Friedrich Wyneken is one of the founding fathers of The Lutheran Church--Missouri Synod, along with C.F.W. Walther and Wilhelm Sihler. Born in 1810 in Germany, he came to Baltimore in 1838 and shortly thereafter accepted a call to be the pastor of congregations in Friedheim and Fort Wayne, Indiana. Supported by Wilhelm Loehe's mission society, Wyneken served as an itinerant missionary in Indiana, Ohio, and Michigan, particularly among Native Americans. Together with Loehe and Sihler, he founded Concordia Theological Seminary in 1846 in Fort Wayne, Ind. He 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.
To listen to an interview Dr Larry Rast, President of Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne on Friedrich Wyneken, A Founder of the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod click on the picture of Dr Rast below.
Pastor Charles Henricksen on the Brothers of John the Steadfast Blog has the following quote from President Matt Harrison's Book At Home in the House of My Fathers introduction to Wyneken's 1860 Synodical Address:
"This address shows a president and Synod wrestling with a number of issues. There were challenges of seminary personnel, school challenges, challenges in the area of worship practice, doctrinal issues, the challenge of small congregations supporting pastors and teachers. . . . Come to think of it, the Synod in 1860 was in many ways similar to the Synod today! Wyneken’s rousing encouragement to the pastors to concentrate on preaching Law and especially Gospel is a good admonition to us here and now."
Here then are two excerpts from Wyneken’s 1860 Synodical Address, under the title, “Justification: Beginning, Middle, and End.” The first excerpt concerns the need to put our doctrine into practice:
". . . we should indeed guard ourselves that we do not sit back and become secure because pure doctrine and our Synod’s banner of the true Lutheran Confessions have been planted, as if that were good enough. Many boast a lot about and know how to talk about pure doctrine (and many know all about it in theory). But they do not know how to put it into practice for themselves and others. It’s not enough that we have the doctrine in our Symbols [i.e., Lutheran Confessions] and that we confess the Symbols, that we fight for them, etc. Rather, they have to really be heard from the pulpit, and from there, enter hearts and lives. In doing this we shall be blessed, indeed blessed, and also a blessing to others."
The second excerpt focuses on the area of our worship practice:
"With respect to the order for worship, as a whole, it appears to be as defective as it was previously. Now we obviously know–granted that only orthodox agendas are in use among us–this is not an essential ingredient, but it is still lamentable that such a motley jumble continues to predominate among us. Even though the liturgy itself is something neither commanded nor forbidden, the doctrine of Christian freedom–thanks be to God–is in practice everywhere. And this freedom remains well preserved in all congregations. So the congregations should all the more so consent to a uniform liturgy, in order to allow the unity in Spirit to be expressed externally. The tenacity with which the worst bad taste is frequently clung to in this matter is astonishing. May God improve the situation."
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