# Synodical Conference Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1877_S45
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

— 45 —

an ever more hostile attitude toward us, so that we cannot, for conscience's sake, support them any longer in their work.

The main question for the Conference now was: How do we begin this work? Among which people do we want to begin first? On this it was said that the Negroes of the South should probably be considered first. A suitable, experienced preacher who has complete command of the English language could be chosen for this, who would first travel through the whole South. He would then have to report to a mission director [*Miſſionsdirector*] to be appointed, and only then would one look for the suitable point from which to begin the mission in all directions, found little congregations from there, and gradually staff them here and there with presbyters (κατὰ πόλιν, as the apostle says, that is, city by city, from town to town, from place to place). One could put perhaps two assistants at the mission director's side. He himself would be permitted no other office, since there would be plenty of work for him, such as undertaking journeys to the stations and convincing himself personally of the state of affairs, editing a little mission paper, etc. Reference was made to the German missions, which have almost all begun with a mission institute. On the other hand it was held that this matter must first be allowed to grow up gradually toward the above goal. Therefore a committee report on this matter was finally adopted unanimously in the following form and raised to a resolution:

Committee Report on Heathen Mission

The committee, which was charged to present a plan according to which the heathen mission aimed at by the venerable Synodical Conference [*Synodalconferenz*] could be begun and carried on, for the present among the heathen, or at any rate religiously neglected and abandoned, Negroes of this country, reports respectfully as follows:

"I. This venerable body appoints for the present a mission board of 3 members, in whose hands the whole direction of the Heathen Mission shall lie. It has authority, in the name of the Synodical Conference, to call missionaries, as also to instruct and supervise them with regard to their work, and, if it becomes convinced of the unfitness or unworthiness of a called missionary, to dismiss him. The appointed missionaries and their helpers are subject to the orders of this board; but it itself is responsible to the Synodical Conference, and at each session of the said body it is not only to present a written report of its activity but also to obtain further instructions. It elects from its own midst a chairman, secretary and treasurer, and has the right, in case one of its members withdraws in the interim, to fill the vacancy itself. The Mission Board determines the