Friedrich Conrad Dietrich Wyneken | |
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Born | Verden an der Aller, Germany | May 13, 1810
Died | May 4, 1876 | (aged 65)
Education | University of Halle |
Parent(s) | Heinrich Christoph Wyneken and Anne Catherine Louise Wyneken nee Meyer |
Religion | Lutheran |
Ordained | May 8, 1837 |
Offices held | President of Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod (1850–1864) |
Friedrich Conrad Dietrich Wyneken (May 13, 1810, in Verden an der Aller – May 4, 1876, in San Francisco, California) was a missionary pastor in the United States. He also served for fourteen years as the second president of the Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod, and helped found Concordia Theological Seminary.
One hundred years after fellow Hanoverian Henry Muhlenberg brought together the pastors and congregations of colonial America, Wyneken worked with C. F. W. Walther to gather scattered German Protestants into confessional Lutheran congregations and forge them into a closely knit family of churches. Wyneken's missionary experience, method, and plan influenced American Lutheran missions for many years to come. His appeals to Wilhelm Loehe and other German friends brought many German pastors, including Wilhelm Sihler, from Germany to America. He has been called the "thunder after the lightning."[1] He is commemorated on the Calendar of Saints of the Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod on May 4.
Considered a "tireless" church worker by others, Wyneken confessed, rather, that he "suffered horribly from melancholy".[2]