Robert Gerhard Huebner

1. 11/2/1926 Puiggari, Entre Rios, Argentina
2. 4/7/2006 Colorado Springs, Colorado USA

 

Spouse/Family

Wife: Margarete Florence (nee Boriack),b.8/22/1931,Horse Prairie, Illinois USA

1. 6/29/1952 Rome, New York USA

Children: Martha Elizabeth (Dubke) (1953), Belinda Marie (Tysver) (1956),

Martin Paul (1960)

Dates of Service Field Call Assignment

1952-1971 Venezuela Missionary Pastor

1973-1995 Mexico Seminary Professor, Missionary Counselor

 

Biographical Summary

Robert Huebner was born in Argentina to missionary parents and attended elementary school in Crespo and Buenos Aires.  His family returned to the United States in 1941, whereupon he entered Concordia College in Milwaukee (graduated 1947) and then Concordia Seminary in St. Louis, from which he graduated in 1952.  Robert’s seminary vicarage year was in Guatemala.

 

Robert and Margarete (Boriack) first met when he served as a substitute preacher for her father’s church in Hilton, NY.  Margarete was one of the church organists and helped him review the liturgy.  Their acquaintance ended there, however, until Margarete began nursing studies at St. Louis City Hospital School of Nursing in 1949.  Her first year, she was asked to find a guest preacher for the Wednesday evening chapel service at the Nurses’ Residence.  Recalling the seminarian she had met in Hilton, she contacted him to ask if he could hold the service.  After this they went out a few times until he left for Guatemala in summer 1950.  After a year of writing letters, Robert returned, and they became engaged in December 1951.  Robert’s first call was to Caracas, Venezuela.   Robert and Margarete were married in June 1952.  Robert was ordained and commissioned July 13, 1952 by his father, Rev. Gerhard Huebner, in Portage, WI.

 

Robert flew to Caracas July 20, 1952, to work with Dr. Theophilus William Strieter, Missionary at Large to Latin America.  Dr. Strieter had arrived in Venezuela in October 1951 to start LCMS work in Venezuela.  On December 9, 1951, Dr. Strieter and a small group organized Iglesia Evangelica Luterana El Salvador, (Savior Lutheran Church).  Services were in German, with Spanish and English every other Sunday.  The Sunday Robert arrived, Dr. Strieter told him that in addition to serving as pastor of El Salvador's Spanish-speaking group, he would be Director of Colegio La Concordia, a grade school which was to open September 16, 1952, with 67 students.  As enrollment grew, Savior Lutheran purchased land in Colinas de Bello Monte to build a two-story school.  Having finished her RN degree and passing the State Boards, Margarete joined Robert on Nov. 7, 1952.

 

Though Robert had little training in education and had not known he would be directing a school, he was very conscientious about his work.   He saw Colegio La Concordia as a mission outreach, became acquainted with children and parents, and tried to make possible the best Christian learning environment.  Obligatory religious instructions included opening devotions on Monday as well as Bible story classes taught by teachers in their classrooms once a week.  Robert prepared the teachers for these classes.   He taught weekly instruction classes and spent the evenings visiting homes.  On Sundays he preached in Spanish.  He helped establish The Lutheran Hour outreach ministry which broadcast over two radio stations, obtained a local address for listeners to contact, and visited every correspondent living in the Caracas area.

 

Though Margarete knew no Spanish, early on Dr. Strieter recruited her as school secretary and bookkeeper; the latter duty she performed throughout their stay in Caracas.  Margarete supported Robert, assisted him, and took care of their home.   She played the organ for English and Spanish services, which were held in classrooms of the Colegio until 1970 when a church was built.  The Huebners’ three children were born while they were in Venezuela: Martha in 1953, Belinda in 1956, and Martin in 1960.   When Martin began kindergarten, Margarete was asked to fill in by teaching English at the school “until Christmas or so.” She ended up teaching English as a Second Language for the next seven years.  She also served as on-site school nurse.

 

When Dr. Strieter retired in March 1957, Robert was asked to serve all three groups of the tri-lingual congregation, preaching for years in English, German, and Spanish.  Robert also worked with vicars Rudolph Blank, Fred Boden, Gale Schmidt, and Donald Vietengruber, 1957-1962.  Though Robert's called work as pastor and school director kept him very busy, he made an effort to get to know other Christian pastors and facilitate communication between different denominations.  Lutheran missionaries and congregations in Venezuela initially faced strong anti-Lutheran sentiment within this majority Catholic country.   After Vatican II, attitudes shifted somewhat, and Robert was involved in setting up an ecumenical group consisting of leaders of several denominations for discussion of theology, worship, liturgy, and sacraments.  The work of this group was quite valuable for ecumenical relationships and understanding.  Over a full week in October 1967, Lutherans, together with Protestants and some Roman Catholics celebrated the 450th anniversary of the Reformation with public dialogue and other events.  Robert was asked to speak to a group of some 400 priests and nuns at the Roman Catholic Interdiocesan Seminary.

