# LCMS Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1902_S106
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

106 Proceedings of the 25th General, or

other church bodies go after the deaf-mute. But our Missouri Synod does
not. Yet Christ has also given the Missouri Synod the command: "Preach
the Gospel to every creature." But none from the Missouri Synod preaches
to us deaf-mute people, who are Lutheran and want to remain so. Why
not? We would so much like it.' — Soon after receiving this letter,
Pastor Reinke happened to meet several of his deaf-mute members on the
occasion of an infant baptism. In the course of this he learned that
they regularly attended the services of a Methodist preacher, who
preached to them in sign language. This was news to him, and it
troubled him as a faithful pastor. When he warned them against this
false prophet, they replied to him: 'Where are we to go, since that
Methodist is the only one in Chicago who preaches to us in a way we can
understand?' — This was too plain a call from his God into this work for
him to ignore. Trusting in God, he said to those present: 'Come in two
weeks to Bethlehem Church, and I will preach to you in sign language.'
And he, the busy pastor, sat down, wrote out a quite simple sermon, and
repeatedly had a deaf-mute person come to teach him the signs needed for
it. When the fourteenth day came, he stood before his deaf-mute hearers
and proclaimed the Gospel to them in sign language. He asked them
repeatedly, in signs: 'Have you understood me?' and with joyful faces
the mute nodded their 'Yes' to him. After the sermon, tears of joy ran
down the cheeks of the preacher and his "hearers," and joyfully he gave
the pleading deaf-mute people his promise to continue with such
services. He now preached to them regularly. Soon requests came from
deaf-mute people, or their friends, in other cities, asking him to
preach to them as well. He fulfilled these requests too, and traveled to
Fort Wayne, Cincinnati, Louisville, Milwaukee, and other cities.
Wherever he went, he preached not only to the deaf-mute but also sought
to warm the hearts of hearing Christians toward the poor, spiritually
abandoned deaf-mute. Thus he alone carried on the mission to the
deaf-mute in our Synod until the year 1896. Then he came before the
General Synod with the request that it take over the mission to the
deaf-mute, which now exceeded his strength and from which it was
plainly evident that "a great mission work remains to be done among
these poor, abandoned people." The Synod took it over. It elected a
commission and made Pastor Reinke its chairman. That was the beginning
of our mission to the deaf-mute, which plainly proves that here, too, we
were not "self-sent," but were "called" into this work as well.

"Three years ago Pastor Reinke himself still reported on this young
mission plant, which had already 'borne such lovely fruit,' and asked
the Synod that it 'take it into heartfelt and loving care' — that is,
'support it vigorously in the future.' A few months later