# LCMS Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1899_S83
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

Ninth Delegate Synod of Missouri, Ohio, and Other States, 1899. 83

Pastor O. Willkomm and Pastor W. Hübener (at Kolberg), are as follows:
"§ 1. The name of the society is: Society for the Evangelical Lutheran
Emigrant Mission. § 3. The purpose of the society is, in general, to
promote the Emigrant Mission maintained in Germany by the American Missouri
Synod, and in particular to provide lodging for Christian travelers and
emigrants who do not wish to stay in the ordinary inns. § 4. Any
Evangelical Lutheran Christian who undertakes to further the purposes of
the society and pays an annual contribution of whatever amount he chooses,
but at least 1 mark (= 25 cents), may become a member of the society. § 10.
Should the society ever be dissolved, its assets pass to the Emigrant
Mission of the Missouri Synod in America."

"As a result of the reduction in the commissions the agency earns from
tickets sold, as well as the decline in German emigration generally, the
Emigrant Mission in Bremen is no longer able, as it once was, to support
itself, and for the same reason the Pilgerhaus no longer pays for itself
either. That the continued existence of the mission in Bremen is a
necessity for the blessed continuation of the Emigrant Mission as a whole, I
do not think I need to demonstrate. It is also known outside our circles
that we send on the best church-minded people. Our opponents know this. It
has been pointed out to me repeatedly that the Missourians take away
precisely the earnest 'evangelical' Christians from Germany, which of
course is presented as something wrong. The Emigrant Mission of the local
Unirte [members of the Prussian Union church] works with far more energy
than we can muster; if we should abandon the post, they will immediately try
to seize our whole work for themselves. The Pilgerhaus here is placed in the
service of the mission as private property. It is expected to pay for
itself. As already noted, however, that is presently not the case. To
maintain it, a modest subsidy of about 500 marks is needed. To raise this
sum, a room in the house could be let out for holding emigrant and other
worship services, reserved entirely for this purpose, so that the 500 marks
would not really be a subsidy at all, since something is given in return.
Regarding this room, it should be explained that up to now the services have
always been held in the guest room, which causes disruption both for
arriving guests (even preventing services from being held) and for the
services themselves. Once we have a proper place set up for worship, I also
hope, through the influence of Mr. Consul L. Lange (from the United States
of North America), who is very well disposed toward our cause, to achieve
that we may also invite other emigrants, not our own, to the emigrant
worship services, which has so far been denied us. — With the help of
those 500 marks, a second thing would also be achieved: our small
congregation is almost inseparable from the Pilgerhaus. It, too, suffers
from the fact that the