# LCMS Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1950_S268
# Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

326 MISSIONS

Administration. —From the above reports, which are only
a brief résumé of the various missionary activities of our Church,
it is evident that the administration of our Church’s missions ig ng
small problem. The evaluation of the various fields, the placement
of suitable personnel, the supervision of the far-flung work, the
allocation of sufficient funds to the various fields—all of these
pressing problems have been a matter of deep concern not only
to the Mission Department of our Church but also to the church
at large.

As the missionary activity of our Church grew both in scope
and in complexity, it became evident (midway during the first half
of the present century) that the co-ordination of Synod’s spreading
mission program called for the appointment of a general “Secretary
of Missions.” This office was created at the Milwaukee convention
in 1932 — in the midst of a terrible depression and at a time when
Synod’s deficit had risen to unprecedented heights. It was the duty
of the newly appointed Secretary of Missions to help unify, system-
atize, and co-ordinate our Church’s mission work. As Secretary
of Missions he was to be an advisory member of the various synod-
ical Mission Boards and of the synodical Church Extension Com-
mittee. (Consult Synodical Handbook, p. 122, 8.03, 8.05.)

By resolution of Synod the Secretary of Missions was appointed
the Executive Secretary both of the Board for Home Missions and
of the Board for South American Missions. The Chicago Conven-
tion in 1947 resolved to merge these two boards into one: The
Board for Missions in North and South America. During the past
triennium this Board has supervised our work in all three Americas
(North, Central, and South) as well as our missions in such extra-
tefpitorial areas as the Hawaiian Islands and Cuba.

It is the conviction of your Secretary of Missions that the
combining of these fields under one Board was a step in the right
direction. Our two sister Districts in South America (Brazil and
Argentina) were encouraged to realize that they were, indeed,
sister Districts on the same level as our Districts north of the
border. As a result these two Districts have made commendable
progress particularly during the past triennium. They have entered
upon a co-ordinated, unified, and well-integrated program of
missionary expansion and are at present making heroic efforts in
the direction of ultimate self-support. Much of the credit for this

development, we believe, is attributable to the merging of the
North and South American work under the supervision of one
Board.

In 1946 the Rev. H. A. Mayer was appointed Assistant Secre-
tary of Missions. In order to keep in closer touch with the develop-
ment of the work in all synodical Mission Departments as well

MISSIONS 327

as.the Church Extension Board, your Secretary of Missions and
his assistant have made it a point to attend as many of the re ila
meetings of all synodical Mission Boards as possible, Minutes of
these meetings are submitted by the respective departments and
placed on file in the office of the Secretary of Missions. The inter-
change of suggestions on the part of the various missionar
agencies of Synod, made possible through the office of the general
Secretary of Missions, has been a real help in the solution f
numerous problems. °
We look to the future. While we thank God for the splendid
progress which He has permitted our Church to make in the field
of missions during the first half of the twentieth century, this
is surely no time to “rest on our laurels.” This is a time rather
to look forward into the second half of this momentous centu
and to make energetic plans to meet its opportunities. a
To meet these opportunities we “
our stakes” and (b) “lengthen our ou "0 (a) "strengthen
(a) Our program of world-wide missions i
the vitality and strength of the home base. Tn onder at ae home
base may be strengthened, your Secretaries of Missions are ha
to endorse the memorial of Synod’s Board for Missions in North
and South America (page 328) which calls for an ever deeper
devotion to the Savior on the part of our pastors and people and
an wer greater enlistment of our laity in the spiritual functions
(b) Our program of world-wide missions is dependent, further-
more, on the constant flow of sacrificial offerings on the art’ of
our members. During recent years our task of world evangelisayi
received tremendous help from such special offerings as the Pe ee
Thankoffering, the Centennial Thankoffering, and similar ‘5; ial
efforts. These funds have now been expended or alloca “ss
task of “lengtheni ” wri ccated whe.
gthening our cords” will therefore present new problem:
and difficulties —in the measure in which these special :
unavailable. - Grants are

Your Secretaries of Missions, th
Yo , therefore, urgently pl
Oa) Pons pe made for the gathering of ample (if necessary, oe ’
cia or th ti i :
oro e continued expansion of our far-flung Kingdom
mom. a Church stands today at the mid-point of the most
he mus and epoch-makin g century since the birth of our Savior
it ust near the voice of the ancient Prophet calling with increasing
the cata see the Piece of thy tent, and let them stretch forth
SO ine habitations; spare not, len,
3 gthen th:
and strengthen thy stakes; for thou shalt break forth on the right