Sabbatical with Pastor Curtis: Luther's Preaching Converts Thousands

Yesterday, we went to a town where Luther had lived for one year. Luther came to Magdeburg, Germany at the age of 14 to attend the Magdeburg Cathedral School.

It was later in life that Luther left his reformation footprint on the history of Magdeburg. Later in life, Luther had gone there to inspect the monastery in 1516 on behalf of his Augustinian order called the Order of the Hermit Friars of St. Augustine. The monastary was built in 1285. The church for the monastary was built and concecrated in 1366.

When the Great Elector of Magdeburg offered refuge to the Reformed religious refugees from Wallonia at the end of the 17th century, they used the Augustinian church, which has since been called the Walloon Church of St. Augustine.

On June 24, 1524, Luther preached at the Augustine monastary church which changed the religious climate in Magdeburg to the point of creating change in the churches throughout the city. He was also invited to preach at St. John's Church two days later on June 26, 1524, by the then mayor Nicolaus Sturm. Luther preached about "true and false justice." Thousands of Magdeburgers gathered at the church. As a result of Dr. Luther's sermon, the demand of the evangelical and catholic clergy of the old city spread to preach Lutheran doctrine concerning the Word of God loud and pure.

The Lutherans negotiated with the provost Heinrich Stott, of the Augustinian monastary who is also responsible for the churches in the old town of Magdeburg to accept the new Lutheran faith. Even though he refused, the Evangelical Lutheran minded Magdeburgers went on to be recognized as evangelicals of the Luthheran faith.

Centuries later, November 10, 1883, the day of Luther's birthday, a bronze monument of the great reformer was erected at the front of the main portal of St. John's Church. The inscription on the front of the monunment simply reads, "God's Word in eternity."

In 1882, the community that lived near the Elbe River in Magdeburg named their church Luther Church. The name was changed to Trinity Church in 1897 until was eventually destroyed in WW2. Another church built in the 1800's in the Magdeburg area was called St. Martin's Church and was consecrated on Luther's birthday and still stands to this day.

The pictures below show three of the churches we were able to visit in the Old Town while we were there. One is the Walloon Church (now a Reformed Church), one is St. Peter's Church (Catholic) and the other is Magdalena Chapel. The church with the Luther statue and the two towers is St. John's Church, which is still a Protestant Church to this day. Enjoy!

The Three Old Churches in Magdeburg

Magdeline Chapel St. Peter's Church Walloon Church