# LCMS Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1950_S265
# Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

320 YOUNG PEOPLE’S WORK

handicapped and its operations curtailed in that the District sp
over many of the International Walther League 8eographical dig.
tricts. Its efforts must therefore be of a general nature without con.
centration on any specific area.

We recommend therefore

1, That our District Youth Committee be empowered to ap.
point as its representative a man from each visitorial circuit;

2. That this appointee work together with the District Youth
Committee in putting into practice more effectively the Purposes
for which the Youth Committee is organized;

3. That the District Youth Committee contact the Presidents
of the Walther League districts, informing them of these appoint.
ments and of the readiness of these men to serve them in carrying
forward the youth program of our Church;

4. That the appointees keep in close contact with the District’,
Youth Committee, so that the Youth Committee’s synodically qi.
rected purpose may be carried out to the full.

We further recommend that our congregations’. youth Societies,
whenever possible, associate themselves with our Church’s Tecog-
nized youth organization, the International Walther League, and
that those societies carry out its well-rounded program.

The Reviewing Committee concurs in the opinion of the Dis-
trict Youth Committee regarding the lack of proportion between
the Church’s obligations toward her youth and the meager funds
appropriated in the synodical budget for the carrying out of this
responsibility, and it therefore recommends that our District memo-
rialize the 1950 convention of The Lutheran Church — Missouri
Synod to direct the Fiscal Conference to increase the moneys
allotted for the promotion of youth work in our Church.

Finally, since the Walther League Messenger is the official
voice of the Walther League, and since it serves to co-ordinate the
interests and activities of our youth, we recommend that we do all
in our power to encourage its circulation among our membership.

Action: The report and recommendations were adopted.

Tae ENciisx# District
C. F. Danxworts, Secretary

MISSIONS
IV. MISSIONS

:1h6{he Twenty-sixth Delegate Convention of our beloved Synod
convenes at the mid-point of the twentieth century. Perhaps never
before in the history of man have there been fifty years which
witnessed greater changes than the first fifty years of this epoch-
making century. These changes have profoundly affected not only
the course of world history, but also the history of our own nation,
thé history of the Christian Church, and the history of our beloved
Synod.

During these fifty years governments have come into being
and. have crumbled and fallen. The map of the world has under-
gone one radical change after another, As we reflect upon the
course of our own nation’s history during the past fifty years, we
marvel at the tremendous progress which has been made in almost
every phase of modern life. Our incomes, our standard of living,
our luxuries and conveniences, far exceed those of any other people
on the earth.

And yet we must bow our heads in shame. In spite of the
unnumbered blessings which God has showered upon us as a nation
and as a Church, the first half of the twentieth century has been
an era of almost unprecedented bloodshed, violence, and wicked-
nes. The Commandments of our Lord have been flagrantly trans-
gressed at almost every turn. Indeed, the first half of the twentieth
century is a black page in the annals of human history.

It is not without purpose that the Lord has placed our Church
into the present world scene and has given us His Gospel message
“for such a day as this.” Into our hands He has placed the message
of redemption and has commissioned us to proclaim this message
far and wide in this dark moment of mankind’s history. What
a privilege! What a challenge! — to be alive and to work for Christ
in a day when almost unbelievable media of communication have
been placed at our disposal: the telephone, the telegraph, the radio,
television, photography, the Movies, the airplane, the automobile,
the Diesel engine, and other means which God has given us to
spread His Gospel of salvation far and wide.

What a blessing it is to be a member of The Lutheran Church —
Missouri Synod, which the Lord permitted not only to survive the
onslaughts of the Evil One during the perilous period of 1900 to
1950, but which He also permitted to make unprecedented mis-

sionary gains during those critical years. The following figures
Sve us a picture of the numerical growth of our beloved Church