 

In 1968 the Lutheran Church of Venezuela requested the next candidate for service in Venezuela be from Augsburg Lutheran Seminary in Mexico City.  Without explanation, however, the Board for Mission Services assigned a candidate from the U.S. to the field.   Robert was chairman of the Lutheran Church in Venezuela, a position rotated every two years among the missionaries.  He upheld the field's decision and request.  This led to a sanction and his eventual removal from the field.  Ultimately it was the Lutheran Church in Venezuela that decided when Robert could leave the field without compromising mission projects, construction of the new church, and opening Colegio La Concordia's secondary school.

 

In 1971 Robert was offered a two-year sabbatical.  A Catholic priest he had worked with suggested he go to the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome, Italy.  Robert applied and became the first non-Catholic student to obtain the License in Sacred Scripture.  Having passed oral and written entrance tests in Greek and Hebrew, he took twenty-six semester courses over two years, graduating Cum Laude.  In Italy, Margarete worked as assistant to the British school nurse at the Overseas School of Rome, where Belinda and Martin were enrolled.  Martha had finished high school in Venezuela, and she studied for a year at the University for Foreign Students in Perugia, then the Goethe Institute in Germany, before returning to the States.

 

With Robert's sabbatical in Rome complete, the family came back to the U.S. for a time while Robert took courses at Concordia Seminary in Saint Louis.   He was called for an initial nine-month period, beginning in 1973, as professor of Old Testament at Augsburg Lutheran Seminary in Mexico City.  He continued to work at this ecumenical seminary until 1980, when it closed due to a lack of regular students.  Robert was reassigned as Missionary Counselor for Theological Education, becoming an itinerant professor.  He traveled all over Central and South America to teach intensive Scripture courses for clergy and lay ministers, teaching in 10 different countries.  For the most part, Margarete and their children stayed in Mexico City, where Belinda and Martin finished high school.  Margarete volunteered for nineteen years at the ABC Hospital Medical Center in Mexico City.   She was president of the bilingual Womens' Auxiliary from 1983-85.  She also became ad hoc administrator of the Seminary property in 1981.   In 1985 she was named Administrator of the Lutheran Center by the Board for Mission Services, a position she held until 1991.  In addition, she was the resident nurse and health consultant.

 

While Huebners were in Mexico City, the Lutheran Center was developed, a facility for 70 guests where people could learn about realities of life in Latin America.  Two Sisters of Charity founded GATE – Global Awareness Through Experience – which brought groups of church people to Mexico, using the Lutheran Center as their base of operations.  Students from St. Olaf College, Christ College, Irvine, CA and other groups spent time at the center.  Margarete's duties at the Center included arranging programs, speakers, budgets, activities, and transportation.  Enough people used the Center for it to remain fiscally solvent and upgrade the facility.

 

The Huebners retired at the end of December 1995 and moved to Colorado Springs, CO.  Robert was appointed Chair of the Lay Ministry Task Force, which became the Licensed Deacon Coordinating Committee of the Rocky Mountain District, serving from 1999 until his death in 2006.  The Huebners traveled to Caracas in December 2001 for the 50th Anniversary of LCMS mission work in Venezuela.  Robert was one of several retired pastors who canvassed Falcon, east of Colorado Springs, and established Abiding Word Lutheran Church in 2002.  He researched material on LCMS mission work in Latin America for several years and wrote and taught courses for the Hispanic Lay Institute in Chicago, headed by the Rev Douglas Groll.

 

Over the years, Robert had investigated possibilities for Spanish language outreach in Colorado Springs.   The first Spanish language service at Holy Cross Lutheran Church was scheduled for Easter Sunday afternoon, April 16, 2006.  Robert was to preach.  On April 7, Robert, who had always been healthy, died suddenly of an acute Strep A infection, probably pneumonia.  Dr. Douglas Groll was able to travel to Colorado Springs and conduct the Easter Sunday Spanish Service at Holy Cross Lutheran Church as planned.  The Memorial Service was Easter Monday at Holy Cross Lutheran Church in Colorado Springs, where Robert's life and years of ministry were celebrated.   God richly blessed the lives and work of Robert and Margarete Huebner.  Many lives have been touched through their care, witness, preaching, teaching, service, medical work, and other ministries both in the United States and especially on the foreign mission field.

