What does one do when you are in your 50th year of Ordained ministry? Being ordained was not the “beginning” of my “church work”. My parents were “Charter Members” of Ascension Lutheran Church, Toledo, Ohio. We were the second mission start by Rev. Allen Youngblood. Allen had already started Annunciation Lutheran Church, [now Grace, Philadelphia], before moving to Toledo.

My Baptist Father and AME Mother alternated Sundays in which I attended with them. About the 3rd grade they decided to become a one church family when approached by Pr. Youngblood about becoming a part of a new mission. My pianist father was quickly on board as the church’s organist and my seamstress/culinary artist mother found her niche in the Altar Guild and Kitchen as they were charter members resurrecting a new mission in neighborhood that had gone through racial transition. Along with my cousin / my father’s brother’s son who lived 2 blocks from the church, we anchored the Acolyte corps.

So, I’ve been a part of this faithful response to Luther’s teaching since age 8. Helping to organize a scout troop, going to church camp, Mowana, and eventually starting Luther League in our church among the youth. In my late teens I became the Treasurer of the Toledo Federation of Luther Leagues, attended Luther League conventions and in the Late summer of 1962, attended the constituting convention of Luther League, LCA. Around thanksgiving of that year [my freshman year of college at Wittenberg] I was elected the Luther League executive board.

Two years on Executive Board led to two terms as President of Ohio Luther League, then election to the National Luther League Executive Board, along with Harold Echols, the older brother of James Kenneth Echols, who later was a colleague at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia.

In my fifth year at Wittenberg, I completed undergraduate studies and began seminary at Hamma School of Theology. One key element did not change, Dr. Karl Hertz, a sociologist was both my undergraduate advisor and my seminary advisor as I moved to the graduate school. Little did I know at the time that he was the great grandson of the first missionary to the African American community in the southern tier of the United States, John Doetscher.

In being asked by Grover Wright in 1974-75 to consider writing and researching African/American history of Lutheranism, I was not aware that it would be a career long effort extended into what is now my retirement. Yet the information gained has been shared with others on my continuing research, occasional lectures and this year in light of the pandemic [2020-21] I have been asked numerous times to share what I know to a wider and wider audience.

During this February month “Black History Month” I chosen to ‘tell my story’ and share some of the research I have collected over the years of the response of the US Lutheran church [Primarily the history I’ve gained regarding ALC and LCA as I’ve wandered through libraries and documents that have passed through my hands as I clear out the boxes, that need to no longer be in my possession, but in the archives of the church as one person who has served for 50 years in expressions of the church that bear the initials ELCA, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

Your responses are appreciated.

Richard N. Stewart, Retired ELCA Pastor – Previous church bodies: United Lutheran Church in America; Lutheran Church in America, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

Bishop Vivian Thomas-Breitfeld

In an interview with Bishop Vivian Thomas-Breitfeld, during the African Descent Lutheran Assembly, prior to her resignation. We noted that in separate decades, we both served on the Candidacy Committee in Upstate New York. Dr. Ed Perry, her Bishop, encouraged her to give seminary a try, as her husband was a student in Chicago, IL at McCormick Seminary.

Sr. Ramona dancing

Sr. Ramona Daly

Even as Sr. Ramona has aged, her desire is to float and glide others through their lives and their worship of God.  A member of the ELCA Deaconess Community, she has served in a variety of contexts. She has carried the burdens of those congregations, chaplaincy’s, always with a spirit that not only lifts the person, but sometimes encourages them that there is still movement in lives that seem sedentary.  Movement and Prayer seem to have been central in her life and ministry.

The Rev. Michael Vinson

Pr. Vinson is one of the few interviews of someone I have never met face to face.  He, when on Facebook, shares the strong ideas of someone who has not only an idea but a plan for how life, church, ministry and football should be planned and directed.  When a conversation partner, be prepared to clarify/defend your position, because it may be challenged, always with the Love Of Jesus.

The Rev. Angela Shannon

With a Broad range of Pastor and Church Leadership positions, Pr. Shannon is an enthusiast of Girl Trek and slowing down to be a Benedictine Oblate and Womanist Theologian.

She is proud, and rightfully so, of her ministries in multiple locations, in multicultural settings.

She is extremely proud of the “Monarch Sanctuary” on the property of her call to Bowie, MD and she always notes the walking trail on the church property that highlights her own personal stake and activity in personal wellness. You might want to see her ‘Weather Reports’ no matter where she is in the world.

Bishop Callon Holloway (ret.) was almost ‘Bahn Luteran” with family roots in Fredrick Lutheran Church, St. Thomas. With a broad based Christian upbringing and family channeling, church work may have been on his family’s agenda, but not in the forefront of his mind. Continuous involvement seemed to set a path toward ministry. Involvement in church, guides – both in the congregation and beyond – helped to shape and raise up this minister who have served the church.

The Rev. Michael Cobbler

Whenever there was a gathering of clergy, Michael always seemed to have a trombone in his Bible case… As usual there was a ready smile and a word of encouragement. Most gatherings have plenty of music and Pr Cobbler was a central part of the music at any gathering of the church. Currently an interim at United Church of Christ congregations, he has served with great dignity and tremendous humor. When you hear the ready laugh, there is music soon to follow. He still plays with the symphony in Indianapolis, IN.

From Philadelphia, Pr. Leonard has been able to make forays into almost all parts of ministry in the church. Growing up the trajectory was one of service. After college and seminary, he served a parish in North Philadelphia, while fulfilling his ROTC requirement as a Navy Chaplain that did not end for 18 years. He learned Dutch in the Netherlands to equip him to serve as Missionary in Suriname. Upon completion of his service there, graduate education and service as an administrator at Uppsala College, Union Seminary kept him moving up and down the New Jersey Turnpike. A call to Contextual Education at his Alma Mater, The Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia (now United Lutheran Seminary) brought him back to his home town, and he has continuously been connected to St. Mark’s Lutheran Church, Philadelphia. Gasoline and energy seem to never be in short supply.

The Rev. Dr. Emanuel F.Y. Grantson is the first person I know who was knowledgeable of the life, education, and history of service to the Church of Anton Anselm Amo.

While Dr. Grantson has served in his native Ghana; Christ, Philadelphia; St. Michaels Truth Lutheran Church, Mitchelleville, MD; as well as taught at the seminary level. He continues to have a heart for the people he services. We shared impressions of the church’s work among people of color and with African nationals. Our collective knowledge of Anton Anselm Amo kept our conversation going.

Anton Anselm Amo, a Ghanaian, in the early 1700’s was taken to Germany, where he was a companion to the children of Duke Anton Ulrich Brunswick- Wolfenbüttel, and sons Wilhelm August and Ludwig Rudolp. In this home, Amo was influenced by Augustus Hermann Francke and Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz.

Learn more about Anton Amo.

Lynell Carter and Rich Stewart met at a “new” Urban Pastor’s Conference at Northwestern University in 1972. Like a lot of us who were scattered throughout the church, we made minimal contact. But on occasion, we would connect and remember that one week at Garrett Seminary where we, along with Wilson Wu, were the only pastors of color Studying Urban Ministry at the event.

Lynell had served in Islandic Lutheran Churches in Canada, but he was asked to serve in Baltimore. For many years he served Pastor of Bethany Evangelical Lutheran Church in Yonkers, NY, and most recently was the Pastor of St. Paul’s Evangelical Lutheran Church of Tremont in The Bronx. He retired in May 2012 and died in August 2013. Please see the video tribute prepared in his honor.