The Mission and Ministry to German-Speaking Lutherans in Western Canada 1879 - 1914

The following dissertation will provide a detailed account of the history of Lutheran ministry among German-speaking people in western Canada from1879 to 1914. Particular attention will be drawn to the relationship between the development of congregations in the region and the views on mission and ministry that were being held by those who were most involved in the work—the pastors themselves and the leaders of the mission boards who supported them. Their work in western Canada did not, however, begin in a vacuum; it was begun within an historical context. Relevant, therefore, to this study will be a brief review of mission and ministry in the preceding years that led up to their work in the Canadian west. The major participants in a ministry to the region during the first twenty-five years were the General Council and the Missouri Synod; a review of their attitudes on mission and missionary will be incorporated into this study at appropriate points before the actual details of their mission work in the Canadian west are discussed. In the case of the Ohio Synod, a brief review of their attitudes on mission and ministry will be incorporated into chapter eleven where their work in the Canadian west is under discussion. It will be argued in this dissertation that the actual views on mission and ministry that these synods had not only shaped the development of their ministry in the west, but also did much to explain the kind of conflicts that were to arise between them