# LCMS Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1950_S269
# Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

328 MISSIONS

hand and on the left; and thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles”
Is, 54: 2-3.

May the Lord of the Church grant us the faith, the courage,
and the vision to accept the challenge of this strategic hour!

Respectfully submitted,

F.C. Streurert, Secretary of Missions
H. A. Mayer, Assistant Secretary of Missions

[402] .
Report of the Board for Missions in North

and South America
Cost of these missions in the past triennium:

1947 . $532,491.62 1948 ______.__. $548,480.62
1949 2 $550,915.00

For the first time in the history of our Church a joint report
on the mission activities in the three Americas (North, Central,
and South) is being submitted. Until the Twenty-fifth Delegate
Convention, which was held in Chicago in 1947, home missions
in North America were supervised by the Board of Home Missions
in North America, the missions in South America by the Board
of Missions for South America, and missions in extraterritorial
regions were in charge of four different District Mission Boards.
At the 1947 convention, however, all these missions were placed
under the jurisdiction of one Board, which was then called the
Board for Missions in North and South America.

With few exceptions, your Board for Missions in North and
South America met monthly during the past triennium. As may
be expected, the programs for these meetings were well diversified
—covering, as they did, the problem of our Mission Boards
throughout the Western Hemisphere — and at times necessitated
morning, afternoon, and evening sessions.

Home Missions in North America

Although your Board gave much attention to the development
of our work in South America and extraterritorial fields, it placed
its major emphasis, of course, on the work here in the homeland.
It has always proceeded on the assumption that only in the measure
in which the Church takes care of its home mission field will it
be able to grow larger and larger and thus to undergird its work
in foreign fields. The development of the home base is of supreme
importance! Your Board for Missions in North and South America
was constantly on the alert to intensify and to expand our program
of home missions. As we look at the accomplishments of the past

MISSIONS “329

jennium, we offer a prayer of deepest gratitude, but when we
consider the work which still remains to be done, we fall on our
knees with the plea: “Lord, grant us a greater passion for souls!”

.The annual Epiphany Mission Conferences which have been
held since 1946 have made a telling impact upon our Church.
The spirit of home missions, specifically of evangelism, is definitely
abroad in every section of our Synod.

You will recall, this tremendous forward thrust i -
rated at the first Epiphany Conference held in Detroit in February
1946, when 135 representatives of the District Mission Boards,
together with 150 other leaders of our Church, decided to launch
an “intensive, systematic, progressive, unified, nation-wide mission
expansion program.” Few movements in the history of our Church
have been more abundantly blessed by our Lord than the so-called
“ach One Reach One” effort which was begun in 1946 and which
is still continuing at unabated pace. It is with grateful and joyful
hearts that we report that within the three years following the
inauguration of the “Each One Reach One” movement no fewer
than 102,682 adults were brought into our Church by confirmation
Baptism, and by confession of faith. (Statisti
aaeiable at the, Gait (Statistics for 1949 were not

Since the Epiphany Conferences have played such a vital
part in arousing our District mission boards and the church at
large to a greater consciousness of their mission opportunities and
their mission obligations, we cannot but voice our deep regret
that | because « of a lack of funds the 1950 Epiphany Conference had

Vacation Bible Schools. — Another effort whi j .
the evident blessing of God was the promotion of vacuo eyed
schools which your Board for Missions in North and South America
sponsored in co-operation with Synod’s Board for Parish Educa-
tion. These schools have indeed been an instrument in the hand
of God not only to bring precious blood-bought souls within th
sound of the Gospel, but also to stimulate within our own le
(pastors, teachers, and laymen) an ever-growing missi y con.
sciousness. The total 11m. fon Bible whools
€ total enrollment of the vacation Bible schools
or 1946 was 45,287; for 1947 it was 71,852; for 1948 it was 97.272
Unofficial reports for 1949 put the total well over 100,000. We can-
not but add a word of commendation both to the Board for Parish
Education and to Concordia Publishing House for the excellent
and attractive literature offered for use in these vacation Bibl
schools. This literature did much to help create a wide 2
interest and enthusiasm for these summer schools. meres
Board School by Mail. — This is an effort sponsored by the’

or Missions in North and South America in co-operation