The Missouri Synod and English Work

The Missouri Synod, which is about to celebrate its centennial in 1947, has been known in the past largely as a German-speaking body. Its interest and its activity in Lutheran church work in the English language are not so generally known or understood. The fact is that both the Saxon and the Franconian founders from the very beginning were interested in, and anxious to do, service in the language of their new homeland. Already before the organization of Synod in 1847 the Saxons in 1838 established their Concordia Academy in Altenburg, Missouri, enrolling at the very start one who was preparing to preach the Gospel in the English language and another to preach to the Indians. The Franconian fathers almost simultaneously with their German work began their mission among the Indians. Moreover, one of the very founders of Synod, Pastor Brohm, is known to have preached in English to the English-speaking people in Perry County, Missouri, in Synod\u27s earliest days