Lutheran Hour Ministries

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Lutheran Hour Ministries (LHM) is a Christian outreach ministry affiliated with the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod, Lutheran Church - Canada and Lutheran Women in Mission (LWML). Its mission is "Bringing Christ to the Nations--and the Nations to the Church."[1] LHM's radio program, The Lutheran Hour, is one of the longest running Christian radio broadcasts, was at one time the most-syndicated, and the speakers were some of the most-heard preachers of the 20th century.[2] The supporters of The Lutheran Hour helped its founding organization, the International Lutheran Laymen's League, become a multi-million dollar Christian missionary foundation.

Today, Lutheran Hour Ministries produces Christian radio and TV programming for broadcast, as well as Internet and print communications, dramas, music, and outreach materials. It has ministry centers in dozens of countries around the world.

History

The Lutheran Laymen's League (LLL) started in 1917 when 12 church members helped put to rest a debt of the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod (LCMS).[3] It also created a pension fund for church workers.[4]

During the Spring of 1917, it was suggested to Albert Andrew Henry (A.H.) Ahlbrand, a prominent member of Immanuel Lutheran Church in Seymour, Indiana, by his pastor, the Reverend E.H. Eggers, that he write an outline of a business corporation for the Synod. Ahlbrand suggested that the Synod have one man for a sales manager and then have a salesman in every large district, In smaller districts they would have one man in several districts combined. These men were to be selected based on their qualifications for this work. They were to contact congregations in their respective territories and report each week to the sales manager of their results. They were to encourage the congregations to increase their contributions for the work of the Synod. They were also to contact the Synodical officials in the districts so that they too would render all possible assistance to the salesman in their respective districts. If these salesmen were not functioning as they should and were not getting the results desired, the sales manager would have the right to ask them to resign and put another man in his place. Rev. Eggers suggested that Ahlbrand submit the plan to the Synod.

Since there was a $100,000 debt hanging over the Synod, a petition was presented by a District at the 1917 Convention that the Convention should not make any new appropriations until the present indebtedness was removed. With this thought in mind, a number of men, including Ahlbrand, met at the home of Mr. Fred Fritzlaff to discuss how to get rid of this debt. Mr. A. G. Brauer mentioned that he had endeavored to get 100 people to contribute $1,000 each so as to cover this. However, he had not been successful in accomplishing this. After some discussion it was proposed that the members state what they would agree to contribute to pay off the debt. In taking a round table pledge, $26,000 was pledged. Thereafter, the matter was discussed how to proceed to get others to contribute, so that the $100,000 would be paid. This was finally delegated to a few to work this out. The result of this was the LLL was organized. During these meetings, the Circuit Organizations of Laymen was proposed. Finally the entire matter was suggested to Synod and both projects were accepted by a unanimous vote.

Mr. Theo. Lamprecht was elected as president and Mr. A. G. Brauer as secretary of the LLL. This money was soon raised and an additional amount of several thousand dollars remained in the treasury of the LLL for the time being.

At the Detroit Convention held in 1920, Ahlbrand submitted a detailed plan as follows: At the Circuit Meetings, known as the Layman's Conference, every congregation was to report the money they had contributed to the Synod together with a report showing what they contributed for their local congregation and other purposes. These reports were then discussed with a view of encouraging every congregation to do its full part towards contributing to the Lord's Kingdom both at home and abroad. A budget was to be submitted by each congregation based on the communicant membership of such congregation. This plan later became known as the "Ahlbrand Plan".[5]

Dr. Walter A. Maier, the initial speaker of The Lutheran Hour, and inspiration behind the radio program, was able to secure funding from the LLL in 1930 to put a new radio program titled The Lutheran Hour on the air. The Lutheran Hour saw some rocky times during the Great Depression of the 1930s, but lived on to grow listenership and financial support throughout the 20th century. By the end of the 1940s, the income of the LLL had grown to one-and-a-quarter million dollars, and The Lutheran Hour was being broadcast on more than 1,000 radio stations worldwide.[6]

The LLL expanded its programs beyond just The Lutheran Hour over the next several decades and in 1992 the organization's name was changed to Lutheran Hour Ministries because of the popularity of its flagship radio program, The Lutheran Hour.

Today Lutheran Hour Ministries remains a multi-faceted ministry. In addition to The Lutheran Hour, Lutheran Hour Ministries airs the Woman to Woman radio program, has ministry centers in more than 30 nations, offers witnessing training workshops, and has an interactive web site for children called JCPlayZone. In 2008, LHM started a Spanish-language version of The Lutheran Hour called Para el Camino. In 2009, LHM launched its new online men's ministry product, Men's NetWork. In 2010, LHM added more than 350 new stations to its broadcast network through a partnership with Christian Satellite Network. The Lutheran Hour now airs on more than 1,350 stations across North America.

Footnotes

  1. ↑ http://www.lhm.org/about/mission.htm
  2. ↑ Radio Reader (2002) By Michele Hilmes, Jason Loviglio
  3. ↑ Authority Vested (2000) By Mary Todd
  4. ↑ http://www.lhm.org/about/lhmhistory.htm
  5. ↑ Personal recollections, My Activity in Synod and District Church Matter (June 24, 1945) By A. H. Ahlbrand
  6. ↑ Radio Reader (2002) By Michele Hilmes, Jason Loviglio

External links

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