Johann Christoph Blumhardt

Johann Christoph Blumhardt was born on July 16, 1805, in Stuttgart, in the German state of Württemberg. His father was a baker, and the family was modest in means. He grew up in a Lutheran home of Pietist leanings. He was a bright boy and was sent to the university at Tübingen to study theology. He also taught at a mission school in Basel, where he was influenced by the missionary movement. In 1838, he was called to be pastor of the small village of Möttlingen, in the Black Forest region, and he took up his work there with his wife, Doris.

In Möttlingen, in 1842, he met a young woman of the village, Gottliebin Dittus, who was in great distress. She was suffering from strange afflictions and was tormented by what seemed to be supernatural forces. For months, Blumhardt prayed for her and visited her. The case became known in the region, and people came to see. He believed that she was under demonic oppression and that the powers of darkness were at work. After a long struggle, in which he held fast to prayer, the woman was freed. In December 1843, as he prayed with her, there came a cry from the sufferer, Jesus is Victor. It became the motto of his life and ministry.

What followed was a revival that spread through the village and the surrounding area. People came to confess their sins and to seek reconciliation, and many were healed of physical illnesses. The village was transformed. Visitors came from far and near. In the next years, Blumhardt's ministry was marked by pastoral care for the sick, the troubled and the distressed. He did not seek to be a healer and said that the work was done by the power of Christ. He remained a pastor who preached the Word and prayed for people.

In 1852, the stream of visitors was so great that he moved to a former spa at Bad Boll, in Württemberg, where he set up a center for rest and healing. It became known as a place of prayer and counseling and drew people from all over Europe. They came to receive pastoral care and to find new life. He taught that the kingdom of God is a present reality and that Christians should hope for its coming in power. He believed that the church must look forward to a new outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

He was a man of great gentleness and humility. He did not try to build a movement and avoided publicity. He never claimed special powers. He was often reluctant to speak about the events at Möttlingen, which had stirred controversy. Some of the church authorities were suspicious. Some thought that he had exaggerated the demonic side and said that he gave too little weight to the medical aspect of illness. He bore the criticism quietly. He kept to the position that Jesus is Victor.

His teaching had an influence on theology. His son, Christoph Friedrich Blumhardt, took up his work at Bad Boll and developed the idea of the kingdom of God as a social hope. Karl Barth and Dietrich Bonhoeffer were influenced by the Blumhardts, as was the Christian socialist movement. He also had an effect on the Pentecostal and charismatic movements, with their stress on healing and the Spirit.

He died on February 25, 1880, at Bad Boll, at the age of seventy-four. He is remembered as a pastor who held to the victory of Christ in the face of darkness. His life shows that a quiet minister who prays may become a source of hope to many, and that the power of the gospel extends to every part of human life.