# LCMS Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1947_S829
# Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

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YOUNG PEOPLE'S WORK 827

of the Wheat Ridge Sanatorium and to inaugurate a program of
medical social work which eventually is to reach the Lutherans
afflicted with tuberculosis wherever our Church is located. In
order to secure the necessary medical social workers for this pro-
gram, scholarships for the study of medical social work on a
graduate level are offered by the Foundation. The Board of Direc-
tors of the Wheat Ridge Foundation consists of more than twenty
men who are leaders in our synodical organization, in business,
and in the professions of law, medicine, and social work. The
undertaking of this program of vast possibilities in the prevention
of tuberculosis and in the treatment, care, and rehabilitation of
Lutherans afflicted with it, has been developed in consultation with
authorities in this field of medicine and social work and is made
possible by the increased response each year to the appeal of the
Wheat Ridge Christmas Seal. It is another evidence of the abun-

dant blessing of God upon an undertaking of the youth of our:

Church. a)

In harmony with its purpose to serve the Church, the Walther
League has supported the special projects undertaken by our Synod
during the past years. The League gave much space in its publica-
tions to the Peace Thankoffering and suggested many ways by
which the individual society could assist the congregation in this
endeavor. Much emphasis has been placed for more than a year
upon the synodical Centennial, and the program of the League in
many ways has been co-ordinated with the objectives of the
synodical Centennial Committee and of the committee which, under
Pastor Birkner, is directing the promotion of the Centennial of-
fering. Two issues of the Bible Student have been devoted to the
Centennial. The League has published the book How the Missouri

Synod was Born, by Dr. W. G. Polack,:the contents of which ap-

peared serially in the Walther League Messenger over a period
of months. Suggested topics for group discussion and study are
given at the end of each chapter. The Walther League topics for
1947 are called “Centennial Series” and emphasize the heritage of
our Synod and the responsibilities to use this heritage in meeting
the tasks to which God is calling our Lutheran youth today. The
same emphasis was made in the Candlelighting Ceremony, com-
memorating the Walther League birthday. The program material
of the League has consistently pointed out ways by which the
society might give publicity to the Centennial and assist the con-
gregation in its celebration.

In collaboration with the American Lutheran Publicity Bureau
the League distributed approximately two million tracts during six
months of the past year, with the suggestion that they be used by
the individual Leaguer as a practical means of furthering the pur-