The German Connection
I want to take a detour from some heavier issues that I have and will be exploring, and will now write a brief excursus on a fascinating aspect of Church of God history that most among us are probably not aware of. In this rather quick overview, I will make the case that an essential part of our story in North America involves German speaking immigrants who enthusiastically adopted the tenets of our movement, but also found themselves at times misunderstood by the larger church.
I can speak to this with a high level of familiarity and personal history. My maternal grandfather immigrated to Canada and pastored two German Church of God congregations. Throughout my life I have had close contact with these roots, and grew up in the epicenter of this cultural and ecclesial enclave within the movement.
Unless you have spent time in the northern states or Canada, you may not fully appreciate the influence German immigration has had on the Church of God. But, this is a story that goes much deeper. D. S. Warner, himself, had German ancestry through his mother. His later involvement with the Winebrennarian Church of God was a good fit, including the fact that this group included many German speakers. Warner was bilingual, and throughout his ministry preached in English and German. Naturally, some of the first adherents of the Evening Light movement had German ethnicity.
The Midwest United States had large pockets of people who had come over from Europe, largely because of ongoing political instability and wars there. So, it is no surprise that the Reformation message touched these immigrant communities. In 1895, the Gospel Trumpet company began publishing a German version of our magazine called Die Evangeliums Posaune. A year earlier, the first missionary to Germany was sent from the U.S. And, during the first few decades some campmeetings made provision for German services. These saints were well integrated into the life of the movement, but there is evidence that they sometimes clashed with the wider church on differing perspectives on sanctification, an ongoing struggle that would recur frequently in the future.
Over time, a number of German-speaking congregations formed across North America in such regions as Canada, Michigan, northern Indiana, Wisconsin, Kansas, and even more far-flung locations like California. The 1917 Yearbook reveals that 6% of the ministers listed were German-speaking, as were 26 congregations. Although, it is evident to me that many German churches were not regularly included in Yearbook listings, perhaps indicative of the reality that language (and cultural) barriers may have kept these congregations below full recognition and acceptance.
World War I changed things. Anti-German sentiment contributed to uneasy relationships with the larger church and slowed down the development of new congregations. Nevertheless, what was happening in Europe as a result of the Great War would have even greater impact on the future trajectory of the German church in the United States and Canada.
German-speaking people are not just those who lived in Germany proper. As a modern state, Germany is a relatively young country, with its origins going back to only 1866. Germanic tribes and people, of course, pre-dated this nation, and consequent to the ongoing political shufflings in Europe, people of this ethnicity and language were scattered in other places, especially in eastern Europe, and Russia in particular. Relevant for our discussion, the German Gospel Trumpet and early Church of God missionaries came into contact with these settlements, such as in the region of Volhynia (the birthplace of my maternal grandparents) as early as 1908. The Reformation message was well received in this area of relative poverty and oppression. The faith of the saints provided strength in the midst of much turmoil, and ingrained a sense of piety that remains deeply embedded in this particular arm of the church.*
Life was difficult for these outsiders living in Russia during the war, and soon afterward many scattered to other places in Europe, and still others emigrated to such countries as the United States, Canada, and Brazil. The problem, however, is that these Germanic people, despite sharing a common language and heritage, did not fit in with the more modern Germans that they encountered both in Germany and in the countries in which they landed.
Certainly, Church of God people in Germany and in North America were welcoming of these refugees seeking a better life outside of post-World War I Russia. Yet, very quickly it was apparent that there were as many differences as there were similarities. The immigrants were largely rural and not well educated, and to many it seemed as if they had appeared out of a cultural time warp. Those fleeing were overwhelmed with the modern, industrialized world they were experiencing for the first time, and shocked at how some of the conservative and holiness values they held dearly were not as rigidly adhered to in the West.
All this set the stage for some challenging dynamics within the German community itself in North America, and eventually with the larger Church of God here as well. World War II exacerbated all that. The terrors of Nazism and the lengthy global war that ensued left those of German descent even more isolated. After 1945, whatever Church of God folk remaining in what was once Russia fled to Germany, but after struggling to fit into the post-war rebuilding taking place, another large wave emigrated to the United States and Canada, bolstering existing congregations and initiating others. Among these was a prominent Volhynian-born leader, Gustav Sonnenberg, who came to Canada in 1949 and built a significant ministry in Edmonton, Alberta, which became the prevailing center of influence for the German Church of God. The influx of eastern Europeans quickly dominated the German church. Relationships with the mainstream English-speaking Church of God were further fractured, especially as they looked with great suspicion at “Anderson” and the overall cultural landscape of the North American church which they viewed as worldly. By 1962, most of the remaining German congregations in North America created their own Yearbook, and largely ended their ties with the more established Church of God.
As hinted earlier, there were also increased tensions with more conventional Germans who found the Eastern takeover unsettling. In 1971, the German Church of God in Edmonton was rocked by a major split, largely over differing views of sanctification; but arguably this was as much about culture as it was theology. The ripple effect of this fissure saw a handful of congregations in the U.S. and Canada pull away from this German network, and eventually found themselves reconnecting with the rest of us.
Fast forward to today, and generations later. Immigration from Europe has dried up, and the tight-knit German congregations have been forced to find a forge a new future. While once resistant to incorporating English into their church life, all of the remaining 15 congregations (13 in Canada and 2 in the United States) have blended into the new cultural realities they find themselves in. Examining their websites or visiting their congregations, you probably would not even know that they were once German-only, with deep roots largely in eastern Europe. Yet, they still staunchly refer to themselves as part of the Church of God Reformation Movement, although with no real ties to Church of God Ministries and our General Assembly. That being said, there are still family connections here and there, and over the years there have been many meaningful signs of dialogue and cooperation among individuals within our two groups, some of which I have been privileged to be part of.
If you have stuck with me to this point in the article, you still may wonder why I have relayed all this history to you. Yes, part of it is because my own story is wrapped up in it. Beyond that, however, there are some important lessons for us to consider as we reflect on the German connection to the development of our movement in the United States and Canada. Here are a few initial thoughts:
From the beginning, German language and culture has influenced the development of our movement broadly. This might help explain some of the tensions we have experienced (and continue to work through) but have attributed to other causes.
A significant number of our congregations (especially in the northern states and Canada) have deep historical connections with the German Church of God folk in their cities. Some of these churches may unknowingly carry attitudes and behaviors instilled by this influence.
The prejudices we exhibited towards our German brothers and sisters during times of war in Europe contributed to their distrust of the larger established movement. We must be careful today to avoid superimposing the global political issues we have with other countries onto the people who come from there and now fellowship with us.
Cultures are not monolithic. The variances among Germans in our history should remind us of how culture shapes our perspectives, our theologies, and our religious practices. There are lessons we should learn from this that should be applied today when dealing with our Native American and Hispanic friends, among others.
Efforts to exercise unity in the Church of God must include deliberate contact and attempts at reconciliation with our movement cousins of German descent.
Thanks for following along in this story.
Auf wiedersehen!
*For more details on the origins and character of eastern European Germans, I encourage reading Walter Froese’s excellent history, People of Faith in Turbulent Times: The Church of God in Eastern Europe.