mbers may partake
of the services of the Episcopal Church, it halted for a century the
growth of the Lutheran Church in New York. [Tr. note: no close quotation
marks in original.]

The same experience greets us in London. There the Lutheran Church was
established in 1669, only five years later than in New York. For more
than two centuries it had the recognition of royalty. As late as the
Victorian era Prince Albert, the Queen and the royal family, in their
personal relations, were connected with the Lutheran Church. To this day
Queen Alexandra is a communicant in the Lutheran church. There exist
therefore no social barriers to its growth. Yet not a single English
Lutheran church is to be found in London.

With one exception the dozen Lutheran churches of other tongues
recognize no responsibility to propagate the faith of the Augsburg
Confession in the language of the city in which they live. The exception
is that of the German "Missouri" congregation. Here English as well as
German is used in the services. Here alone it would seem that "religion
is the chief concern."

The language problem confronted us early in our local history. In the
first hundred years three languages, Dutch, German and English,
contended for the mastery. In their pastoral work some ministers used
all three.

Dutch was the first to surrender. The children of Dutch families adopted
the language of their English conquerors, and when immigration from
Holland ceased, the use of Dutch in worship became obsolete. The last
use of Dutch at a Lutheran service was at the communion on the First
Sunday in Advent in 1771. It had maintained itself for 114 years.

After the use of Dutch in worship had ceased, German and English came
into collision. It was a fight to a finish. When it was over there was
little left for which to contend. When Pastor Kunze died, in 1807, the
congregation had declined almost to the point of extinction. Many of the
English-speaking families had left us and we thus lost some of our
leading members, people whose ancestors had for five generations
belonged to our communion. The Germans remained, but during the lull in
the tide of immigration the use of German declined to such an extent as
to imperil the existence even of the German congregation. When Kunze's
successor arrived he had difficulty in finding members of the church who
could speak German. Even in the German congregation English had become
the language of every-day life.