Luther Alexander Gotwald - Lutheran Church

Lutheran Church

Rev. Gotwald first ministry was in Shippensburg, Pennsylvania, where he remained until 1863. The Gotwald heresy trial book states that, during this ministry in Shippensburg, his wife Mary was able to thoroughly enjoy living among members of the Quigley family, who had brought up her orphan father and after whom her brother, Robert Quigley King was named. He then became the pastor in Lebanon, Pennsylvania for two years, where he preached until 1865. He went from Lebanon in 1865 to serve as the pastor to the First Lutheran Church at Dayton, Ohio, where he remained until 1869, when he had to resign his ministry because of throat problems, which forced him to take a year off from the ministry to recuperate. In October 1870, Rev. Gotwald had recovered and was able to assume the ministry at the Lutheran Church in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, where he preached until 1874. Dr. Gotwald received his honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity from Pennsylvania College in 1874, some fifteen years after completing his initial studies. Afterward, for nearly twelve years he was pastor of Saint Paul’s English Lutheran Church in York, Pennsylvania. In December 1885, he returned to Springfield and became pastor of the Second Lutheran Church there for three years, which was to be his last pastorate. In December 1888, he was fatefully elected to the Professorship of Practical and Historical Theology in the Wittenberg Theological Seminary in Springfield.

Prof. Luther A. Gotwald, D.D. made many intellectual contributions to his beloved Lutheran Church during his long service to it. He was a frequent contributor to the Quarterly Review of the Lutheran Church, published at Gettysburg, and authored various other papers and periodicals, including a number of pamphlets on historic and ecclesiastical subjects. Two volumes of his sermons were published, which were widely praised. He also authored his 1879 learned work, “Church Orders: Of the Necessity of a Right Call to the Ministry.”

Rev. Gotwald served as a Director of Wittenberg College from 1865 until 1869, a Trustee of Pennsylvania College from 1873 until 1885, a Director of the Gettysburg Theological Seminary from 1871 until 1880, a member of the Board of Lutheran Home Missions from 1881 until 1885, President of the West Pennsylvania Synod from 1873 until 1876 and a member of the Board of Church Extension from 1874 until 1885. He was often a delegate to the Lutheran General Synod.

He helped found the Third Lutheran Church in Springfield in 1887. He later helped found in Springfield the Fifth Lutheran Church in 1891, the Fourth Lutheran Church in 1898 and the Calvary Lutheran Church in 1900.