Henry Melchior Muhlenberg, Preservation Society of Newport County

Henry Melchoir Muhlenberg, often known as “the father of American Lutheranism, was a prominent American Lutheran pioneer pastor, church planter, organizer, administrator, liturgist and chronicler. Sent by Halle Pietists in 1742 to counter Moravian incursions among German Lutherans in Pennsylvania, Muhlenberg succeeded in quickening and galvanizing Lutheran self-consciousness and uniting communities into a synod by codifying religious practices during his 45 years of service.

Born in Einbeck, Germany, Muhlenberg was educated at Göttingen University, where he experienced a personal religious awakening. During a brief teaching tenure at the Francke Foundation in Halle, he became an ardent pietist, aspiring to go as a missionary to India. He was ordained in 1739 and served as assistant minister and director of the orphanage at Grosshennersdorf from 1739 to 1741, before he accepted the call to go to Pennsylvania.

During his brief visit to the Salzburgers in Savannah, Ga., in 1742, he was greatly disturbed by the practice of slavery and commented: “This is a terrible state of affairs, which will entail a severe judgment” (The Journals of Henry Melchior Muhlenberg, Vol. 1). Later in Philadelphia, he baptized African slaves and refused to take a slave given to him, but he implemented no measures to abolish this inhumane practice. The detailed journal he kept is a prodigious source of information about early U.S. Lutheranism.

After arriving in Philadelphia on Nov. 25, 1742, and confirming his call in the congregations he was to serve, he focused on dealing with the vagabond preachers who had arrived in Pennsylvania, especially Count Nikolaus von Zinzendorf, who was striving to form a pan-German Protestant church. Muhlenberg forced Zinzendorf to relinquish his hold on the Lutheran congregations in Philadelphia.

In his travels with father-in-law, an Indian Agent, Muhlenberg often baptized Blacks and Indians.

Read this exploration of Muhlenberg and his impact on the church in this Deeper Understanding from Living Lutheran.