Karl Gustav Theodor Naether, ca. 1903
On Friday afternoon, Pastor Anandaraj and Mr. Arivanandam took me on to Krishnagiri. Here, our ancestor Theodor Naether, the pioneer missionary of what was to become the India Evangelical Lutheran Church, began his work. Naether married my great-grandfather's sister, so I guess that makes him my great-great uncle-in-law or something like that. Naether is highly revered by the IELC Lutherans here. They sor
t of whisper his name, and they glow when talking about "Father Naether." Here great-grandfather Georg Naumann and grandfather John G.P. Naumann began their work, and here my mother Helen Naumann had her earliest childhood days, having been born in Kodaikanal while her parents were there for language study. Great great grandfather Ottom Willkomm was also a missionary to India. On their way to India in 1029, my grandparents stopped in Germany and received from Mrs. Naether the large Tamil Bible that her husband had used. At the time of Naether and my other ancestors, the church became known as MELIM (Missouri Evangelical Lutherans in Mission). Several missionaries left the Leipig Mission in Germany for doctrinal reasons - Mohn and Naether among them - and were "adopted" by the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod in the U.S., which sent them to India.
The church is Christ Lutheran Church, and though the old church building survives, a new one was built in 1995, which was also the centenary of the congregation. The architect was Paul Bertelsen, who has designed several beautiful church buildings in India - some of which we saw earlier in the trip - including Quo Vadis, the New Jerusalem Church in Panruti, and other Arcot Lutheran Church projects supported by LPGM. (We especially liked the weaving hall at Lebanon Home for Women.) Once again, the church leaders had been assembled and had secured a photographer for the occasion, and I was treated like a dignitary. I was given a garland and shawl by the son of the first person baptized in the IELC (by Naether). He himself is very, very old. I was very tired, but gave a brief thank-you speech.
After lots of fuss, and after viewing the graveyard where the Naethers and others are buried, we moved on to the very large elementary IELC school, where I met with the headmaster, former headmaster, teachers, and others, and visited some of the classrooms. I'm glad I brought along some photos of my cat and of the Church School Choir at Mount Olive. The kids here have really enjoyed them.
In this trip, I have had to wrestle with my heritage, which is steeped in rigid confessional Lutheranism. Despite my own objections to many things the Missouri Synod stands for and my own break with that denomination, I can see that the bottom line is that the Indian Christians are so grateful that people like Naether and Grandpa made such monumental sacrifices (Naether himself died of the plague, which also took [some of?] his children) to bring them the Gospel. The Gospel - the good news for these people - was and is that Jesus stands with the lowest and weakest, regardless of status, caste, color, or creed - and brings them to his loving embrace. Whether or not you agree with the proselytizing, the missionaries also brought hope and love in the form of numerous social programs. For instance, I'm proud of the work my grandfather put into adult literacy and into his work with the blind. The church folks here reminded me that he learned Tamil - including colloquial Tamil - very, very well, and that he was very much loved by the average villager. He refused to wear a pith helmet, which tended to be a status symbol for missionaries. He showed filmstrips (remember those?) and provided his own sound! The Indian people are so amazed and delighted that someone is thinking about them and would come all the way to India to visit them, or in the case of the missionaries, that someone would devote their lives to them.
t of whisper his name, and they glow when talking about "Father Naether." Here great-grandfather Georg Naumann and grandfather John G.P. Naumann began their work, and here my mother Helen Naumann had her earliest childhood days, having been born in Kodaikanal while her parents were there for language study. Great great grandfather Ottom Willkomm was also a missionary to India. On their way to India in 1029, my grandparents stopped in Germany and received from Mrs. Naether the large Tamil Bible that her husband had used. At the time of Naether and my other ancestors, the church became known as MELIM (Missouri Evangelical Lutherans in Mission). Several missionaries left the Leipig Mission in Germany for doctrinal reasons - Mohn and Naether among them - and were "adopted" by the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod in the U.S., which sent them to India.
The church is Christ Lutheran Church, and though the old church building survives, a new one was built in 1995, which was also the centenary of the congregation. The architect was Paul Bertelsen, who has designed several beautiful church buildings in India - some of which we saw earlier in the trip - including Quo Vadis, the New Jerusalem Church in Panruti, and other Arcot Lutheran Church projects supported by LPGM. (We especially liked the weaving hall at Lebanon Home for Women.) Once again, the church leaders had been assembled and had secured a photographer for the occasion, and I was treated like a dignitary. I was given a garland and shawl by the son of the first person baptized in the IELC (by Naether). He himself is very, very old. I was very tired, but gave a brief thank-you speech.
After lots of fuss, and after viewing the graveyard where the Naethers and others are buried, we moved on to the very large elementary IELC school, where I met with the headmaster, former headmaster, teachers, and others, and visited some of the classrooms. I'm glad I brought along some photos of my cat and of the Church School Choir at Mount Olive. The kids here have really enjoyed them.
In this trip, I have had to wrestle with my heritage, which is steeped in rigid confessional Lutheranism. Despite my own objections to many things the Missouri Synod stands for and my own break with that denomination, I can see that the bottom line is that the Indian Christians are so grateful that people like Naether and Grandpa made such monumental sacrifices (Naether himself died of the plague, which also took [some of?] his children) to bring them the Gospel. The Gospel - the good news for these people - was and is that Jesus stands with the lowest and weakest, regardless of status, caste, color, or creed - and brings them to his loving embrace. Whether or not you agree with the proselytizing, the missionaries also brought hope and love in the form of numerous social programs. For instance, I'm proud of the work my grandfather put into adult literacy and into his work with the blind. The church folks here reminded me that he learned Tamil - including colloquial Tamil - very, very well, and that he was very much loved by the average villager. He refused to wear a pith helmet, which tended to be a status symbol for missionaries. He showed filmstrips (remember those?) and provided his own sound! The Indian people are so amazed and delighted that someone is thinking about them and would come all the way to India to visit them, or in the case of the missionaries, that someone would devote their lives to them.
I left Krishnagiri wiped out, with my head spinning. Chandran drove me the 3 hours to Tiruvannamalai, where I collapsed into dinner with the Koons.
3 comments:
So...is this school for the blind named after your Grandfather? Pretty neat to get to see this!
No, just this outdoor stage, and in another area, a part of the schoolyard. (My mother claims it was the Naether Stage when she was there in 1995).
Dear Mark Spitzack,
I am a student from Germany and I'm doing an internship at the Leipzig mission society. I was looking for decendents of Indian missionaries when I found your block. Do you have any further information about other decendents from Willkomm or Naether who might even live in Germany? There is a meeting of the decendents in October in Leipzig and I would like to invite all people who are related to the missionaries.
Regards Jasmin
p.s. feel free to contact me via mail: praktikant@lmw-mission.de
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