# LCMS Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1956_S340
# Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

340 YOUNG PEOPLE’S WORK

Ill. YOUNG PEOPLE’S WORK

Report of the Board for Young People’s Work
(Report 301)

The far-reaching changes taking place, particularly in the last
decades, in work among the youth call for constant alertness in
the work and frequent examinations and evaluation of the program
and methods. There are no simple answers to the problems of
organization, planning, programming, and administration of youth
work on any level, from the congregational to the synodical.

The Board for Young People’s Work, in co-operation with the
Walther League staff and executive board, has grappled with the
problems and, by the grace of God, has met with many blessings
and heart-warming experiences,

During the past triennium the Walther League executive
board and the Board of Directors of Synod have conducted a sur-
vey of youth work in Synod. This report, made available to your
Board the early part of the year, is presently being studied, Only
a preliminary summary and a few observations can be made rela-
tive to this report at this time, since there has not been enough
time for a thorough study.

We thank our merciful Lord for the many blessings of the
past and boldly pray for even greater blessings in the future. The
number of young people whom our church will be privileged to
guide for the kingdom of Jesus in the next decade is truly
startling. Conservatively estimated, the high school enrollment in
the United States will increase by 4,150,000 between 1956 and 1957,
The Missouri Synod percentage of this increase is 41,500 young
people. This means that on the average we will be confirming
more than 40,000 juniors a year for the next ten years. The youth
plans of Synod and the Walther League must be designed to serve
some 400,000 newly confirmed members of our church in the next
ten years. This calls for much prayer, intelligent planning, coura-
geous effort, and adequate financial support from the adult mem-
bership of the church.

During the triennium, the Walther League, Synod’s official
youth program, has reorganized its staff and has made significant
advances in membership, projects, and program. Now numbering
approximately 4,000 local societies throughout the United States,
Canada, and five other lands, the League continues to hold its
place of leadership among American Christian youth movements.

We sincerely hope that Synod will see fit to help our Board
and the Walther League alert the church at large to this tremendous
task, that Synod will generously support the cause with its funds,