# LCMS Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1953_S1105
# Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

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418 MISSIONS

‘ ACTION |
Upon recommendation of Committee 2 Synod reso] d
Ved:

Resolution 32
past anREAS, nee Problem of providing French and B
wno have en i i
formidable, ar properly trained theologic
Wuireas, Native workers ar ial

. e essential to a sy main

tenance and promotion of the work of the Evangelieal -
Free Church in France; and Tautheran

Wuereas, Past experience h

as proved it to be unwise to bri
in America for their theological

_  Wuereas, It is the opini

; Pinion of the B
that the matter of esta heolegeat
“house of studies”
France; and

Wuereas, It has been poi

; pointed out that the nati

could receive their academic training in the recognized naene

in ri _— and then receive their theological training in the Sols

pose eological training school or “house of studies”: and
,

Wuereas, It is the opinion of
our Board for European i
that if we do not act soon we shall lose the prospective stick nate
who are waiting to be trained; therefore be it ems
lish athe what we adopt the Board’s recommendation to estab
ogical training school or “house of studies” j °

ss in F
and that we approve the favorable action taken by our Bo. rd of
Directors of Synod in this matter. meet
IV. Belgium

“A. General Statement.

nio European Affai
blishing a theological training school «

is essential to any further Progress ;
in

“The Evangelical Lutheran Free i i
peed of two parishes, one at Antwerp, pone & hewn Lambert
‘ _ i Bs = me lemish langua ge, and the other at Brussels, served
ne ve 7. Hobus in French. These men are presently
se ving a ot ° about fifty communicant members. The work
Hel Tp 1s intimately tied to the Personal history of Pastor

ellings, who was brought up in a Roman Catholic home, but

MISSIONS 419

war, and resumed fully after the war. Pastor Hobus studied
the. ogy in France, Belgium, and Holland under Methodist dis-

_-tine, was ordained a Methodist minister, and served as missionary
?

for the Methodist Church for 15 years. The liberalism in the
Methodist Church and its methods of church work (revivalism, etc.)
made it impossible for him to continue in that Church. He was
prought in contact with Pastor Hellings; and having come to full

i ity with the Free Church brethren in France, estab-
lished by @ formal colloquy, he has now been ordained as pastor
of our Church and is serving a small band of members who came
with him into the Lutheran Church.

“B, Problems and Recommendations.

“Belgium is a Roman Catholic country. Protestantism in gen~
eral is not very effective. While the Lutheran Hour via Station
Luxembourg reaches the Belgian people and our missionaries estab~
lish contact through the mail with individuals who respond to the
Lutheran Hour, successful mission work is extremely difficult,
again because most people maintain an outward relationship to
the Roman Catholic Church.

“The temptation lies very near for the missionary to scatter
his energies and to spend much time in travel, seeking out indi-
viduals in various parts of the country, instead of engaging in
a more concentrated and intensive form of mission work.

“The task of providing successors for the pastors now serving
presents a problem comparable to that which exists in France and
should, therefore, be studied and solved, if possible, together with
the situation in France.

“Since the work of the Evangelical Lutheran Free Church in
Belgium is comparatively new and the two pastors serving there
are doing their work in a very aggressive manner, they should be
encouraged to continue an intensive program of mission endeavor
among the people of Belgium. We recommend that further financial
assistance be given so as to enable these pastors to continue their
work. It is to be expected that an increase fa membership will
also produce greater financial support on the part of the members,
on whom must rest the primary responsibility for the work in
Belgium. Our sister churches in other European countries ought
to be encouraged, being much closer to the scene, to assume a warm
interest in the work of our brethren in Belgium.” ;

Comment: The progress.of the work in Belgium has continued
in the past triennium. While the progress measured in actual
number of souls gained looks small, yet when considered in the
light of percentage of annual gain, this field indeed looks very
promising. In Antwerp, for example, the annual gain in baptized
membership over the last five years has been 15%, the average
annual gain in communicant membership has been 20%, and the