# LCMS Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1950_S662
# Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

662 MISCELLANEOUS MATTERS

The Evangelical Free Church

had been closely associated for years. In a meeting in Germany, in}
October, 1945, attended by Drs. J. W. Behnken and L. Meyer and 4
nineteen brethren of the Freikirche, it was decided to send books, ;
Bibles, ministerial gowns, Communion sets, catechisms, Bible his- j
tories, hymnals, and $100,000 for general relief. In the following 4
years hundreds of thousands of dollars were channeled to the 4
Free Churches for orphanages to house refugee children, for bar- :
racks to replace burned or bombed-out churches, for temporary |
structures for a college and seminary, and for the printing of
Christian literature.

Furthermore, in the past three years 16 barrack churches -
bought by the Emergency Planning Council have given new places :
of worship to Free Church congregations, In September of 1949 3
grants were made to support refugee missions of the Evangelical 4
Lutheran Church of Alt-Preussen, to support refugee pastors, and 4
to assist deacons. Allocations were also made for the rehabilitation 3
of projects of Alsace Churches. A grant of 250,000 D.M.’s from a
the Emergency Planning Council established a Church Extension 4
Fund, from which those congregations in fellowship with us can 3
borrow funds to rebuild their homeland and church buildings. :

Breslau Synod

Another church body with which the Emergency Planning
Council has come in contact and to which have been contributed
emergency funds is the Breslau Free Church. Originally this
Church had about 80 pastors and 60,000 members. Its constituency
was located mostly in Silesia (Schlesien) and Russian-occupied
territory.

For many years there was little or no personal church relation- #
ship between the Evangelical Lutheran Free Church of Germany
and the Breslau Synod. But after a series of meetings on doctrinal
discussions, originally arranged by Dr. J. W. Behnken, were held,
pulpit and altar fellowship between these two bodies was
established.

The Landeskirche

Eighty-five per cent of all Protestantism in Germany is
nominally Lutheran. Before the war there were eighteen various
Lutheran bodies in Germany. Many of these do not use the name
“Lutheran” in their official name, but call themselves “Evangelisch.”
Before the war these eighteen bodies were organized into a loose
federation called the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Germany.