United Synod South
Synodical Conference
Joint Ohio Synod
Danish Society
Iowa Synod
Chapter II.
PIONEERS AND METHODS
Pioneers.
|A Danish Colony.| In 1526, nine years after Luther had nailed his theses to the church door at Wittenberg, the King of Denmark accepted the Evangelical faith. Subsequently the Lutheran Church was made the State Church. About a hundred years later Denmark acquired by purchase an Indian fishing village, Tranquebar, on the east coast of southern India. There a Danish colony was established, there a Lutheran church called Zion Church was built, and thither two preachers were sent to minister to the Danes. Eighty years later the heart of a pious King, Frederick IV, became concerned for the spiritual welfare of the heathen in this colony. His court chaplain, Doctor Lütken, who was also deeply interested, set about securing men who would be willing to undertake the work. Failing to meet with a response in Denmark, he applied to friends in Berlin. They recommended a young German Bartholomew Ziegenbalg.