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36-705: The district has its origins in the congregations of the former English Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Missouri and Other States , which merged with the LCMS in 1911. The English Synod had been formally organized in 1888 out of the English (Evangelical) Lutheran Conference of Missouri of the Evangelical Lutheran Tennessee Synod . Prior to 1839, a group of Lutherans of the Evangelical Lutheran Tennessee Synod moved from western North Carolina and eastern Tennessee to southeast Missouri. In 1872,

72-650: A Bachelor of Arts degree, and which afterward conferred up on him the Master of Arts degree, not merely "in course," but because of his higher attainments in literature. After graduation Brown engaged for a time in teaching. He first took charge of Jefferson Male Academy, in Blountville, Tenn., which he held for five or six years, when he accepted a professorship in Greenville College in Tennessee. At

108-607: A family of ten children. His paternal grandfather was an Englishman, who came to America when a boy, and was a soldier in the Revolutionary war . His maternal grandfather was of German extraction, a native of Pennsylvania but in early life came to North Carolina , where he lived in the balance of his days and died. Brown's parents and ancestors generally, so far as is known, belonged to the laboring classes, and were distinguished for their industry, their frugality and thrift, and their moral integrity and religious worth. His mother

144-720: A free conference was held in Gravelton, Missouri , with participants from that group, the LCMS, the Holston Synod, and the Norwegian Synod . The LCMS president, C. F. W. Walther , urged the Tennessee Synod members to organize themselves as a conference of the Tennessee Synod, the English (Evangelical) Lutheran Conference of Missouri. The conference applied for admission to the LCMS as a district in 1887, but

180-802: A southern Lutheran newspaper), and literary magazines , besides publishing sermons and essays in separate form. Twice he was elected president of North Carolina college, but declined. He also declined editorship of the Lutheran Standard in Ohio. In later years he has been a regular contributor to the Lutheran , the Lutheran Home , and wrote one article for the Lutheran Quarterly . In consideration of his literary and theological attainments, Roanoke College , in 1873, conferred upon him

216-680: Is a reference to the fact that Paul Henkel and his sons were synod leaders and printer of all synod materials, so the Henkel name was well known. They had a strict standard of Lutheran orthodoxy which kept them from joining with other Lutherans in surrounding states for several generations, but the number of churches in Virginia and North and South Carolina grew in later decades as the body developed into more general Lutheranism. The churches were chiefly rural and small, with many just being established and built in this period. They were especially opposed to

252-502: The Civil War , and the Tennessee Synod's drift toward union with the more latitudinarian North Carolina synod in the 1880s. However, the Tennessee Synod's English (Evangelical) Lutheran Conference of Missouri applied for admission to the LCMS as a district in 1887, but was advised by Walther to instead form a separate English-language synod. The resulting English Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Missouri and Other States eventually merged into

288-673: The General Synod (see Bente below). In a tribute to their confessional character, C. F. W. Walther in Der Lutheraner of January, 1849 stated "… this Synod belongs to the small number of those who are determined not only to be called Lutherans, but also to be and to remain Lutherans." But unity was never established with the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod (LCMS) due to geographic and linguistic separation,

324-633: The Tennessee Synod , was a Lutheran church body known for its staunch adherence to the Augsburg Confession and commitment to confessional Lutheranism. The synod began with six ministers in 1820 and had forty by 1919, plus ten students and candidates for ministry. It merged into the United Synod of North Carolina in 1920. Most of the synod's congregations were in western North Carolina and eastern Tennessee until 1860, when

360-645: The Diet of Salisbury at which it was formed. He then served as president of the Southern Lutheran United Synod. In this union he saw Southern Lutheranism as accepting the Lutheran identity he has fought for as a young man. In 1886, the 50th anniversary of his ordination (as a deacon, not his pastoral ordination), 8 years before his death, the synod presented him with a parchment containing the following: "To Our Senior Pastor and President of

396-1019: The Evangelical Lutheran Holston Synod the Rev. Abel J. Brown, Doctor of Divinity At the Fiftieth Anniversary of his Ordination to the Holy Office of the Gospel Ministry, and the Twenty-Fifth Annual Convention of our Synod, which he helped to organize and of which he has ever been a faithful and zealous member, we his brethren and friends present this token of our affection and esteem, praying God and our Lord Jesus Christ for His richest blessing upon him. Given this fourteenth day of August, 1886, at Immanuel Church, Sullivan County, Tennessee. – The Synod." Until his last days, he

