On September 30th, 1867 in the deaconess house in Dresden, eight men under the leadership of the Sorbian pastor Friedrich Heinrich Immisch founded a central committee for the Inner Mission of the Lutheran church in the Kingdom of Saxony. It was to bring together the numerous deaconal activities created by engaged Christians to react to a diversity of social problems. In celebration of its 150th anniversary, the multifaceted history of the Inner Mission in Saxony is being traced out. Next to the portrayal of the institutional anchoring of the Inner Mission in the Church of Saxony and the description of the challenges during the Weimar Republic, the focus will be on the time of National Socialism and the GDR. How would the leaders of the Inner Mission succeed in resisting the state's influence and allow the continuation of deaconal activities?