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History of
Christ Lutheran
Church of the Deaf
In 1995, the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod celebrated 100 years of
service to the deaf. The first service was in Chicago in 1894 and
quickly spread all over the North American continent. The Washington
Metro area was served sporadically by visiting pastors from New York or
Philadelphia during the 1930's. The first permanent pastor was the Reverend
Walter Westermann, who came to the area in 1947. He served
St. Mark's
Church in Baltimore as well as Christ/Deaf. Christ Lutheran Church on
16th
Street and Colorado Avenue in the District of Columbia offered us the
use
of their small original chapel. We used this chapel until we moved to
our
present location on Georgia Avenue. In the early years, this chapel was
used
as a nursery school just before our services and we had to fold up
these
tiny chairs and set up our own chairs. Apparently we took our name from
where we originally worshipped. (For a view and history
of the chapel's stained glass windows' deaf themes, click here.)
In 1960, Rev.
Harry Hoemann came from Pittsburgh and took over. Under Rev. Hoemann, we
developed into a well organized congregation, with a constitution and
officers who
managed our affairs very well. In 1964 we became a full-fledged
congregation
under the District, with the right to call our own pastor and handling
our
own finances.
In 1966, Rev. Hoemann resigned from
church ministry to
pursue a doctorate at Catholic University, and then taught psychology
at Bowling Green State
University, Bowling Green, Ohio. He and his wife, Shirley,
wrote
and illustrated several resources for learning Sign Language published
by the
National
Association of the Deaf.
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Rev.
Harry Hoemann
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Rev. Daniel Pokorny
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After Rev. Hoemann's
resignation, we were served by the Rev. Louis Jasper of New York as a
vacancy pastor until Rev. Daniel Pokorny was called
in 1967. Rev. Pokorny was a true innovator. Among other
things, he created the Rock Gospel and Isaiah 29, an outreach ministry
for the Southeastern District. As this and his work at Gallaudet
University grew, it was decided that he should do this full time. He
stopped being our pastor in 1971, but remained in the Washington area,
serving the Gallaudet campus community.
In 1980 Rev. Pokorny
moved to Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, Missouri, to prepare future
pastors for deaf ministry. Ten years later (May 1990) Rev.
Pokorny received an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree from Concordia's
sister seminary in Fort Wayne, Indiana, one week before he died from
cancer. |
In 1971, Rev. Robert Muller was called and served
Christ/Deaf and St. Mark's in Baltimore. In 1978, Rev. Muller left us
to go to Fort Wayne, Indiana. There Rev. Muller helped to
start the Church Interpreter Training Institute (CITI) at Concordia
Theological Seminary.
Until 1974,
all deaf ministries were supported by the Missouri Synod's Deaf
Missions department. At that time they were transferred to the local
districts. Our district is the Southeastern District and spreads from
South Carolina to Maryland. Financial subsidy gradually
shifted from Synod to the Southeastern District.
Reverend George
Natonick was called in 1978 to serve both Christ/Deaf and St.
Mark's. In 1980, when Reverend Pokorny accepted a post at the Concordia
Seminary in St. Louis, Rev. Natonick took over
his Gallaudet ministry. This, together with the Baltimore ministry and
service at the Maryland School for the Deaf, proved to be too much, and
we convinced the District to split the field. We called Rev. Natonick
to become pastor to Christ / Deaf and Gallaudet University in
1982. Rev. Kenneth Schnepp was called to become pastor to the
Baltimore congregation and also serve the Maryland School for the Deaf
Rev.
George Natonick
22 years of Service to
Christ/Deaf
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LaVern Mass joined the team in 1988, coming to Christ/Deaf to
serve as associate pastor with Rev. Natonick. The focus of
Rev. Mass' ministry was evangelism and education. After just
one year, the congregation found that it was unable to fund two
pastors, so Rev. Mass continued to serve on a part time basis, until he
became seriously ill from a liver infection in 1991. Three
years later, Rev. Mass
was promoted to heaven. |
Rev.
LaVern Mass
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Rev. Ron Friedrich
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In 1989 Christ/Deaf
relocated from Christ Lutheran Church
on 16th Street in DC, to our present location at Calvary Lutheran
Church
in Silver Spring.
September, 1999, Rev. Natonick
resigned as the full time pastor of Christ/Deaf to pursue a career in
special education. However, he continued to serve as our
vacancy pastor until June, 2000.Our
current pastor, Rev. Ron Friedrich accepted our
call and moved here from Texas in September, 2001. Like his
predecessors, he also serves the Gallaudet Campus Ministry.
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Christ/Deaf has been the training
ground for
several student pastors, or vicars, as we call
them. The following
are pastors presently serving in Lutheran Deaf ministry, who vicared at
Christ/Deaf and Gallaudet Lutheran Campus Ministry:
David Bush
Macau, China
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Rev.
Daryl Gehlbach
Minneapolis,
Minnesota |
Rev.
Richard (and Lois) Moody
St.
Louis, Missouri |
Omahr Mork
Oslo,
Norway |
Rev.
Bud Palmer
Milwaukee,
Wisconsin |
Rev.
Bill Wrede
St. Louis, Missouri |
Rev. Dennis &
Susan Konkel
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Rev. Konkel, a son of the
congregation, served as pastor in Des Moines, Iowa, for 14
years. He has officially retired and continues to serve Emeritus as a member of Christ/Deaf.
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PASTORS
OF CHRIST/DEAF
Arthur Boll - visiting pastor from
NYC - 1939-1942
Floyd Possehl - visiting pastor
from NYC; from 1942
to ??
Walt Westermann - 1947 - ?
Harry Hoemann - 1960 - 1966
Louis Jasper - vacancy pastor,
1966-67
Dan Pokorny - 1967 - 1971
[continued at Gallaudet until 1979]
Robert Muller - 1971 - 1978
George Natonick - 1979 - 1999
LaVern Mass - 1988 - 1989
(associate pastor)
Ron Friedrich - 2001 -
present
To read the history of the beginings of LCMS Deaf Missions, click here.
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