Strength for the Struggle: Insights from the Civil Rights Movement and Urban Ministry

Seldom will one find a more straightforward and natural telling of the story of a contemporary pastor, his parishioners, and the people they serve.

— Martin E. Marty, Emeritus Professor, the University of Chicago, and a Lutheran pastor

Joseph W. Ellwanger is a retired Evangelical Lutheran Church in America pastor. He served nine years as pastor of an African American congregation, St. Paul Lutheran, 1958-67, in Birmingham, Alabama. From 1967 through 2001, he was pastor of Cross Lutheran, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in the central-city African American community, leading the congregation from 95 percent white in 1967 to 75 percent black by 2001. The author’s deep hope is that this book will feed the faith and stoke the fire of courage for that holy struggle, which never ends while we are on this earth.