# LCMS Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1944_S974
# Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

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MISCELLANEOUS MATTERS: 393

8) .We, as Lutherans and -children of the Reformation, be-
lieve we have a Special postwar obligation to fulfill not only in
' Europe at large, but especially in the land
The Land of the which gave birth to the Reformation,
Reformation _ Conflicting reports as to the status of the-
Christian Church in Germany forbid an.
accurate portrayal of the situation. There are, however, a number
of facts which seem to be 8enerally accepted. Even though
a) the Church has been Persecuted,
_ b) youth has'to a large degree been weaned away from
the Church,
c) Christian education has been reduced to the minimum,
d) the great Majority of civilian pastors have been drafted
into the army,
e) practically all seminaries have been closed,
f) large numbers of church buildings and Christian in-
stitutions have been bombed out of existence,
&) church life has been generally disrupted,
there nevertheless exists in Germany today a stronger nucleus of
Christianity than in many of the Preceding decades,

Especially unto Them Who Are of the Household
of Faith
Our primary concern begins, of course, with our brethren
of the Freikirche. We have heard that the Zehlendorf seminary

Freikirche was restricted. We shall have to re-
build the seminary and make it financially possible for as many
qualified students :as possible to enter the seminary. To build
up a native German ministry must be a first objective. , We shall

ical aid. We shall have to be ready to rehabilitate church
buildings and schools.