Louis Harms

One of the most significant Christian revivalists of the 19th century, he turned the little village of Hermannsburg on the Lüneburg Heath into the most important centre of revival in Lower Saxony.

When he read the verse John 17:3 "Now this is eternal life: that they might know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent"[2] he came in 1830 to the conclusion that "it is not enough, just to be religious and good, to live sensibly and act properly, but that it is essential to have Jesus Christ at the centre of one's life and to testify to that."

In the following years his theological thinking was to combine Lutheran faith and pietistic revival pietism.

[3] After passing his exam with honours, Louis Harms worked from 1830 to 1840 as a private tutor for the Lord Chamberlain of Linstow in Lauenburg/Elbe.

After Harms had passed two other theological examinations, but still had no prospect of becoming a pastor, he helped his father in Hermannsburg.

As a result, visits to the poor, the sick and prisoners became a natural consequence of his faith, an approach that was by no means common at that time.

Through his church services, parlour gatherings in the rectory, home visits and counselling, a revival started in Hermannsburg.

Since 1846, at Epiphany on 6 January at irregular intervals, and once a year since 1851, on Saint John's Eve (24 June), the mission festival is held, to which up to 6,000 came.

The Candace, which had been launched on 27 September 1853 in Harburg, was financed by donations from friends of the mission, especially those to whom Harms had preached.

In the same year the Hermannsburger Missionsblatt newsletter appeared for first time, a publication that still informs interested parties about the work of the mission.