Heinrich Melchior Mühlenberg (1711-1787) was the German-born American clergyman who organized the scattered Lutheran congregations in America into an independent sect.

Heinrich Melchior Mühlenberg was born in Einbech, Germany, on Sept. 6, 1711. He was a Pietist to whom religion was a way of life, not belief in a creed. This concept of religion was brought to America early in the 18th century by groups of German immigrants. Accustomed to a state church in the homeland, these people were at a loss in America, where there were neither ministers nor schoolmasters enough for their small settlements.

Mühlenberg, trained at the University of Halle, was sent to America in 1742 by the Pietist center to minister to the Lutherans in three Pennsylvania congregations. He was 31, energetic, dedicated to the ideals of Pietism, and possessed executive ability and a high degree of common sense. Fortunately, he could...