The Writings of Fr. Runge

Fr. Kenneth E. Runge began serving Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church in Detroit, Michigan in the year of our Lord 1938. Candidate Runge first served as unordained assistant to Fr. Walter E Lussky, Fr. Runge became Assistant Pastor following his Ordination and Installation on June 5, 1938. Following Pastor Lussky's resignation in 1939, Fr. Runge became the third Pastor of Zion.

During Fr. Runge’s minsitry at Zion, the school building was bricked, World War II began, and in 1940 Zion’s membership peaked over 2,000 souls - at the time the seventh largest congregation in the Missouri Synod. "Faith Faces the Future", the expansion program begun in the early 1960s, saw the installation of a new parking lot and the Dedication of the new School and Activities Center in 1964, together with three landscaped gardens at a cost of $750,000.

After returning to the practices of the Lutheran Confessions, especially the celebration of the Holy Eucharist every Sunday and holy day, Fr. Runge retired on October 6, 1974, after serving Zion for 36 years.

Fr. Runge was a prolific writer, penning many hymns, theological pamphlets, and the Incarnate Word Tract series. It is our great joy to make many of these writings available to the church at large for the first time.

 Zion would like to thank Vicar Brian Westgate of Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Leadville Colorado for his work in bringing these writings into a digital format.

The hymns, pamphlets and tracts below may be freely printed, copied and distributed - but not edited or changed in any way.

A sample of Fr. Runge's work