About

Pro Aris et Focis. For altars and for hearths. This was the theme of the old Walther League Messenger, the magazine of the Walther League, a national association of Lutheran young people’s societies that ran from 1893 to 1968. Often translated as “for hearth and home” because it is used to refer to all that is held most dear, for Lutherans this motto takes on a more deeper literal meaning. Our churches and homes are the places we hold most dear, great blessings that God has given us.

An announcement in August-September issue from 1921 spoke of a resolution calling for an enlarged and improved Messenger, which “… will also afford ample opportunity to present subjects of interest, of value, and of importance to our young people in the problems of their daily and their spiritual life.” The announcement spoke of the purpose of the Walther League Messenger:

To serve our altars and our hearths, to encourage all efforts which will help to make our young people better Christians and sincere Lutherans, to speak up against any and all tendencies within and without the church, which tend to result in discouraging the open and fearless confession of Jesus Christ as the divine Redeemer of a sin-stricken world of sin-laden human beings, yes, to offer incentives which will lead our young men and young women to be doers of the Word and not alone hearers, this—under God—will be the purpose of this publication, and the high aim of its pages.

We give thanks to God for the faithful old Lutherans who proclaimed and taught the Word of God with wisdom and conviction, speaking not just on abstract spiritual matters, but practically applying Holy Scripture to all aspects of life. This spirit can be found not just in the Walther League Messenger, but across many old publications of the Synodical Conference, in issues of The Lutheran Witness, the official magazine of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, and the Northwestern Lutheran, the official magazine of the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod, in conference papers of the Evangelical Lutheran Synod, as well as in many books published by Concordia Publishing House and Northwestern Publishing House.

It is our hope to republish many gems and treasures from these old Lutherans, that their faithful witness to the timeless truths of God’s Word might ring forth again to another generation of Lutherans.