Gnadenfrei St Michael's Lutheran Church Marananga Marananga SA

Gnadenfrei is a German word that carries a message of Grace and Hope and means, 'free by the grace of God.'

 

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Lutheran Church of Australia  

https://www.gnadenfreichurch.org/  

 

 

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Many early German migrants came to this country between 1838 - 41 as a result of religious persecution. Later on it was for economic reasons. In the early 1800’s there was no united Germany. It consisted of a number of States, some more powerful than others. At this time Prussia was the largest and most powerful State and was ruled by King Friedrich William III. In 1808, the King decreed that the government of the Churches would be under the State’s Ministry of Public Worship headed by himself. In 1817 he issued an Order of Cabinet, which placed the Lutheran and Reformed Churches under the one State Department.

A few years later he issued another Decree which united them into a new Union Church and bound them to accepting its new Confession. The result was that the Lutherans were no longer allowed to adhere to their own Lutheran Confessions. The name “Lutheran” was not to be used. All ministers were asked by the King to conduct services only in the manner laid down in the Agenda (Book) setting out the Orders of Service (Liturgy) which was compiled by himself with the help of his political advisers. One matter to which Lutheran pastors objected was that they were no longer permitted to administer the Sacrament of Holy Communion according to Lutheran Rites - a very grave matter of conscience to them. As a final means of compelling Lutherans to submit to his demands, the King passed new laws in 1834 under which pastors, who did not fully follow the King’s Agenda, were dismissed as well as being deprived of all rights and privileges.

If they baptised, married and confirmed in the former Lutheran manner, they were heavily fined. Midwives were compelled to report births of Lutheran children. If parents allowed their children to be baptised in the Lutheran manner they were fined. Those who refused to name the pastors who officiated were gaoled and rewards were given to those who reported the offending pastors. Congregations were often fined heavily. Lutherans were denounced publicly as “rebels, separatists, dissenters and seducers”. Pastors and people whose consciences compelled them to adhere to the old order of things worshipped in secret in homes, cellars, barns, forests and quarries and often did so at night. In place of pastors who were arrested, Lay Elders often officiated.

It is no wonder that they saw migration to another country as the only way out, as their pleas to Prussian authorities for consideration and tolerance had been in vain. On June 8th 1838 (after a failed attempt two years earlier), 250 persons boarded two barges to take them to Hamburg to embark on the sailing ship “Prince George”. On July 8th 1838, together with the ship “Bengalee”, they set sail for Plymouth, England, where they were joined by Pastor August Ludwig Christian Kavel. The cost to transport these migrants to Australia was financed by a wealthy English Baptist philanthropist, George Fife Angas, who at the time was Chairman of the South Australian Company. He was sympathetic to the situation of the Lutherans and was also seeking settlers for land in South Australia. Money for fares, etc., would be repaid over a period of time with added interest.

The migrants arrived at Port Misery (now Port Adelaide) on November 8th 1838. Pastor Kavel ministered to the German congregations until his death in 1860. There were numerous other boat loads of migrants arriving in the months and years following. The first Lutherans settled at Klemzig (Adelaide), but as more people arrived some moved to Glen Osmond, then to Hahndorf and Lobethal in the Adelaide Hills and to Bethany and Langmeil (Tanunda) in the Barossa Valley. In 1840 the persecution ended when Friedrich III died and his son Friedrich IV repealed the Orders. However, by then a large majority of Lutherans had gone to America and over 800 to Australia. During the period from 1845-1850 more German settlers moved into the Barossa Valley area. Most of them had connections with the Langmeil Congregation and would have worshipped at Langmeil, Tanunda. Pastor Kavel was their spiritual leader. At this time, members of the Langmeil Congregation settled in and around the area which soon became known as Gnadenfrey.

The Gnadenfrey Lutherans did not immediately form a new Congregation, but were regarded as part and parcel of the Langmeil group. At some stage between 1850-1853 a local place of worship was built. This was done under the guidance of Pastor Kavel and remained part of the Langmeil Parish. The first church building was erected on the present church grounds, the land being given to the Congregation by Mr Carl Kriebel. The exact location and type of building is not known. These records were believed to have been lost with some of Pastor Kavel’s records. The present spelling of Gnadenfrei was adopted in 1860. Also in 1860 the Gnadenfrei Congregation severed its ties with the Langmeil Congregation and joined the Light Pass Immanuel Lutheran Parish, and remained with that Parish until a realignment in 1966 saw Gnadenfrei join a re-vamped Greenock Lutheran Parish. To this day the Parish comprises St. Peter’s Greenock, Nain Lutheran Church and Gnadenfrei St. Michael's, Marananga.