In 1882, the Lutheran Young Men’s Association of Trinity, Buffalo, NY, proposed the creation of a national association of Lutheran young people’s societies. After several false starts and a decade of general uninterest from other societies throughout the country, twelve societies finally met in 1893 to form a national league, which they named after the late C. F. W. Walther.

The goal of the league was simple: “to assist in keeping our young people within the Church.” Growth was slow, and the league initially experienced a great deal of opposition from congregations and synodical church leaders. The members nevertheless persisted, launching their own newspaper, holding annual national conventions, and steadily drawing in new societies across the country. Recognizing that many young people are lost to the church when they move to a new city, the league embarked on an ambitious hospice program in 1900, with the goal of establishing Lutheran hospices in every major urban area in the country. The Walther League eventually came to own 14 youth hospices, besides operating an additional 1,200 hospice committees in cities and towns where the local chapters could not afford to purchase a house for that purpose.

In 1905, the Walther League began its support of the Evangelical Lutheran Sanitarium, a tuberculosis treatment facility at Wheat Ridge, Colorado. Over the next 16 years, nearly 950 patients passed through the tent colony, until, in 1921, the Walther League built a $225,000 permanent hospital building. The league took complete ownership and control of the sanitarium in 1927. It continued to operate the sanitarium until 1959, when improved tuberculosis treatments rendered its continued existence unnecessary.

The Chapel of the Good Samaritan at Wheat Ridge, paid for entirely through the efforts of the Walther League. You can also see a picture of the last surviving Wheat Ridge tuberculosis tent here. After the sanitarium closed, the Walther League sold the property to a Lutheran hospital association.

As mentioned above, the league grew slowly in its first 15 years, standing at just 2,721 members in 85 societies by 1908. In 1910, Walther League president F. A. Klein (known fondly to the leaguers as “Pap”) transitioned his efforts from leading the group to advertising for it. For the next ten years, he spent nearly every weekend on the road, “boosting” for the league in cities and towns across the country. As a result of his efforts, the league grew to 23,000 members in 356 societies by 1919.

During World War I, the Walther League sent out over 400,000 Bibles, prayer books, pamphlets, and other literature to servicemen in the army and navy, raising over $25,000 for the purpose. This phenomenal work did much to increase the popularity of the league. Between the indefatigable efforts of F. A. Klein and the Walther Leaguers’ service efforts during WWI, the organization was well-positioned for rapid growth over the next 20 years.

In 1920, the Rev. Walter A. Maier was called as the first full-time executive secretary. Several other full-time employees were soon added, including a Junior secretary to encourage efforts among high-school aged youth (previously, the league was almost entirely a young adult group). A new campground was opened at Arcadia, MI, in 1922, fully owned by the national organization, while several Walther League districts also purchased additional campgrounds. The league provided significant aid to the European Relief effort post-WWI, purchased land and erected structures for the use of foreign missions, and began printing additional Bible study materials and periodicals for its members.

Walter A. Maier during his later tenure as “Lutheran Hour” speaker

The Great Depression saw both challenges and opportunities. Most of the Walther League hospices were closed and most of the national staff positions eliminated. Lack of funds forced most societies to discontinue support for foreign missions. Instead, leaguers opened local food banks and soup kitchens, instituted a national clothing campaign, and helped to fund the new Lutheran Hour radio program, led by former Walther League leader Walter A. Maier. By 1936, the league could boast a membership of 85,000 in 2,180 societies.

This continued growth was made possible in part by a pattern of strong leadership within the league. In 1933, the Rev. Dr. O. P. Kretzmann, then a professor at Concordia Theological Seminary, became the new executive secretary of the Walther League. Kretzmann was an energetic, eloquent, and charismatic leader. Within months, he led a complete reorganization of the league, developing a “comprehensive program” in 1934 and publishing a 290-page manual to assist local societies the following year.

Source: Walther League Manual, p. 36

In 1937, Kretzmann launched The Cresset, a monthly “review of literature, the arts, and public affairs.” His transfer to the presidency of Valparaiso University in 1940 helped strengthen the already significant ties between the league and the still relatively new LCMS-aligned university.

In 1941, the United States once again found itself at war. An estimated 25,000 Walther Leaguers served during WWII, and the league naturally focused many of its efforts to aiding its members in uniform. The Walther League Messenger included regular articles on its members’ experiences in the war, including, sadly, many obituaries and lists of members killed in action.

On a more positive note, the league constructed a beautiful new headquarters in 1942, just in time for its 50th anniversary the following year. After WWII’s end, leaguers once again held food and clothing drives to help the destitute in Europe.

Unfortunately, the 1940s also saw the first rumblings of serious trouble. The leadership was divided over opposition to communism, leading the influential Walter A. Maier to cut ties with the organization. Returning soldiers found many of the traditional Walther League games and activities unappealing after having faced the horrors of war. As older members left, the remaining membership grew gradually younger, until the Walther League eventually became an almost exclusively high school aged group. This in turn led to increased reliance on adult leadership from the synod’s Board for Young People’s Work.

At the same time, the synod itself began to experience tremendous internal tension. In 1945, 44 prominent LCMS pastors and professors (including several Walther League leaders) signed their names to A Statement, which condemned the synod as legalistic. Over the next 30 years, questions of church fellowship and Biblical interpretation led to a schism within the synod, culminating in a student and faculty walkout at Concordia Seminary in St. Louis in 1974.

The Walther League was hardly immune to these pressures, and much of its leadership tended to take the more theologically liberal side on most points of controversy. Meanwhile, the league had other struggles, largely due to its increasingly youthful membership. The organization’s financial picture worsened almost annually throughout the 1950s and ’60s, partly because its teenage members could not provide the same level of support as its former working-age young adult members.

The Walther League also became, at least in the eyes of some, more focused on entertainment (and later, politics) than it was on Bible study and “keeping our young people within the Church.” As one complainant wrote,

It seems to me that the Walther League leaders, instead of keeping the youth with the church, are encouraging them (unintentionally) to be conformed to the world.

Jon Pahl, Hopes and Dreams of All, p. 239

As the 1960s wore on, this complaint became increasingly relevant. The Walther League held its final convention at Purdue University in 1968, voting to become a “youth-led and issue-oriented” organization. Some of the issues tackled by the new league—racism, injustice, and hunger—were commended by the synod. Other activities—petitioning Congress to support nuclear disarmament, supporting the Black Panthers, and handing out instructions on how to dodge the draft—were not. As a consequence of the league’s new activist approach, annual donations dropped to only $2,000 in 1970. The headquarters was sold in 1971, and in 1977, the LCMS dropped its affiliation with the league entirely. By this point, the Walther League consisted of nothing more than a small endowment fund and a board of directors who met occasionally to disburse the interest.

Finally, in 1989, the Walther League’s board of directors met for the last time. The remaining endowment fund assets were transferred to Wheat Ridge Ministries ($243,000) and Lutheran Volunteer Corps ($89,000).

This is the way the world ends
Not with a bang but a whimper.

✠

An update on the blog: I’ve been gratified to see so many positive responses to my initial post, both here and off this site. My next post will be a more detailed look at the league’s early history, focusing on what challenges they faced, what worked, what didn’t, and what lessons we might be able to learn in trying to create a new league today.

I’ll ask again that if you think creating some sort of modern-day Walther League is a good idea, please spread the idea around. The more people who are interested in the idea before it starts, the more likely it is to actually get off the ground.