Trinity Lutheran Church, Frankfurt
Trinity Lutheran Church, Frankfurt
THE EARLY YEARS
Following World War II, Frankfurt became a headquarters city for American military personnel and with the military came the chaplains. Several Lutheran chaplains served in the Frankfurt area from time to time, but not on a continual basis. Lutheran lay people were here, but pastoral leadership was not available, and many felt a need for something more than general Protestant chapel services.
By 1956 a number of American Lutherans living in Frankfurt had approached Pfarrer Wilhelm Rehr (who had studied in the US) of the “Ev.-Luth. Dreieinigkeits Gemeinde”* (in English, Trinity Congregation), located near the zoo, asking about the possibility of beginning a regular Word and Sacrament ministry in English. Pf. Rehr consulted Prof. Oesch from the “Lutherische Hochschule” (Lutheran Seminary) in Oberursel and arranged plans to begin a ministry in English in his church. The first English service was held at Dreieinigkeits Gemeinde on May 5, 1957 with several dozen people in attendance. On most Sundays Mr. Lawrence Lillegard, an American seminarian, studying in Oberursel at the time, gave pastoral leadership. Faculty members presided when the Sacraments were celebrated.
- Note: The Dreieinigkeits Gemeinde later merged with another congregation in 1971 and was renamed “Trinitatis Gemeinde”.
Dr. Oesch contacted American colleagues in the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod (LCMS) for help in supporting the new English language service in Frankfurt. In July 1957, Dr. J. Behnken, president of the LCMS, and other church officials, stopped in Frankfurt while passing through, met with local leaders, and set plans in motion to call a full-time pastor. Later that year Rev. Bernard Danner, a US Army Chaplain who had just completed his military service in Turkey, was commissioned as “Area Pastor” by the Armed Forces Commission of the LCMS. His mission was twofold: to serve as pastor to Lutherans in Frankfurt, and to coordinate ministry to scattered US military personnel in Europe, Turkey, northern Africa, and the Middle East, because of a lack of Lutheran chaplains. Pastor Danner was installed on March 9, 1958. Of course the congregation was not only small but also transient, so Pastor Danner set up a volunteer vestry board. This made it possible for the group to function when the pastor was engaged in his frequent field service travels. During 1959-1960 Chaplain Ahlemeyer was active in the congregation and conducted many of the services when Rev. Danner was “on the road”. Sunday School and Adult Bible classes were held during this period, first at the church, and then (because of building renovations and growth in numbers) at Platen Community Center, far across town (Stefan-Zweig-Straße). This required a very difficult caravanning expedition every Sunday between the two facilities. Pastor Danner began two significant programs during his tenure: the annual Confirmation Service held on Pentecost Sunday in Worms (since 1958) and the annual Reformation Festival service, held in Speyer or in Worms (since 1962). The annual Confirmation Service held in Worms continues to be supported by Lutheran military Chaplains throughout Europe as well as by Trinity congregation to this day. Pastor Danner served capably for nine years until 1967. In March of that year, he was succeeded by Rev. William H. Marwede, who remained for three years. The LCMS continued to sponsor the Armed Forces Commission.
A GROWING CONGREGATION
On July 1, 1969 the second chapter in Trinity’s story began, when the LCMS transferred support and supervision of the ministries based in Frankfurt, to the newly-organized Division of Service to Military Personnel (DSMP) of the Lutheran Council in the US (LCUSA). Since then Trinity has been an independent, inter-Lutheran congregation. A model constitution for overseas congregations adopted by DSMP was approved by the Frankfurt congregation on February 1, 1970. The name “Trinity Lutheran Church of Frankfurt am Main” was selected in honour of our then host congregation. Included were provisions for rotation of pastors every three to six years among the sponsoring Church bodies: the American Lutheran Church (ALC), the Lutheran Church in America (LCA), and the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod (LCMS). Under DSMP, Trinity was known as an “independent Lutheran congregation overseas” (ILCO).
