Please find below, a link to an article about Pastor Kappler as an Independent Lutheran Pastor.

The Lutheran Archives in Adelaide made available to our Germanic/Wendish and Lutheran Heritage Library here at 27 Livingstone St in Ivanhoe, a photocopy of Pastor Kappler’s Records of Births and Marriages. These have been put onto our computer and they have supplied much useful information about the early Germanic and Wendish settlers, whom Pastor Kappler served. These records were transliterated and translated by Dr Henry Proeve.

Dr Proeve gave a talk in Adelaide about the Lutheran settlers at Hope Valley, which aroused our interest. These settlers were both Germanic and Wendish. This talk was expanded and published in 2007 in the Journal of the Friends of Lutheran Archives. This is a very well-researched and lengthy article, which deserves a much wider audience. The attached article is therefore my presentation of the highlights of this talk and journal article and it is intended to be a tribute to the work of both Pastor Andreas Kappler and of Dr Henry Proeve, on the occasion of the 175th Anniversary of the Lutheran Church of Australia, 1838-2013.

Pastor Kappler has been labelled an “Independent Lutheran Pastor”. Between 1846 and 1966, histories of the Lutheran Church in Australia have tended to focus on the history of one particular branch or line, usually the UELCA and the ELCA. Pastors who were “Independent Lutherans” and unable to identify with any of the various existing branches did not receive much attention or acknowledgement. They were not “Miseries” and they did not even belong to “the other side”!

The present celebration of the 175th Anniversary of the Lutheran Church of Australia is a good opportunity to once again recall the contributions of the “Independents” and in the case of Pastor Kappler, to explore further his interest in and work amongst both the early Germanic settlers from the various Germanic kingdoms and Provinces and the early Wendish settlers from Upper Lusatia in Saxony and Lower Lusatia in Brandenburg Prussia, including the Spreewald area and the town of Werben.

To download the article, please click the link: Pastor Andreas Kappler