Mission & ministry
From Lutheranto Church’s magazine undergoes more change
German. Norwegian. Danish. Swedish. In the
early and mid 1800s, you didn’t need to speak English to remain abreast with the happenings of the Lutheran church. At that time, the church published myriad magazines that catered to a diverse body of non-English-speaking congregations. Although these congregations didn’t always share a common language, they undoubtedly shared a common creed. Even in its earliest, fragmented format, the prede-
cessor magazines of The Lutheran played an important role—to spread the news of the church and share the gospel with its members. The Lutheran Observer, which began publishing in 1831, was one of the first forms of Lutheran news in the U.S. Several decades later, there were more than five magazines, some of which catered to smaller Lutheran denominations. The Lutheran was one such magazine, which was established in 1860. As the church unified, so did the magazine. By
1919, The Lutheran had consolidated with several publications, including The Lutheran Observer. Nearly seven decades later in 1988—after the merger with the American Lutheran Church (1960), the Association of Evangelical Lutheran Churches (1976) and Lutheran Church in America (1962)—the ELCA became what it is today. Since then, The Lutheran has remained a robust publication. “The magazine spoke to the church and for the
The Lutheran Observer 1930
church,” said Edgar Trexler, editor of The Lutheran from 1978 (prior to the ELCA merger in 1988) until 1999. “We spoke to the church by the kind of material we published—church at work, seminaries, missions, congregations—the major efforts of the church. “At the same time, we tried to present what the
church was, not only to ourselves, but to the rest of the world.”
A bold publication Throughout its history, The Lutheran has served as a way not only to communicate news about the church, but also to share what the church was doing across the country and around the world. “We brought the world to the readers—the world
as we see it through the eyes of the gospel,” said David L. Miller, editor of The Lutheran from 1999 to 2005. “We wrote articles from around the world in the 100 or more countries where the ELCA and the Lutheran World Federation had an impact—places where there are few resources, corrupt governments, unclean water, little to eat, places where the church’s work made a life and death difference.” Judy Korn, a member of The Lutheran’s now defunct
advisory committee, shared similar sentiments. “The magazine challenged us to think about our
world, our church and our congregations differently, but to also see the similarities in people, institutions,
Some 40 publications existed over 185 years—they’ve been telescoped into today’s Living Lutheran magazine. 1896
1952 The Lutheran Messenger The Lutheran 1963 The Lutheran
By Jill Dierberg Clark
32 APRIL 2016
The
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