Trinity extended its first pastoral call to the Rev. Dr. B. Paul Huddle, then the President of the Lutheran Theological Seminary of Tokyo, Japan. A seminary student was added to Trinity’s staff in 1972. This started our “Vicar” program. Trinity has been served by vicars who have come from nine seminaries in the US through the mid 1990's. During Dr. Huddle’s pastorate, the annual “Luther Heritage Tour” to former East Germany was instituted. This was a religious study retreat to visit the places where Martin Luther, Johann Sebastian Bach and other Reformation leaders lived and worked. Trinity still sponsors a Reformation Heritage tour every year.
As director of the “Lutheran Field Service/Europe”, Pastor Huddle coordinated denominational chaplaincy work in Iran, Lebanon, Turkey, Greece, Italy, Spain, Morocco, England, Holland, Belgium, and of course, Germany. Two daughter congregations were founded because of his work.
The parsonage was first occupied by the Huddles in 1970. Our first vicars found room and board in the “Afrika Kolleg”, a German church-related international student house in northwest Frankfurt. From 1980-1988 all the vicars were single and Trinity maintained a one-room vicarage at Spohrstrasse 51. Then the vicarage that followed, at Oeder Weg 121, was rented for our first vicar couple in 1988.
The congregation began the practice of using both major US Lutheran hymnals during Pastor Huddle’s years: THE LUTHERAN HYMNAL and the SERVICE BOOK AND HMYNAL. Since 1971 the congregation has rotated from one hymnal to the other every four months. This rotation continued after the purchase of the new LUTHERAN BOOK OF WORSHIP and LUTHERAN WORSHIP. In recent years we added the hymnal supplement WITH ONE VOICE from Augsburg Fortress.
Music has been important in Trinity’s congregational life. Mrs. Alice Maxwell of Kaiserslautern was our first music director in 1959. She commuted to Frankfurt each Sunday for three years. Subsequent music leaders (organist and/or choir directors) have lived in the Frankfurt area, including James Choitz, Elizabeth Schwarz-Gangel, Karen Römer and Dr. Jerrode Marsh. Over the years many US Lutheran college choirs and other choral groups touring Europe, made Trinity one of their concert stops.
Pastor Theol Hoiland was installed as Dr. Huddle’s successor in 1976. He came from the Office of the US Army Chief of Chaplains in Washington, DC. Early in his term, because of continually expanding duties as Field Service Pastor, the DSMP authorized the creation of the “Lutheran Coordinating Committee - Europe” to assist him in planning major European-wide events, which now included an annual Lay Retreat. These programs expanded in scope and grew in attendance. Trinity grew significantly during Pastor Hoiland’s stay. The congregation was incorporated under German law as a non-profit “Eingetragener Verein”. The worship and Sunday School programs were finally brought together at a larger and centrally located church building, “Christus Immanuel Gemeinde” at Nibelungenallee 54, where we are located to this day.
Rapid growth occurred immediately; worship attendance doubled within four years and for the first time, Trinity became truly international, vigorously reaching out to welcome people from countries outside of the US. Pastor Hoiland returned to the US in 1980 as a parish pastor.
Trinity’s next pastor was Rev. Larry Myers, a member of the religious faculty at Concordia College, St. Paul, Minnesota, and former LCMS missionary to Korea. He completed his doctorate in classical studies and published several booklets and articles while at Trinity, including historical pamphlets interpreting Luther’s Heritage at Worms. Pastor Myers was a key figure in the beginning of Kaiserslautern Ev. Lutheran Church, which was organized in 1986 and affiliated with the LCMS. Some of the highlights during his 6 years were the following: instituted two annual Confirmation youth retreats: one of these took place in Worms on Reformation weekend, the other on the Rhine River; expanded Youth confirmation requirements to include a weeknight and Sunday morning; chaired the Lutheran Coordinating Committee for Europe and the Near East; coordinated the annual Lutheran Lay Retreat and annual Confirmation Service; established the annual “Thanksgiving Dinner”(he spent two days in his last year cooking 10 turkeys on a Weber grill on the balcony at the parsonage); spent approximately 60 days every year in Field Service duty; expanded and enriched the parish music program.
His joys: the wonderful people at Trinity; supervising the 6 interns/vicars, three of whom have since then earned doctorates; witnessing 5 members of Trinity, (excluding the vicars) going to Lutheran seminaries, one of whom is now Pastor Myers’ associate pastor, Eric Skovgaard; the birth of their only child, Christoph-Martin Mattias Myers, in 1982 at the Frauenklinikum of the Goethe Universität in Frankfurt.