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432-538: The LCMS as its English District in 1911. The constitution of the United Synod of the South was variously interpreted by member synods who took differing stands on the Four Points during the 1890s, and the conservative position originally held by the Tennessee Synod was first given several exceptions and finally abandoned altogether with the 1920 merger. Pro-Henkelite: Anti-Henkelite (these three books talk about

468-572: The LCMS itself becoming at least bilingually English-speaking, the English Synod merged into the LCMS. However, because it wanted to maintain its identity, it was accepted as a non-geographical district. Despite the transition of the LCMS to English , the English District has continued as a separate district. The English Synod operated two colleges, both acquired in 1893. In 1908, it gave St. John's College of Winfield, Kansas , to

504-504: The LCMS. Concordia College of Conover, North Carolina , was transferred to the LCMS at the time of the merger. Both colleges have since closed. The Lutheran Witness , the main lay-oriented magazine of the LCMS, was originally published, starting in 1882, by the Cleveland District Conference. The English Synod took over publication in 1888, and it became an LCMS publication upon the 1911 merger. As of 2024,

540-542: The South , paving the way for the Tennessee Synod's merger into the United Synod of North Carolina in 1920, which ended the Tennessee Synod's history as a separate body. The Tennessee Synod is probably best known for producing the first English translation of the Book of Concord (the confessions of the Lutheran church), published in 1851 by the Henkel Press of New Market, Virginia . In addition, though not widely known,

576-464: The Synod was scattered over so vast an extent of territory, that it was difficult to get as full a meeting of the Synod as was necessary for the adoption of any important measure; and because all business transacted by the Synod could be just as well transacted by the new Synod comtempleated, as could be in the Tennessee Synod." Brown continued to serve as a strong leader in the Holston Synod as much as in

612-489: The Tennessee Synod helped found Lenoir–Rhyne University in Hickory, North Carolina , a private, four-year liberal arts college. The first president of the university, Robert Anderson Yoder, was the Tennessee Synod's first student beneficiary of scholarship funds. The Tennessee Synod's defining characteristic was its confessionalism. The synod's ministers were labeled "Henkelites" and lambasted by their opponents. "Henkelites"

648-482: The Tennessee, if not more so. The actual ratification of the Holston Synod occurred in his congregation, Immanuel, in 1865. Brown pushed for education in the Holston Synod, however because of financial hard times the Holston Synodical College was a short lived venture. Brown served several terms as president and Secretary of the Synod. In former years Brown took a very prominent and active part in

684-542: The business of teaching. During the time of which we have spoken he was offered a professorship in one college and the presidency of another, both of which he declined. He is regarded as an accomplished scholar and one of the best educators in the country. Quite a number of young men, who in after life made their mark in the learned professions, and in other departments of activity and usefulness, were educated by him. He first married Julian Teeter, daughter of Jacob and Sophie (Speece) Teeters. However, she only lived one year into

720-717: The congregations in Tennessee, under the leadership of Abel J. Brown , formed the Evangelical Lutheran Holston Synod . However the Tennessee Synod kept its name, and so after 1860, it had congregations in Virginia , North and South Carolina, and Alabama , but none in Tennessee. In 1886 the Tennessee Synod (along with the Holston Synod and other southern synods) joined the United Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in

756-736: The controversies which then agitated the Southern Lutheran Church. His "A Vindication of the Evangelical Tennessee Synod" in 1838 was a response to a sermon of Rev. John Bachman . While still young, he wrote articles for The Lutheran Observer on the Lord's Supper. The views he expressed were criticized by its editor, Dr. Kurtz. Through his life he wrote much for the Lutheran Observer , the Lutheran Standard , Our Church Paper (from Henkel Press,

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792-550: The degree of D.D. In 1876 and 1877 he served as the Holston Synod's representative at the meeting of the Lutheran General Council . C. P. Krauth of the General Council would later describe Brown as the leading proponent for historic Lutheranism in the South. In 1884, Brown took a leading part in the formation of the United Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the South , and was president of

828-551: The district includes 158 congregations and missions in 22 U.S. states and the Canadian province of Ontario , subdivided into 25 circuits , as well as 38 preschools , 17 elementary schools , and 2 high schools . Baptized membership in district congregations is approximately 36,053. English District offices are located in Farmington, Michigan . Delegates from each congregation meet in convention every three years to elect

