# LCMS Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1914_S19
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

14th Delegate Synod of Missouri, Ohio, and Other States, 1914.   19

[Faint show-through of text from the facing page is visible along the left margin; not transcribed.]

deny or conceal it, but must always, as a subject, confirm the Gospel and Holy Scripture, and may recruit fellow believers only under the banner and coat of arms of its Lord. So at this Synod let us confess anew: we form brotherhood, march, and fight only under the banner and coat of arms of our Lord Jesus Christ, and we do this in obedience to God, who watches jealously over his coat of arms and will be present with his grace and truth, and grant success in victory, only where his colors and his coat of arms are worn.

The business of the Delegate Synod naturally includes deliberation over all sorts of church institutions and synodical regulations. We pass resolutions on the external operation of our educational institutions and missions, on our finances, on the powers of our officers, and the like. In such proceedings let us always keep in mind that none of these things belong to the colors and coat of arms of the Church, and that we should therefore not grow heated over them as over some great prize. On such questions one need not be of one opinion, and they are settled in such a way that, after earnest brotherly discussion, the minority yields to the majority — or, if love requires it, the majority yields to the minority — according to the word of the apostle Peter: "All of you be subject to one another, and be clothed with humility!" [1 Peter 5:5] And if it turns out that some arrangement is not serving its purpose or has outlived its usefulness, it should be confidently changed or abolished. Luther says: "Such church ordinances and institutions should not remain forever, but may at any time, for good reason, be discontinued or changed."

But may the Lord our God be with us, as he was with our fathers! May he not forsake us or withdraw his hand from us, so that our hearts incline toward him, that we may walk in all his ways and keep his commandments, statutes, and ordinances, which he commanded our fathers! [cf. 1 Kings 8:57-58]

                                                          F. Pfotenhauer,
                                                          President of the General Synod.

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President's Report.

Regarding the president's report on the past three years and the business of the Synod now in session, I can be brief, since you are sufficiently informed about this through the printed submissions; yet let the following find a place here.

The State of Our Synod.

As for the outward state of the Synod, three years ago our Synod numbered 2,200 pastors and professors, 3,800 congregations and preaching stations, 880,000 souls, 530,000 communicant