His challenges: the transient nature of the congregation, preventing one from ascertaining the results of pastoral efforts and congregation ministry; operating a church office in the spare bedroom of the parsonage; maintaining a healthy balance between congregation and Field Service duties.
He felt it was unique to experience only one death in the congregation in the entire 6 years of his tenure.
INDEPENDENT & INTERNATIONAL
Pastor Alan J. Rider was called to follow Dr. Myers, in 1986. He came from Reston, Virginia, where he had been a mission developer. The military presence was still strong at this time and Pastor Rider continued the duties as Field Service Pastor, visiting Italy, Spain, the Netherlands and parts of Germany regularly. Occasionally he went to the remote sites of Greece, Belgium, the Mideast, the United Kingdom and Iceland. The US Lutheran church bodies were merging at this time into the “Evangelical Lutheran Church in America” (ELCA). This required Trinity to become an independent self-supporting congregation. Pastor Rider helped to write the first mission statement in 1989, adopt a new constitution, and achieve financial self-support. Trinity’s long practice of training interns (vicars) continued and the position of Parish Secretary was set up in a separate church office outside the parsonage/office apartment. Together with Ron Babb in 1987 he founded the Prison Fellowship which later became an affiliate of Prison Fellowship International. Also at this time new emphases began on both in-reach and out-reach activities. “Neighbourhood Groups” were formed for Bible studies as well as prayer and fellowship. A new “Outreach and Concern” committee was organized resulting in the “Frankfurt Area of Christians Together” (F.A.C.T.) with the local Anglican and Methodist congregations. Joint projects included work among the city’s homeless, refugees, and a Vacation Bible School. Pastor Rider states that “in those days when the ‘Iron Curtain’ was still a reality, the Luther Tours conducted provided occasions for taking financial and other support to German Lutheran pastors working under the Communists. After the ‘wall’ came down we were excited to host an East German pastor as a guest right after this happened. And another highlight was the St .Daniel’s Russian Orthodox Monastery Choir of Moscow on its first tour of the West in 1992.”
Still in 1987, Trinity was the center for keeping the database of US related Lutheran ministries in Europe and the Mideast. During this time he coordinated the annual Lutheran Lay Retreat and the Worms Confirmation Service. Vicar Kent Mueller helped him to launch the Annual Reformation Festival and the Youth Event. With the US military draw-down and the tenuous “military congregation”, Trinity chose to join the “Association of International Churches” (AIC). We became an international English-speaking congregation. Pastor Rider’s wife Karen served as office manager for the AIC in the early 90s. Trinity hosted the annual meeting in1992 with over 60 attendees present from all over Europe and the Mideast. Trinity also took the lead when the AIC established the new International Church of Prague. Pastor Rider recalls the privilege of conducting the first worship service on Easter Day 1990 as the Russian troops and tanks were still withdrawing.
In 1992 Pastor James E. Behnke came to us. Already in 1972 he attended Trinity Lutheran Church as a layman. He recalls that they worshipped at the Trinitatis Gemeinde over by the zoo at that time, which is where his daughter Michelle was baptized. He never dreamed that he would ever return again, let alone return as the pastor of the congregation. (A few years before he was called by Trinity, the calling process was issued by the Armed Services Commission of the ALC, LCA and Missouri Synods. Each selected a candidate from their Synod and the Commission decided on one candidate and issued the call. Later, that authority was given to Trinity who now selects and calls the pastor.)
While Pastor Jim was a lay member of Trinity, the church council noticed that the current pastor, Rev. Huddle was overworked and was gone much of the time from Trinity due to the Field Service ministry. Jim proposed that the Synods provide a vicar to help the pastor meet the needs of the congregation. This was approved and he helped the new vicar to become adjusted when he arrived. Pastor Behnke had the privilege of having four seminarians under his tutelage as Vicars. During his tenure here there was a shortage of available vicars from the seminary. He proposed that we consider a retired pastor to fill the position of vicar. We had two such pastors serve in this capacity and this proved to be a rewarding solution for Trinity to have seasoned, experienced pastors ministering to the congregation when Pastor Behnke was on Field Service duty. One of the highlights was welcoming “Vicar” Tom Frizelle back in 1998, officiating at Tom’s Ordination into the Holy Ministry here, as well as officiating at Tom and Laura’s Trinity wedding.
