TLHP 24 Development of Fellowship Practices in the Missouri Synod with Peter Prange Part I

Wielding the Sword of the Spirit recounts the history surrounding the doctrine and practice of church fellowship in the Missouri Synod, especially under the leadership of Carl Ferdinand Wilhelm Walther (shown in episode thumbnail)

Volume One of this two-part history covers the years from the Saxon immigration to Missouri in 1838-1839 until 1867, just before the founding of the General Council. Not only does it chart the history of the Missourians' doctrine and practice of church fellowship during their first thirty years in America, it also provides an in-depth account of how they came to the positions they held on important matters of theology. It details their burgeoning fellowship relationships with the Buffalo Synod's Johannes Grabau and the patron of the Missouri and Iowa Synods, Pastor Wilhelm Loehe, in the 1840s and 1850s and their eventual split with both due to different positions on church and ministry, confessional subscription, open questions, chiliasm, and evangelical pastoral practice. It also highlights the central role Walther played in promoting a Lutheran confessional consciousness among the American Lutherans of his day--especially his single-minded emphasis on the objective nature of justification--Finally, it presents a clear recounting and analysis of why, under God, the Missouri Synod experienced an exponential growth--and developed a vigorous esprit de corps.

Wielding the Sword of the Spirit highlights how these early Missourians maintained a firm grip on the teachings of Scripture and the Lutheran Confessions while also carefully distinguishing between weak Christians, who lacked proper insight and instruction, and stubborn errorists, who denied the clear teachings of Scripture against better knowledge. When carefully considered in their historical context, Walther and his colleagues modeled a faithful and evangelical doctrine and practice of church fellowship that followed in the footsteps of Jesus, St. Paul, and Martin Luther. They wielded the sword of the Spirit vigorously and evangelically, while also striving to do their very best to "keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace" 

Peter M. Prange serves as an associate pastor at New Life Ev. Lutheran Church in Kenosha and Somers, Wis. He is a 1998 graduate of Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary, Mequon, Wis. He has researched and written extensively on the history and doctrine of the Synodica