After World War II, St. Mary's Church faced a new set of problems. Of course, they had to operate without having a Church building of their own. There were prisoners of war for which they were responsible, many new arrivals from Germany seeking jobs, German women who had married British soldiers, POWs who wished to remain in England, and so-called volunteer workers from Germany. All of these had to be integrated into the congregation.
Pastor Kramm, who had maintained pastoral duties in Oxford while also serving St. Mary's, gave up his Oxford work, but took on the Hamburg Lutheran Church in London along with St. Mary's. Because the Hamburg Lutherans still had their Church building, Kramm preached every Sunday there, but only every other Sunday in St. Mary's. These latter services were held in a meeting room, but the center for the Church was a home generously left by a Quaker lady, Dorothy Buxton.
Organizing the Lutheran Churches in England was a concern for Kramm because about 45,000 Lutheran refugees from the continent had fled to England. To help cope with these additional people, who had very little money in general, the Lutheran Council of Great Britain was formed.
At St. Mary's, a pressing problem was finding a new building. They obtained an old mission chapel which was consecrated as the new St. Mary's Church building in November of 1949. Thereafter, services were held every Sunday. Once a month, the services were held in English for the benefit of the mixed families.
The next most pressing problem was financial. The Church was in debt. The councillors decided on a program of stewardship to try and make each member family recognize their obligations for the health of the congregation. A budget was voted on each year and members were asked to pledge an amount which was to be paid weekly in date stamped envelopes. Some one-time financial help was obtained as war damage payments.
The once-a-month English service was insufficient to meet the needs of the many Lutherans who were in London from all around the world. St. Mary's decided to give birth to a daughter congregation where services would be entirely in English. The English and German services alternated in being in the morning and afternoon. A few years later (in 1956) the St. Mary's English Lutheran Church became officially independent and took the name St. John's Evangelical Lutheran Church. This Church today uses the St. Anne and St. Agnes Church built by Christopher Wren (near St. Paul's Cathedral). Since 1988, it has called itself St. Anne's Evangelical Lutheran Church.
(24 Mar 05)
We gratefully acknowledge the work of John Blankenbaker who published over 2,500 Germanna History Notes via the Germanna-L@rootsweb.com email list from 1997 to 2008. We are equally thankful to George Durman (Sgt. George) for hosting the list and republishing the notes via rootsweb.com.