He practised what he preached, and his commitment to God’s cause was unconditional. Today we pay tribute to District Apostle Georg Schall who passed away sixty years ago this Saturday.
There he stood, behind the altar in the home of a sister in faith. Only twenty-one years old, he had just been ordained a Priest and appointed rector of the congregation. What he did not have was a Bible text. As the members sang another verse, he stood there wondering what he would say to them.
The night before, he had already prayed fervently for a Bible text. His rest was uneasy. He woke up repeatedly, his mind blank—no thought, nothing. Then, suddenly in the morning, a Bible verse sprang into his consciousness: “I came to send fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled!” But where in the Scriptures would he find it?
He paged through the Bible hoping to find it. After work, he rushed home and continued his search—without success. He racked his brains. The service was to start in twenty minutes. He leafed through the Bible again. The service began and he still had nothing, absolutely nothing. While the congregation was singing, he prayed, “Dear God, I am just going to open the Bible and use the first passage that my eyes fall—even if it speaks of death or the devil!”
He opened the Scriptures and saw: “I came to send fire on the earth …” (Luke 12: 49). “I cried like a child,” Georg Schall, the later District Apostle, recalled about his very first divine service.
Where faith took root
Georg Schall was born on 8 February 1886 in Steinenkirch in Germany. As the eldest of nine children, he often had to look after his siblings. Then there was the hard back-breaking work after school in the cooperage (barrel making) and on the family farm. “It was physically demanding and often far beyond our capabilities.”
His mother loved to read something from the Bible on Sunday evenings. At the age of twelve, he heard the words from the Revelation for the first time: “They sang as it were a new song before the throne.” His mother had tears in her eyes, and even if he did not understand the words straight away, they touched him deeply.
A year later, his mother died. This experience profoundly shaped him: “I learned a lot in those days—the futility and impermanence of everything earthly.” From then on, he dedicated himself to “better, higher goals”, as he would later write.
A new world for the soul
He began an apprenticeship as a painter in the neighbouring town of Geislingen. At seventeen, he first heard about the New Apostolic Church for the first time from a colleague and attended the divine services. “I discovered a new world for my soul,” he said afterwards. He found comfort, peace, and joy there. On 21 October 1903, Apostle Georg Ruff sealed him.
His father did not understand his son’s decision and threw him out of the house. Alone and penniless, he went to Ulm in search of work. Looking back, he would write: “It would turn out to be the toughest time of my life: poverty, suffering, illness, and misery.”
Matured through trials
Georg Schall saw these trials as an opportunity to “strengthen and purify his soul even more”. He remained faithful to God. In April 1907, he was ordained a Sub-deacon, and seven months later he found himself a Priest and rector of the congregation in Blaubeuren.
In the meantime, he had found a good position in a painting company, which he eventually came to manage. Reconciliation with his father took place in 1911, at his father’s initiative. One year later, he married Margarete Junginger. They had two children.
At the request of Chief Apostle Hermann Niehaus, the family moved to Frankfurt am Main in 1914 to support Apostle Johann Gottfried Bischoff. Georg Schall’s ministerial responsibilities continued to grow, and in September 1923 he was ordained an Apostle.
A man with a big heart
In 1927, the family returned to Württemberg because District Apostle Karl Gutbrod needed help. When Gutbrod had to resign from his ministry in November 1938 for health reasons, Apostle Schall became the new District Apostle, overseeing Bavaria and Württemberg, which at the time comprised 390 congregations. By the time he retired, that number had grown to five hundred.
He was a man full of sympathy and compassion. He found a word of comfort and strength for everyone. Idleness was foreign to him. He was known to drop in spontaneously on choir practices, youth evenings, ministers’ meetings, or to visit sick members. “With self-sacrificing love, he cared for both the congregations and his fellow ministers, as well as the brothers and sisters,” read a letter marking his twenty-fifth anniversary of service.
Quiet and modest to the end
He retired in August 1965 due to illness. He was seventy-nine. He had served as a minister for fifty-eight years, including fifty-two years as an Apostle. On 31 January 1966, District Apostle Schall passed away after a brief illness.
“He served the Lord with joy. He was a man after God’s own heart. He went through life quietly and modestly,” summarised Chief Apostle Walter Schmidt during the funeral service.
