Peter Prange

C.F.W. Walther took center stage in the history of the doctrine and practice of church fellowship among those Lutherans who organized the Missouri Synod in 1847 and later became the largest segment of the Synodical Con-ference in 1872. Between the years of 1838, when he and his fellow Saxon immigrants left Germany under the corrupt leadership of Pastor Martin Stephan, and 1882, when he and his fellow Synodical Conference delegates refused to recognize brotherly fellowship with Norwegian Synod Pro-fessor F.A. Schmidt, Walther lived and breathed the principles and prac-tice of church fellowship. As with every sinful Christian, at times he fal-tered, but his constant recourse to the Word of God equipped him to fight the inevitable confessional battles he and his fellow Lutherans would face in a new land and to wield the sword of Spirit energetically and evangel-ically for the benefit of the church past and present.