# LCMS Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1902_S76
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

76 Proceedings of the 25th General, or

...English synodical affiliation, provided that in this
way the purposes of synodical affiliation are achieved.
But since synodical affiliation is a matter of expediency, and the
individual congregation's entry into a synod therefore depends on that
congregation's free decision, all legal pressure and compulsion
in this matter is to be carefully avoided.'

"Your delegation further reports that the Reverend English Ev. Luth.
Synod of Missouri and Other States, at its convention in Detroit, Mich.,
from July 5 to 11, 1899, received and adopted the report of the joint
committee." (Report of the delegation to the English Missouri Synod.)

"The full-course academies [Vollgymnasien] at Winfield, Kans., and at
Conover, N.C., were not purchased by us but were given, or rather
turned over, to us, with the prospect of only relatively small outlays on
our part over several years. So far the funds granted by the late Mr. J.
P. Baden have sufficed to maintain Winfield College for the most part,
and we further gratefully acknowledge the German Synod's help
hitherto for Conover.

"At its last session, however, our Synod found itself facing the
question of whether it should bear the entire support of Winfield — some
$4,000.00 annually. This important matter was weighed from every
side, and trusting in God our Synod resolved not to let either
institution fall or close. However, in view of the considerable added
expense, it was further resolved to turn to the German mother synod for
help in supporting both institutions.

"We would now like, with all due respect, to draw particular attention
to the following points.

"1. We again emphasize that we received these institutions [as gifts],
and that they have been maintained for us in a way that plainly shows
God's providence.

"2. The institutions have also so far done the Lord's work. They send
their graduates to the St. Louis Seminary, and these are for the most
part young men who, humanly speaking, would otherwise have been lost
to the holy preaching office. Nine such men who attended our
institutions are now in office; five entered [the seminary] in St. Louis
last fall; three are among this year's candidates. This shows that our
students are able to follow the German lectures; indeed, by far the
majority are able to preach in German — two of them have even
accepted calls to German congregations.

"3. At Winfield we have had, in recent years, a hundred students or
more. Of these, only the fewest are from purely English-Lutheran
circles. Far more numerous is the interest shown by German-Lutheran
congregations — both those preparing [young men] for the holy
preaching office