# LCMS Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1914_S148
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

148 Proceedings of the 29th General or

General and Regular Participation in the Work of the Synod.

Various Petitions.

Petition of the Ev. Lutheran St. Paul's congregation of Melrose Park,
Ill., to the Reverend Synod of Missouri, Ohio, and Other States.*)

Reverend fathers and brothers in Christ!

Our Synod is an association of congregations. All the congregations of
the Synod, and every individual member of those congregations, have not
only the glorious right to enjoy the blessings and benefits of the
Synod, but also the obligation to help bear its burdens and loads. Now
it is plain that great inequality in giving exists between the
congregations within the districts, and between the individual districts
themselves, and that a large portion of the congregations and members
who enjoy the benefits and blessings of the Synod do not help carry its
burdens and loads according to their strength and means. As a result,
the great and glorious work of the Synod suffers, and its principal
treasuries struggle almost constantly with a lack of money. Since this
problem can very easily be remedied through general, regular, and
orderly giving, the undersigned Synodical congregation takes the
liberty of submitting this matter to a Reverend Synod for thorough
deliberation, and of making the following recommendations:

1. That the Synod work to ensure that the work and needs of the Synod
are made sufficiently and adequately known in all congregations that
enjoy its benefits and blessings, and that to this end a printed
budget be presented to every member at each New Year's meeting,
covering both the needs of the General Synod and the needs of the
member's own district;

2. That the Synod ask all congregations to deliberate on this budget
thoroughly and carefully at one of the first meetings of the year, and
to report, through their pastor, to the visitor concerned what result
these deliberations have had;

3. That, if possible, a printed report be distributed in every
congregation no later than the beginning of March, stating how much
the individual congregations in the district contributed, according to
the receipts published in the *Lutheraner*, to the various treasuries
of the Synod and of the Kingdom of God in the previous year;

4. That the Synod recommend to all districts that they establish a
finance committee. The composition of this committee — in which, in
our judgment, the laity should be strongly represented — is left to
each district. This committee could conduct its business in two
meetings, which might be held shortly before the distribution of the
candidates and around the beginning of December.

*) Our North Illinois District addresses the same petition to the
Synod. (See its last report, p. 59.)