The Organization of the Congregation in the Early Lutheran Churches in America | Page 2

arrival, to elect these two classes of officers, to whom
the direction of their affairs was intrusted. In the congregational
constitution furnished the Salzburg emigrants to Georgia in 1733 by
Drs. Urlsperger, Ziegenhagen and Francke, based on that of the Savoy
Church at London, Elders and Deacons, annually elected by a majority
of the members, were provided for.
The question very naturally arises and claims consideration, Whence
came this usage of the Pennsylvania German Lutheran congregations?
This arrangement is almost entirely unknown in the Lutheran Church in
Germany, where the church is united with the State, and has little right
of self-government. That the same mode of organization should have
been adopted at the outset by them all is not only in itself strange, but
shows that this arrangement must have been brought to their notice
from some quarter, and having been tested commended itself to them.
We believe that this provision of Elders and Vorsteher or Deacons, was
accepted by them from the Swedish Lutheran Churches on the
Delaware, the early Dutch Reformed and German Reformed Churches
in Pennsylvania, and the Dutch Lutheran Churches in New York and
New Jersey, and ultimately from the German Lutheran Church in
London, and the Dutch Lutheran Church in Amsterdam. And as these
earlier organizations exerted an influence not merely upon the first
shaping of the German Lutheran congregations, but continuously upon
the whole formation of their congregational constitutions, until they
assumed their final complete condition, it is the more proper that they
should receive careful consideration.

ORIGINAL SOURCES OF ORGANIZATION IN THE GERMAN
LUTHERAN CHURCHES IN PENNSYLVANIA.

1. The Swedish Congregations. Acrelius, in his history of New Sweden,
does not describe the earliest organization of the congregation. The
instructions given by the crown to Gov. Printz, 1642, simply say:
"Above all things, shall the governor consider to see to it that a true and
due worship, becoming honor, laud and praise be paid to the Most High
God in all things, and to that end all proper care shall be taken that
divine service be zealously performed according to the Unaltered
Augsburg Confession, the Council of Upsala, and the ceremonies of the
Swedish Church; and all persons, but especially the young, shall be
duly instructed in all the articles of their Christian faith, and all good
discipline shall in like manner be duly exercised and received." The
earliest mention Acrelius makes of congregational officers, is in the
time of Fabritius in 1684, when Church Wardens made an appeal to the
members with reference to the pastor's salary. In Sandel's time, 1702,
new Church Wardens and Church Councilmen were installed, which
suggests that these two offices were found in the time of Fabritius, so
short a time previous. If this be a correct conclusion, the question
would arise, whether this arrangement was introduced by Fabritius, or
was in existence from the beginning? Fabritius was sent out from
Amsterdam as the first settled pastor of the Dutch Lutheran
congregations in New York. If those congregations were not fully
organized before he came, they were certainly organized by him, and in
either case after the type of that at Amsterdam. Fabritius founded the
Swedish congregation at Philadelphia, and it is very possible that he
may have given it a constitution like that of New York and Amsterdam.
I do not know whether the congregations in Sweden have any such
arrangement as is found in the churches on the Delaware. I find the
office of Church Wardens mentioned in the Kirchen-Ordnung of
Charles XI. in 1686, but am not sure of the extent to which the office
agrees with that in the Wicaco Church. Acrelius describes the
organization of this last-named congregation in Sandel's time, p. 216.
"Pastor Sandel held a parish meeting, installed new Church Wardens
(Kyrkowaerdar) and Church Councilmen (Kyrkoraeder), and at the
same time explained to each of these their duties. Thus, 1.) The
Councilmen were to have the oversight of the preservation and
improvement of the church and parsonage. 2.) That each in his turn
should look after the life of the people, and if any one should conduct

himself improperly, give timely notice of it to the pastor, so that with
his concurrence and advice, and according to the circumstances of the
persons and their deeds, they might be brought before the Church
Council (Kyrkoraedet), and either admonished, placed on trial, or
excluded from the congregation. The office of the Church Wardens was:
1.) To collect and pay over the Priests' salary twice a year; 2.) To take
up the collections in the church, and the other church dues, as for
marriages, churching of women, burials, etc.; 3.) To take care of the
poor of the congregation; 4.) To keep the accounts of the church in
good order and exhibit them annually