# LCMS Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1950_S424
# Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

424 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 is no ,
small problem. The evaluation of the various fields, the placement 4
of suitable personnel, the supervision of the far-flung work, the

allocation of sufficient funds to the various fields—all of these 4

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, systemi=
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.) “4

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-
territorial 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 |
missionary expansion and are at present making heroic efforts i
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. m

In 1946 the Rev. H. A. Mayer was appointed Assistant Secre-
tary of Missions. In order to keep in closer touch with the develop-.