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Waldemar Ehlers

Photo courtesy of the Brazilian White Center – UNASP.

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Ehlers, Waldemar (1879–1929)

By The Brazilian White Center – UNASP

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The Brazilian White Center – UNASP is a team of teachers and students at the Brazilian Ellen G. White Research Center – UNASP at the Brazilian Adventist University, Campus Engenheiro, Coelho, SP. The team was supervised by Drs. Adolfo Semo Suárez, Renato Stencel, and Carlos Flávio Teixeira. Bruno Sales Gomes Ferreira provided technical support. The following names are of team members: Adriane Ferrari Silva, Álan Gracioto Alexandre, Allen Jair Urcia Santa Cruz, Camila Chede Amaral Lucena, Camilla Rodrigues Seixas, Daniel Fernandes Teodoro, Danillo Alfredo Rios Junior, Danilo Fauster de Souza, Débora Arana Mayer, Elvis Eli Martins Filho, Felipe Cardoso do Nascimento, Fernanda Nascimento Oliveira, Gabriel Pilon Galvani, Giovana de Castro Vaz, Guilherme Cardoso Ricardo Martins, Gustavo Costa Vieira Novaes, Ingrid Sthéfane Santos Andrade, Isabela Pimenta Gravina, Ivo Ribeiro de Carvalho, Jhoseyr Davison Voos dos Santos, João Lucas Moraes Pereira, Kalline Meira Rocha Santos, Larissa Menegazzo Nunes, Letícia Miola Figueiredo, Luan Alves Cota Mól, Lucas Almeida dos Santos, Lucas Arteaga Aquino, Lucas Dias de Melo, Matheus Brabo Peres, Mayla Magaieski Graepp, Milena Guimarães Silva, Natália Padilha Corrêa, Rafaela Lima Gouvêa, Rogel Maio Nogueira Tavares Filho, Ryan Matheus do Ouro Medeiros, Samara Souza Santos, Sergio Henrique Micael Santos, Suelen Alves de Almeida, Talita Paim Veloso de Castro, Thais Cristina Benedetti, Thaís Caroline de Almeida Lima, Vanessa Stehling Belgd, Victor Alves Pereira, Vinicios Fernandes Alencar, Vinícius Pereira Nascimento, Vitória Regina Boita da Silva, William Edward Timm, Julio Cesar Ribeiro, Ellen Deó Bortolotte, Maria Júlia dos Santos Galvani, Giovana Souto Pereira, Victor Hugo Vaz Storch, and Dinely Luana Pereira.

 

 

First Published: January 29, 2020

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Waldemar Ehlers, pastor, teacher, and manager, was born February 17, 1879, in Kihus, Schleswig Holstein, Germany. He learned the Adventist message in 1893, when he was 14 years old. The following year he accepted an invitation to work at the Hamburg Adventist Publishing House.1

In 1898 a letter arrived in Hamburg from Brazil which would change the life of this young man. Written by Professor Paul Kramer, it was an appeal for German-speaking workers to share the Curityba School responsibilities, where he was the director.2 The school, located in the city of Curitiba, Parana, was still in its early years, having been inaugurated in 1896.3 Ehlers accepted the call and, on August 27, 1898, arrived in Brazil. Ehlers was a man of prayer and made an important contribution to the school, where the number of students enrolled almost doubled between the first term of 1898 and the beginning of 1899, making it necessary to construct a new building.4

In 1900, Ehlers married Mary Creeper and they had three children: Emmanuel, Martha, and Waldemar.5 A year later he accepted a call to do evangelistic work in the states of Parana, Santa Catarina,6 and Espírito Santo. During this period, in 1903, he was ordained to the pastoral ministry during a meeting held in Santa Maria, Espírito Santo, with the common approval of the present brethren.7 In 1906 he was invited to be the president of the Santa Catarina Conference, which was officially organized that year.8 Besides his administrative functions, Ehlers also worked in Santa Catarina as an evangelist, canvasser, and preacher, among other activities.9 Many people were baptized as a result of his work, providing a corresponding growth in the number of members and in tithe and offerings received for the development of the Adventist Church in Brazil.10

At the end of 1909, Ehlers was transferred to the Rio Grande do Sul Conference,11 where he presided until 1913.12 In 1913, because of health problems, he returned to Germany in order to treat the illness from which he was suffering.13 The beginning of the First World War (1914-1918), contributed to Ehlers remaining in Europe.14 While in Germany he served as a Bible teacher for a year at Friendsau College (now Friedensau Adventist University), and from 1914 to 1923 he was president of three different conferences in Germany, the last one being Berlin. In 1921 he received surgery due to his kidney illness. After that, his health condition prevented him from doing active work. In 1923 he retired and returned to live in Brazil, in the city of Jaraguá do Sul, Santa Catarina. Six years later, Ehlers passed away after a uremia crisis, in February 1929.15

Waldemar Ehlers participated in an international ministry for the Seventh-day Adventist Church, serving as teacher, evangelist, and administrator, working for 16 years in Brazil and nine years in Germany. In Brazil he served especially in the southern area of the country where he was one of the pioneer teachers at the International School of Curitiba. As an evangelist, he performed many baptisms, especially in Parana and Santa Catarina, places where he also canvassed. He also pioneered the administration of the Santa Catarina Conference, being its first president.

