NOT TO BE GUILTY OF “STANDING HERE IDLE”
January 20, 2024BURNT ALIVE – 22 January 1999
January 22, 2024The role of a Pastor is very important in the grown of a Christian and the Church. The responsibilities are not simple and easy. Being a Pastor is one of the toughest of all ‘jobs’ if we can call it so. The word Pastor may not describe the role and the responsibilities well. The word Shepherd is a better word.
Theodor Fliedner is no simple man. Born on 21 January 1800, at Eppstein, Germany; and died on 4 October 1864, at Düsseldorf-Kaiserswerth, Düsseldorf, Germany. Theodor Fliedner’s heart was always to serve His LORD, and the congregation entrusted to him, by his Master. In short, Fliedner lived and walked for His God, like what Francis of Assisi described, “It is no use walking anywhere to preach unless our walking is our preaching.”
At the age of 22, Theodor Fliedner is invited to be a Pastor of a small and poor Lutheran Church at Kaiserswerth, Germany, on 18 January 1822. Since the congregation was poor, and were in no financial position to pay for his travel, Fliedner chose to walk the entire journey to reach his congregation, and not to burden them by his travel costs.
In the very first month of his work, as a Pastor, the city’s primary source of employment crashes, and the local government wants to offer Fliedner a better appointment, because they are unable to pay his salary. But Theodor Fliedner refuses to leave his God given congregation, because he considered God called him, and he was not a mere hireling. Instead of being disheartened, Fliedner undertakes a long and laborious journey across Germany, to raise funds for an endowment, to support the Kaiserwerth church.
Fliedner laboured at Kaiserswerth his entire life, till his death in 1864. During his life and ministry, a good 42 years, he founded the first Protestant hospital in Kaiserswerth in 1836, and created at the same time, the Lutheran deaconess ministry, an order of lady nurses, which soon found worldwide membership and recognition, and became an important model for modern nursing schools. The famed Florence Nightingale received her training at Kaiserswerth.
A poor church and congregation. A committed Pastor who passionately continued his calling, unlike a hireling, is the story of Theodor Fliedner. May the LORD raise many like him, in these days where Church is viewed more a ‘commercial enterprise’ than a calling from God.