Ministry to the youth was an important part of his ministry. Pastor Jim augmented the Youth Program with the leadership of a half-time youth worker for one year.
When Pastor Behnke arrived the pastor “wore two hats”; one as LFS-Europe pastor (Field Service) and the other as pastor to Trinity. Prior to that time, the focus was centered on the Field Service. Trinity was a second concern. He reversed the priority order because he felt Trinity should be the pastor’s first concern. He could serve at Trinity every Sunday and still serve the LFS-Europe folks during the week. In spite of the continuing draw-down of US military personnel in Frankfurt and throughout Germany, Trinity continued to be central organizers of the annual Luther Tour (although it was eventually reduced to a three day tour from a full week) and the annual Confirmation Service in Worms.
Like many of the previous pastors, Pastor Jim maintained an office in the parsonage. During his tenure the "church office" moved from the parsonage to two different locations on Eschersheimer Landstrasse several times, and finally to the Gemeindehaus of Christus Immanuel Gemeinde (our host congregation) at Nibelungnenallee 54. After many years, it was very nice to have our worship facility and office at the same location.
After Pastor Behnke, Dr. Robert B. Patrick came to Trinity from Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, for two years from 1999 - 2001. Pastor Patrick had many overseas stints while serving the US Air Force in his past: Germany, Tehran, Iran, Izmir Turkey, and the Panama Canal. He served as a Middle East Area Specialist while on active duty and assessed regional developments. The most recent pastor, Samuel J. Wolff, arrived in August 2001. He was born in Nebraska, received his Masters of Divinity from Pacific Lutheran Seminary, Berkeley, California and his Masters of Theology in Islamic Studies from Luther Seminary, St. Paul, Minnesota. His past experience has made him an especially good “fit” for a congregation like Trinity, which has become very multicultural. Pastor Wolff has served as parish pastor in Sylmar, California, as pastor of international congregations and as a missionary in Nairobi, Kenya and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania for 21 years. Social service, counseling, teaching, cross- cultural and urban ministry are his strengths. He speaks frequently on Christian-Muslim issues as well as leading seminars, not only for Trinity but for the Frankfurt community at large. Outreach and evangelism to the international community of Frankfurt is an important focus in his leadership. Maintaining connections to the military and consulate community, as well as international ties through active participation in the AICEMEA (Association of International Churches in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, formerly called the AIC) and involvement with local Frankfurt clergy are equally important to Trinity’s ministry. He has developed a close relationship with our host congregation and through this we have been able to expand our use of the facilities here and continue to work with them on long-term plans.
Several exciting new aspects of ministry have developed during Pastor Wolff’s tenure. He proposed and the Church Council approved the establishment of the position of Parish Worker. This person gives support to the Pastor in establishing and maintaining a healthy and caring relationship with the congregation. The creation of this position enabled the church office staff to function more efficiently: allowing the church secretary to concentrate on clerical and office functions, and the Parish Worker to work closely with the council deacons and the pastor in programming and special projects and events.
The Worship Committee suggested and Pastor Wolff fully supported the addition of a Praise Worship service which was added about three years ago, on the first Sunday of the month in the evening. Various members of the congregation make up our own praise band. We wanted to offer another worship style for those who prefer a non-liturgical service or who cannot attend Sunday morning worship. It is our desire to continue to find ways to reach students, young professionals and others who may not have a church home.
Pastor Wolff, (as well as Pastor Patrick before him), believes worship does not solely depend on the pastor and has encouraged members of the congregation to serve as the Assisting Minister during worship services.
Part of our ministry is to foster fellowship and help those new to Frankfurt and the surrounding area—single professionals, students, au pairs and young families --- integrate into the congregation and life in Frankfurt.
Through mid-week Bible studies offered in the fall and spring, the mother’s Bible study and children’s choirs that constitute the Lighthouse Friday afternoon program, choir concerts in the community, participation in the Pfingst Fest (Pentecost Festival) and “Welcome to Hessen” festival, among other things, we continue to try to reach and minister to the English speaking community.
This is the ongoing mission of Trinity Lutheran Church, Frankfurt.