 

Since 2007, Margarete and daughter Belinda have participated in medical mission trips to the highlands of western Guatemala with Helps International, a surgical team of eighty people.  They will return in March 2009 for a long week of surgeries in Tejutla.

 

Nota Bene

Robert was awarded honorary doctor of laws degree by Concordia University, Wisconsin.

 

With Rev. Gerardo Kempff and Rev. Juan Berndt, he wrote Predicando a Cristo (Preaching Christ), a guide to sermon preparation, published in 2003 by Concordia Publishing House.

 

After retirement, Robert did extensive research and writing on LCMS mission work in Latin America.  These materials are being compiled for preservation by Concordia Seminary in Saint Louis.

 

Mexico City suffered a devastating earthquake on Sept 19, 1985.  The Huebners were in Denver at the time, but drove back in 2-1/2 days.  Upon arrival, Robert helped organize The Lutheran Aid Committee.   Funds arrived from all over the U.S., Latin America, and Europe.  The committee eventually built 160 earthquake-proof houses for families who would not have been able to afford them and who were not eligible for government aid or loans.  Those who received the houses helped with construction and signed promissory notes to repay the loans.  Over a period of ten years, with few exceptions, all the loans were repaid.  This became a revolving fund for future disaster relief in Mexico and Latin America.  Robert served as Chair of this committee from 1985-89.

 

While volunteering at the hospital in Mexico City, Margarete and a friend began a program to honor the best nurses in the hospital each year.  They would select six to eight nurses to go to Baylor Medical Center for a week of in-service training, with food, travel and lodging paid for by their volunteer organization.  This was not only a reward for good nursing care, but also provided a chance for nurses who had probably never traveled before to work outside the country and observe another medical system.

 

Phase 2 Information

Biggest missiological issue faced?

Robert was a person who always planned ahead and thought of all possibilities for his work.  The most difficult times for him in his ministry came when there seemed not to be an adequate plan for the work that lay ahead.  At the time the Huebners were in the field, the position of secretary of missions changed hands many times, and Robert found himself frustrated by the seemingly ad hoc nature of much of the mission work he and others were asked to do.

 

A general issue that all pastors at this time faced was that during the years Robert went through the Seminary, many practical aspects of ministry were not necessarily addressed.  When candidates went out to a church or mission field, their activities were determined by congregations, traditions, and many external factors.  It was assumed the candidate was prepared to face his assignment – and to do the “right” thing.   He was a “Pastor,” and generally life experience rather than formal training would determine how he pursued ministry.

 

One memory that Robert has of his father’s experience in ministry was something his father, Rev. Gerhard Huebner, said years after he left the mission field: that he did not need to go to Argentina for the work he did and could have done the same thing in North Dakota, namely working as a circuit rider pastor for German-Russian people.  Rev. Gerhard Huebner was concerned with the fact that Lutheran missions in Latin America focused so heavily on German and other European immigrants to those countries.  Robert himself did have more of an opportunity to serve a broad spectrum of people in his mission work.

 

Most significant contribution during missionary service?

Margarete writes, “I do not want to exaggerate about Robert – but I believe his greatest contributions were:

• “He had a passion for proclaiming the Love of Jesus Christ to everyone who crossed his life's path.
• “He had a gift for relating to people.  He never met a stranger.   He treated everyone equally--from the most humble maid and gardener to the most distinguished, church leaders, politicians, statesmen.
• “He saw them all as God's people, and actively witnessed to his faith.
• “He was an enabler – through his life, witness, preaching, teaching – tried to stimulate each one to recognize God's great gift of Salvation through Jesus Christ, to share the Good News.
• “He cared so deeply.”

 

Connection to today’s mission?

The Lutheran churches in Venezuela and Mexico (and the many other countries where Robert taught) continue to minister to the people of those nations.  The use of itinerant professors, of whom Robert was one of the first, has become more commonplace in Central America so that seminaries can offer an appropriate variety of well-taught courses.  Only a few missionaries still serve in these countries, but LCMS remains in partnership with the established national Lutheran churches and sponsors specific projects.

 

Lessons Learned

 

Best Practices

• During his time as an itinerant professor, Robert introduced the Book of Concord to the Latin American churches.  As part of a class, he would break students into small groups and assign each group certain sections of the index of the Book of Concord to study together.  The students were so enthusiastic about the material and about learning in groups that they would refuse to take breaks during class!  It was a very successful way of introducing material.