Sources

“Brusque – Sta. Catharina.” Revista Trimensal, vol. 2, no. 1, January 1907, 2. Accessed May 22, 2019. http://acervo.revistaadventista.com.br/capas.cpb.

Fabiana, Bertotti, editor. 100 anos de fé, pioneirismo e missão. Tatuí, SP: Casa Publicadora Brasileira, 2004.

Kramer, Paul. “Our school at Curityba, Brazil.” Missionary Magazine, vol. 6, no. 6, June 1899. Accessed May 22, 2019. http://documents.adventistarchives.org/Periodicals/TMM/TMM18990601-V11-06.pdf.

“Minas Geraes.” ARH, vol. 92, no. 3, January 1915, 13. Accessed May 23, 2019. http://documents.adventistarchives.org/Periodicals/RH/RH19150114-V92-03.pdf.

Odailson, Fonseca, editor. 100 anos de fé, pioneirismo e ação. Tatuí, SP: Casa Publicadora Brasileira, 2004.

Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook. Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1905, 1910, 1914. Accessed May 22, 2019. https://www.adventistyearbook.org/.

Streithorst, G. “Ehlers.” Revista Adventista, vol. 24, no. 11, April 1929. Accessed May 22, 2019. http://acervo.revistaadventista.com.br/capas.cpb.

Suárez, Adolfo S., editor. Manual do Educador. Engenheiro Coelho, SP: UNASPRESS, 2015.

“Varias Noticias.” Revista Trimensal, vol. 1, no. 3, July 1906, 5. Accessed May 22, 2019. http://acervo.revistaadventista.com.br/capas.cpb.

“Varias Noticias.” Revista Mensal, vol. 9, no. 3, March 1913, 6. Accessed May 22, 2019. http://acervo.revistaadventista.com.br/capas.cpb.

Westphal, J. W. “General meeting in Santa Maria, Espirito Santo, Brazil.” ARH, vol. 80, no. 37, September 1903, 13-14. Accessed May 22, 2019. http://documents.adventistarchives.org/Periodicals/RH/RH19030917-V80-37.pdf.

Westphal, J. W. “Santa Catharina-Parana Conference.” ARH, vol. 85, no. 29, July 1908. Accessed May 22, 2019. http://documents.adventistarchives.org/Periodicals/RH/RH19080716-V85-29.pdf.

Notes

  1. G. Streithorst, “Ehlers,” Revista Adventista, vol. 24, no. 11, April 1929, 16.↩

  2. Paul Kramer, “Our school at Curityba, Brazil,” Missionary Magazine, vol. 6, no. 6, June 1899, 255-256.↩

  3. Adolfo S. Suárez, ed., Manual do educador (Engenheiro Coelho, SP: Unaspress, 2015), 28.↩

  4. Kramer, 255-256.↩

  5. Streithorst, 16.↩

  6. Ibid.↩

  7. J. W. Westphal, “General meeting in Santa Maria, Espirito Santo, Brazil,” ARH, vol. 80, no. 37, September 1903, 13-14.↩

  8. F. Bertotti, ed., 100 anos de fé pioneirismo e missão (Tatuí, SP: Casa Publicadora Brasileira, 2004), 30; and “Varias Noticias,” Revista Trimensal, vol. 1 no. 3, July 1906, 5; “Santa Satarina and Parana Conference,” Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1907), 95.↩

  9. Bertotti, 34.↩

  10. J. W.,Westphal, “Santa Catharina-Parana Conference,” ARH, vol. 85, no. 29, July 1908, 13; and “Brusque – Sta. Catharina,” Revista Trimensal, vol. 2, no. 1, January 1907, 2.↩

  11. Bertotti, 34; and “Rio Grande Conference,” Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1910), 125.↩

  12. O. Fonseca, ed., 100 anos de fé, pioneirismo e ação (Tatuí, SP: Casa Publicadora Brasileira, 2004), 23; and “Rio Grande do Sul Conference,” Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1914), 147.↩

  13. “Varias Noticias,” Revista Mensal, vol. 9, no. 3, March 1913, 6; and Streithorst, 16.↩

  14. “Minas Geraes,” ARH, vol. 92, no. 3, January 1915, 13.↩

  15. Streithorst, 16.↩

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UNASP, The Brazilian White Center –. "Ehlers, Waldemar (1879–1929)." Encyclopedia of Seventh-day Adventists. January 29, 2020. Accessed October 16, 2026. https://encyclopedia.adventist.org/article?id=GGHV.

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UNASP, The Brazilian White Center –. "Ehlers, Waldemar (1879–1929)." Encyclopedia of Seventh-day Adventists. January 29, 2020. Date of access October 16, 2026, https://encyclopedia.adventist.org/article?id=GGHV.

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UNASP, The Brazilian White Center – (2020, January 29). Ehlers, Waldemar (1879–1929). Encyclopedia of Seventh-day Adventists. Retrieved October 16, 2026, https://encyclopedia.adventist.org/article?id=GGHV.

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