a community [Gesellschaft] in general. He is completely and fully Christ for each and every individual soul.
Harrison, Matthew C At Home in the House of My Father 335
Appropriate prayers include:
• For the LC-MS, that it be committed to her Lord and spreading the Gospel
• For mission work
• For American Indians
• For a heart committed to Jesus and sharing his love.
Collect for the Commemoration of Friedrich Wyneken, Pastor and Missionary
O Lord our God, You call whom You will and send them where You choose; we thank You for sending Your servant Friedrich Wyneken from Germany to America where he worked tirelessly in this vineyard bringing the message of the crucified and resurrected Lord, turning hearts from the idol of self to You the Living God, and helping to establish, along with Walther and Sihler, our beloved church. We implore You that You preserve us from the temptation to exchange the perfect freedom of Your service for servitude to the false idol of self, and all other idols of our own devising; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.
Blessings in Christ,
Pastor John Rickert