Friedrich Conrad Dietrich Wyneken | |
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F. C. D. Wyneken
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Born |
Verden an der Aller |
May 13, 1810
Died | May 4, 1876 San Francisco, California |
(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
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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 and was the first president of 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." 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".
Wyneken was born to Pastor Heinrich Christoph Wyneken (1766-1815) and Anne Catherine Louise Wyneken nee Meyer (1773-1863) on May 13, 1810 in Verden an der Aller in the Kingdom of Westphalia. Some of the earlier Wynekens and their relatives were minor government officials in the Duchy of Bremen-Verden when it was under Swedish control. The Wyneken family had an established Lutheran heritage long before Friedrich arrived in America. Heinrich Wyneken's father, grandfather, and one brother were pastors in Hanover. Two of Friedrich Wyneken's older brothers also became pastors. Significant numbers of more distant relatives and in-laws were also Lutheran clergy members, such as Superintendent Hans Heinrich Justus Phillip Ruperti, (1833-1899) who was Friedrich's nephew.