I Will Be With You

Part 13: The Development of the Mission - Salomon Weissburger (1887-1968)

At that time, we conducted regular visits to the congregations in Poland (Volhynia). Initially, this duty mainly fell to Brother Zuber from Switzerland, but eventually, Brother Rose, Brother Girke, and I made the journey repeatedly as well. It was very difficult to get an entry permit, which would only be good for a few weeks in any case, but the Lord awakened capable men local to those areas to lead the work from there. The most prominent of these were Gustav Sonnenberg and August Krebs, but other brothers also served in those congregations.

I myself visited Volhynia in 1929, serving at three camp meetings in the districts of Rivne and Lutsk. On that trip, I also spent a week in the former West Prussia before I had to leave since my visa was only valid for three weeks. I was later granted another week’s extension, which I used to visit my old ambit of Wiączemink, Vistula Territory, together with Brother Sonnenberg. It was not easy to conduct these three camp meetings nearly on my own, especially since I also had to participate in preachers’ conferences in all three locations while still making time for the trips in between.

The start of the Bible school

The need for biblical instruction became increasingly apparent, so we launched a three-month Bible course that developed into a two-year Bible school. Brother August Borbe taught the course and, together with Brother Fritz Harland, taught the two-year program at the Bible school as well.

The school became a great blessing. Attendees of the three-month course included Brother Sonnenberg and Sister Tarutis; the two-year course was attended by brothers including Berzins, Boiadjeff, Killisch, Klabunde, Malzon, and H. Weissburger. After graduating from Bible school, most future preachers came to me in Essen, where they served as assistant preachers to gain practical experience in pastoral care. The first of these was Brother Ernst Kersten, who went on to serve the congregation in Dinslaken.

Through the Lord’s grace, the newly-founded congregations instituted and maintained a biblical financial system with voluntary tithing, making it possible to regularly provide for the young preachers in accordance with the Word of God.

Humility and trust

“Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” I have often experienced this truth in my own life. The Lord led me through the valley of humiliation, as previously detailed, but God gave me grace to be satisfied and, in consequence, to gain the trust of the preachers, my spiritual fathers, and the congregation of Essen in particular. We lived in Essen for around five years. The preachers at the time encouraged me to bring the Word and, during a period in 1910 when none of the older brothers were present, trusted my wife and me to temporarily manage the mission house in Essen. We were 22 and 23 years old. 

During the three months of our leadership, they put everything in my name: the house, the treasury, the bookkeeping, the correspondence, and the organization as a whole. The work was not yet registered as an association, so everything was legally owned by the preacher entrusted with its leadership. These were naturally brothers who held the general confidence of the congregation, in this case Georg Vielguth, Karl Arbeiter, and Otto H. Doebert. During World War I, the mission house was transferred to Sister Helene Wehking; afterwards, we took over the management of the mission house and the work overall. For several years, I served in this capacity while also fulfilling my responsibilities to the Essen congregation.

Handover of responsibility

I eventually gained the impression that the spiritual work would advance better if I were to hand matters of business over to someone else, so I freely and voluntarily relinquished control of business affairs to Brother Ferdinand Huber, who moved from Switzerland to Germany with his wife to assume these responsibilities.

Under the direction of Brother and Sister Huber, the headquarters were moved to a purpose-built house in Kassel-Kirchditmold. This step proved to be a great blessing, both for the ministry in and around Essen, as well as for me personally. Since I was now able to dedicate myself entirely to delivering sermons and pastoral care, we were able to establish new congregations.

Over time, Brother August Borbe’s skills developed to the point where I could hand the editorial responsibilities for the Evangeliums Posaune (the German-language edition of the Foundation of Faith) off to him, and he turned out to be highly capable in this position as well.

Retreat under difficult circumstances

By 1933, political circumstances in Hitler’s Germany had deteriorated to the extent that I feared my Jewish ancestry could be weaponized against the work. I therefore voluntarily resigned as preacher of the Essen congregation, officially asking Brother Walter Waurich to take my place while I would serve as his deputy. As much as I liked the growing responsibilities entrusted to me, I now gave them up out of love for the Lord, without the brothers pressuring me. Jesus and His church held a central place in my heart, and I wanted to spare the work from harm, even to my personal detriment.

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