 

• One particular instance in which Robert and Margarete served together was in 1977, when they traveled to Bolivia.  Robert taught Old Testament, while Margarete taught basic health and first aid.   She used Where There Is No Doctor by David Werner, which explained how to deal with health problems using natural and local remedies.  Both Robert and Margarete taught about seventy Aymara pastors who came to class walking, in large groups on a truck or any way possible.  The Huebners were able to help this group with their theological training and also train them to really make a difference in their villages regarding health needs.

 

• Margarete notes that at one point she was speaking with Dr. Douglas Groll, who suggested that survival could be considered “success” on the mission field.  She writes, “It sounds a bit trite, but at the same time, there is truth to it.”

 

Phase 3 Information

Inspiration for entering foreign missions?

When Robert was about six years old in Crespo, he asked his father why their Argentinian neighbors across the street did not attend services, spending Sunday mornings playing “boliche” and drinking beer.   Gerhard answered, “Because they cannot sing ‘Allein Gott in der Hoh.’”  Supposedly Robert replied, “Hope when I grow up (I) will be able to preach to them in Spanish.”

 

As a pastor's daughter, Margarete initially had no desire to marry a pastor.  She loved nursing and probably after her training would have gone on to work in an operating room.  She had no ideas or plans regarding mission work when she and Robert met.  However, as she and Robert continued dating while he went to Guatemala and then after he returned, at one point someone asked if she realized what could happen if she continued to see this person who might become a foreign missionary.  She writes, “It was not a problem for me.  Probably did not even give it much thought, but I was raised to believe God leads our lives – and should that be His will for me, I would be ready.

 

“Looking back, throughout my life and schooling, God was preparing me for life in Latin America.  The first twelve years of my life we lived in Marion, NC, the segregated South.  I came from a very protected, small town environment, a pastor's family.  We moved my senior year in high school – a real jolt for me, moving to a school with 280 graduates from one with 35 that year.  Then the experience at City Hospital in St Louis – I never saw anything worse in Latin America than I had already seen in three years at this huge public hospital.

 

“The evening we were married, God granted me such a feeling of peace driving to the church – I knew this was exactly where I was supposed to be.”

 

Quotation by/about or brief story:

• Margarete says of Robert: “If there was a need, he was always there to help if he could, and he was always planning ahead.”  Also, “he never met a stranger; he could talk to anyone, which was one of his special gifts.”  Finally, she is grateful that “as a pastor’s wife, I never felt restricted; he allowed me to grow, which I appreciated.”

 

• Robert was a Missouri Synod Lutheran his whole life, but he had a strong ecumenical bent that became more pronounced the longer he was on the mission field.  He was instrumental in creating and sustaining ecumenical relationships wherever the Huebners served, and he always felt that if he could help a minister of another denomination to preach and practice the Gospel of Christ, the people who listened to that minister would benefit.

 

• While the Huebners were in Venezuela, a mother of some of the students from the school came to see Robert one day.  She told him, “You know, Professor, you may think that your message didn’t get through, but I want you to know that whenever my children came home from school I asked what they had in Bible study that day.”  This mother was able to learn the words of Scripture and how to locate them in her Bible because of what her children had taught her.

 

• Robert had the blessing of working in El Salvador with a student named Medardo Gomez.  Medardo had grown up in a Catholic household, but for financial reasons his parents were married only in the eyes of the government, not in the Catholic Church (it cost quite a bit of money to be married in the church, and they were poor).  Because of this, he was not allowed to be a priest.  Medardo studied at the seminary in Mexico and returned to El Salvador to serve as a Lutheran pastor.  When revolution broke out in El Salvador, he and his wife (who was originally from Mexico) made a plan that she would return to Mexico while he stayed in El Salvador.  As they drove toward the border, however, they looked at each other and decided they could not split up in this way, and that if it were God’s will, their lives would be preserved through the violent revolution.  As Margarete puts it, “that was really the beginning of growth of the Lutheran church in El Salvador.”  Medardo, who became bishop of the church, is an amazing force for church growth and the spread of the Gospel and has become influential and much-respected.

 

• Margarete writes, “People often ask which country I liked most.  My feeling was that wherever Robert and I lived – it was ‘home.’  I loved Venezuela – then Italy – and Mexico as well.  Each was very special in its own way.”

 

• Another reflection from Margarete:  “At some point, Robert gave a slide lecture to seminary classmates in the States about our work in Caracas.   One commented, ‘But Pancho (the nickname given him in prep school), you're not doing mission work – you live in a big city.  Mission work is out in the country, the boondocks.’  For some people, yes – but the Lord chose to send us to metropolitan areas.  Just as in the States, mission work is right at hand.”