We had a school group at our museum today from St. John’s Lutheran Church in Arnold, Missouri. Accompanying them was their pastor, Rev. Jeremy Schultz. We just had to do a little research into that church.
St. John’s Lutheran Church was started in 1848 when a group of men met with Rev. C.F.W. Walther, President of the brand new German Evangelical Lutheran Church of Missouri, Ohio, & Other States (later called the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod). These men were looking for help in obtaining a pastor for a new congregation that they wanted to start in a place that was called Beck, Missouri. This place would later be named Arnold. Rev. Walther helped them issue a call to Rev. J. Michael Johannes who had recently graduated from the seminary in Ft. Wayne, Indiana. He accepted that call and became the first pastor of St. John’s Lutheran Church.
Rev. Johannes would later serve LCMS congregations in Cole Camp, MO, Bath, IL, New Wells, MO, Lacon, IL, and Pekin, IL.
It is very refreshing that a congregation like St. John’s has decided to intentionally make sure that their students have a basic understanding of the history of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. We were glad to tell them our story, and we look forward to their return in years to come.
I am new to the Christian faith and have been thinking about joining a local Lutheran church. However, I can’t find anything on the history of the congregation like you have with St. John’s. Yet, I find it interesting that you have mentioned the Synod and how there was a president. What is the role of the president of a synod in the church? Does he act as some sort of prophet? Please excuse me, but I am very new to all of this.