Lothar Velten, a German evangelist who spent six decades preaching in Austria and Germany and became one of the best-known figures in the country's tent mission movement, has died at 82. The evangelical news agency IDEA reported that he died during the night into Aug. 31, citing the Deutsche Zeltmission.
Velten joined the Deutsche Zeltmission (DZM), a tent evangelism agency based in Siegen in western Germany, as a preacher in 1998 and remained associated with it for the rest of his life. In an obituary published by the agency on social media, the DZM said his aim had been to bring faith into people's everyday lives. IDEA described him as having shaped the way tent evangelism in Germany is now practiced.
Tent missions have a long history in German-speaking Europe. Agencies erect large marquees in towns and villages for a week or more of evening meetings, usually at the invitation of local congregations.
Adapting to the local context
Velten preached under the slogan "Voll das Leben" — "Life to the Full" — which the DZM described as his trademark and which he used to invite people to a life with Jesus Christ.
The agency said he adjusted each program to the social and cultural conditions of the place he was working in, drawing both church members and people with no church background. Mayors, rural women's associations, fire brigades, sports clubs and brass bands were brought into the events.
"Velten gave the local dignitaries a stage, in order then to tell of the Greatest," the DZM wrote.
In his first year with the agency he introduced a bistro area inside the tent, which the DZM said has since become standard in German tent evangelism. He also developed a format called "3mal voll das Leben" ("Life to the Full — Three Times Over"), working with performers including Klaus Kreischer and the entertainer known as Mr. Joy.
From electrician to evangelist
Velten trained as an electrician before studying theology at the mission school in Unterweissach, near Backnang in southwestern Germany, according to IDEA. He then worked for 12 years as a preacher for a mission association in Austria.
From 1978 to 1998 he directed the evangelistic work of the German youth association Entschieden für Christus (Decided for Christ), known as EC, IDEA reported. The DZM obituary refers more broadly to decades of evangelistic ministry with the EC in Austria and Germany.
A chronicle published by the German Evangelists' Conference lists Velten among the successive leaders of its working group of tent missions, an alliance of agencies that coordinated summer campaigns nationally.
'Warm and humble'
Klaus Göttler, general secretary of the German EC Association, paid tribute to Velten on Facebook as a mentor and a "wonderful friend." Göttler said the two had first met in the 1980s and that Velten had influenced and accompanied him since then through what he called his warm and humble manner.
Velten carried out his work as an evangelist "from the heart and with great passion," Göttler said. He described Velten as having a deep affection for young people and for Jesus, adding: "It was his greatest concern to bring the two together."
Board service and restructuring
Velten continued to preach after reaching retirement age and served the DZM for several more years as chairman and as a member of its board.
In 2015 he voted in favor of a far-reaching restructuring of the organization and the launch of its Camissio Camp2Go program, despite reservations he had raised himself. When he withdrew as a member in 2021, he said the decision had been an important one and had proved a blessing, according to the DZM.
The DZM statement closed by calling Velten an ambassador of God who was now experiencing his own program in full.
