Our Fathers Saw His Mighty Works

A History of the Lutheran Evangelistic Movement 1937-1955

You probably wouldn’t be too surprised if I were to tell you that there was a time in the history of our country when nearly half of the population attended church on any given Sunday, the Bible was the best-selling book for years in a row, and Congress voted to make “In God We Trust” the national motto.  But you might be surprised to know that such a time happened within the lifetimes of many people who are still ... More

On the north shore of Medicine Lake in Plymouth, Minnesota, stands a site that is an undeniable testimony to God’s mighty working in the post World War II years.  It’s a site past which hundreds of people walk, bike, and jog on every pleasant day.  It’s a site which numerous Christian people pass daily, unaware, as one historian put it, “that the ground on which they tread has … been hallowed by the ... More

If you had been a Lutheran pastor, evangelist, or lay leader in the upper Midwest in 1936, you might well have received several weeks before Christmas the following letter which read in part:1 Dear Co-workers for Christ:  You are cordially invited to attend a general conference on Lutheran Evangelism  to be held January 5, 6, 7, 1937 at Trinity Lutheran Church, 40th Ave. So. and 52nd St.,  Minneapolis, Minnesota, Rev. Evald ... More

    On a certain Sunday afternoon many years ago, two friends were walking together and talking intently as they went.  As would be fitting for any Christians to do on the Lord’s Day, they were discussing Jesus’ suffering and death and its meaning.  And “while they communed together and reasoned, Jesus himself drew near and went with them . . . and expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things ... More

 Throughout the centuries, it has often been a popular activity to compile genealogies or family trees.  Some are entirely the undertaking of one person researching backward as many generations as possible while others are the combined efforts of successive generations who each add to the family chronicle before passing it down.  In some instances little information is available besides a list of names while in other cases ... More

    If its name was to be merely reflective of its largest and most widely-known work, the Lutheran Evangelistic Movement might just as aptly have been named the Lutheran Deeper Life Movement.  It’s true that the original priority of the Lutheran Inter-Synodical Evangelistic Committee was the cause of evangelism, but as God expanded their work He very soon made clear that their calling within the church was to more ... More

    What did the members of the Lutheran Inter-Synodical Evangelistic Committee believe was so indispensably distinctive about the work to which God had called them?  By their own admission, “Various efforts to promote sound Lutheran evangelism [have already] been made at various times.”1  What was it then that gave the Committee the driving enthusiasm to carry out their calling as if they were the only ... More

    “It is our earnest prayer that our beloved church may in these days experience a heaven sent revival and showers of blessings.  It is ‘Revival or Ruin.’”1  So said Evald J. Conrad on behalf of the whole Lutheran Inter-Synodical Evangelistic Committee in early 1940.  Their prayer echoed that same heart cry which had been brought out so prominently at the very first Inter-Synodical ... More

    There is perhaps a danger inherent in this history of the Lutheran Inter-Synodical Evangelistic Committee / Lutheran Evangelistic Movement.  The focus is so much on the positive that the reader is liable to get a wrong impression either that there were no difficulties in the movement or that the story has been manipulated to appear unrealistically rosy.  The reason that this account appears so unswervingly ... More

    When Jesus Christ lived on earth some 2,000 years ago, He did not limit His ministry to one location.  Rather He said, “I must preach the kingdom of God to other cities also: for therefore am I sent.” (Luke 4:43 KJV)  Similarly, God’s work on earth through the Holy Spirit Whom Jesus sent after He ascended to heaven has never been confined to one locale but has permeated nearly every region of the ... More

    It’s not unusual for people to have some type of belief system that motivates them throughout their lives, but it is quite unusual for people to have a belief system that provides them with joy and eager anticipation as they face their last days on earth.  It’s one thing to have a faith which gets one through the petty circumstances of life, but it’s another thing altogether to have a faith which ... More