Today’s Leader of Faith
JOHN CHRISTIAN FREDERICK HEYER
Home Call : 7 November, 1873
American Missionary to Guntur-India, Theologian, Linguist, Evangelist, Educational promoter and Doctor.
Frederick Heyer (1793–1873) was the first American Lutheran missionary sent abroad, also known as the “First Missionary to Guntur” and the founder of the Andhra Evangelical Lutheran Church (AELC). He was a tireless missionary, affectionately called “Father Heyer.” Born in Saxony, Germany, on July 10, 1793, he later moved to America, where he studied theology in Philadelphia. In 1815, he traveled back to Germany to continue his studies at the University of Göttingen. He earned his M.D. from the University of Maryland School of Medicine, and learned many languages, including Hebrew and Greek.
After being ordained in 1820, Heyer spent the next twenty years ministering and helping establish churches and Sunday schools in Pennsylvania, New York, and Maryland, and visited over 300 congregations in America. He was also the first pastor of the First Evangelical Lutheran Church in Pittsburgh.
Heyer was invited and ordained for foreign missionary work. On October 15, 1841, he sailed from Boston to Madras, India, where he visited all the mission fields in South India, observing the work being done in each place while also providing his own Evangelical services. He arrived in Guntur on July 31, 1842. There, he began learning Telugu and started his missionary work in the Palnadu-Guntur region. Heyer fought against many who questioned the need for girls’ education, establishing schools exclusively for girls and giving them the opportunity to thrive in a male-dominated society. As a medical missionary, he held medical camps and established hospitals in Guntur, Bhimavaram, and Rajahmundry, providing free treatment to all. He worked closely with Valett, the first missionary to Rajahmundry, and helped him establish the mission there. Sir Arthur Cotton also assisted them with church establishment and other logistical support.
Frederick Heyer passed away in 1873 at the age of 80 in Pennsylvania, where he was buried beside his wife. He left more than half of his wealth to the places where he had ministered throughout his life.