864-497: The district president, vice presidents, circuit counselors, a board of directors, and other officers. Hecht was one of four district presidents who were removed from office by Synod President J. A. O. Preus on April 2, 1976, for non-compliance with synodical directives on the ordination and placement of improperly endorsed ministerial candidates from Seminex . Evangelical Lutheran Tennessee Synod The Evangelical Lutheran Tennessee Synod (1820–1920), commonly known as just

900-399: The end of two years he resigned his position in this institution and took charge of the academic department of Jefferson Male Academy, which, in the meantime, had been rebuilt and enlarger, and had had the sphere of its operations and usefulness greatly enlarged, and otherwise improved. He held this position till the outbreak of our late Civil War, since which he has devoted but little time to

936-636: The first decades of the Synod only): Neutral Abel J. Brown Abel J. Brown (1817–1894), was a Lutheran pastor of Immanuel's and Buehler's (or Beeler's) congregations in Sullivan County , Tennessee . He was a leader in the Evangelical Lutheran Tennessee Synod from 1836 to 1861. He was instrumental in the leading the East Tennessee congregations to form the Evangelical Lutheran Holston Synod, and

972-479: The marriage. After her death, he married her sister Emily Teeter in 1842. Their son, Charles Augustus Brown, was a brilliant lawyer, and his grandson, Joseph K. Brown, was a prominent attorney in Bristol, Tenn. In 1836, at age 19, Brown was ordained to the work or the ministry as a deacon in the Evangelical Lutheran Tennessee Synod , and devoted his time and studies for six years exclusively to this work. In 1837 he

1008-471: The most part, rendered gratuitously. In 1858 he took charge of Immanuel and Buehler's congregations, in Sullivan County, Tennessee , which he retained until his death in 1894. He owned property directly to the east of John B. Hamilton's Farm, (which had been owned by the Snapp family) just west of Blountville. Brown was voted President and Secretary of the Tennessee Synod often at its conventions. In 1861 he

1044-523: The office of magistrate, and was often solicited to run for higher offices, but always positively declined. Brown's primary education was received in a good country school. His academic studies, preparatory to entering college, were prosecuted principally in the Male Academy, at Lincolnton, N.C., and his collegiate course was taken in Emory and Henry College , Virginia, from which he was graduated with

1080-483: The petitioners for the step which they proposed, were the inconvenience and expensiveness of attending the annual conventions of the Synod when it met in another State, which was here years in every four; the loss to the people of whatever advantages might result from the meeting of the Synod in the midst of them annually, the slowness of the process by which any measure for the good of the Church could be introduced, because

1116-428: Was a leading member of that synod from 1861 until his death. He published several of his sermons and essays, and was the president of the Diet of Salisbury in 1884, which oversaw the creation of the United Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the South . Brown was born near Lincolnton, North Carolina on March 27, 1817. He was the son of Absalom and Elizabeth (Killian) Brown, and the first son and second child of

English District of the Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod - Misplaced Pages Continue

1152-424: Was a woman of strong mind and of deep religious convictions, and eminently pious. His father was a man of superior native intellect, and of great firmness and decision and character. He was a farmer and mechanic and carefully trained up his children to manual labor , as well as "in the nurture and admonition of the Lord." He was a man of considerable prominence in the community in which he lived. For many years he held

1188-521: Was advised to instead form a separate synod because the LCMS was still a German-language synod while the conference used English. The conference therefore organized as the independent English Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Missouri and Other States in 1888. The English Synod was in full agreement with the LCMS on doctrine, and joined the Evangelical Lutheran Synodical Conference in 1890. In 1911, with members of

1224-419: Was instrumental in the organization of the Evangelical Lutheran Holston Synod of Tennessee, which separated from the Tennessee Synod due to difficulties in travel to synod conventions. He said in his 1886 discourse on the Holston Synod's founding, "The withdrawal of East Tennessee Lutherans from the Tennessee Synod was not a step taken hastily or rashly, but after long and deliberate and prayerful reflection. Nor

1260-545: Was it taken because of dissatisfaction with the doctrinal position of the Synod, or because of any personal difficulties with any of its members, or for the accomplishment of any selfish or sinister ends; but solely because it was believed that the best interests of the Lutheran Church in East Tennessee imperatively demanded the formation of an independent Synod within its limits. Amongst the reasons assigned by

1296-548: Was ordained as a pastor in the same body. He was elected secretary of the Synod six times as recorded in the Synod's minutes, and President in 1854 and 1858. His work during this time was principally in North Carolina, though he did a good deal of preaching in other states, particularly in South Carolina . While engaged in teaching, he preached regularly in the places of his location. His services were, however, for

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