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

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 on the 1st of May; 5.) To provide the pay for the sexton, etc."
This whole arrangement bears a close resemblance to that of