# Synodical Conference Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1879_S35
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

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received, giving the reasons why it had called Missionary Döscher, as well as a letter from Missionary Döscher, giving the reasons why he believed he must accept the call. The latter concluded with the words: 'If the Honorable Commission holds these reasons (at least in part) to be valid, I hereby request an honorable discharge from the mission service of the Synodical Conference [*Synodalconferenz*].' The Commission, however, could not be convinced by the reasons given and therefore refused its consent to the acceptance of the call. Missionary Döscher's next answer was the notification that he had accepted the call of the St. John's congregation, but now no longer requested discharge from the service of the mission, and would serve the new Negro congregation in New Orleans as a filial, and in general do everything, so far as it lay in his power, that the call of the Commission obliged him to do, except that he would make no mission journeys. For this work among the Negroes he asked no salary. Since your Commission now felt compelled to express to Missionary Döscher its disapproval of his procedure, and explained to him that in its opinion his work as Negro missionary alongside his pastorate could not possibly be sufficient, since the mission in any case needed all the strength of one man, and we would therefore try to win another missionary for New Orleans as soon as possible, and since we finally refused to have him introduced in our commission to his new Negro congregation, a very unpleasant dispute arose from it. The newly founded Negro congregation continues, as before, to be served by Pastor Döscher, alongside his other charge, as his own congregation, and no obstacles of any kind are put in his way in this; he would feel greatly offended if one wanted to attempt to take "his Negro congregation" from him. At the school of the same the colored teacher Mr. Polk is working. Miss Döscher no longer keeps school. A colored lady who was confirmed by Pastor Döscher and was to be her successor had to give up school-keeping again after a short time because of a lung ailment. Our attempts to win a new missionary for New Orleans have unfortunately remained without success so far. A certain Pastor Schmitt, who applied to us for mission service and whom we examined in respect of doctrine and preaching, proved to be a fanatical, confused person, quite useless.

"Our young mission in Little Rock, Ark., developed much more gratifyingly. The church building already held out in prospect in the previous report has been happily completed; the little congregation grows, if only slowly; church attendance is fairly good, school attendance very good. Our mission school in Little Rock has a very good reputation and is already beginning to show splendid fruits, in that here too the holy Gospel proves itself a power of God. Since the work in the school became too much for Pastor Berg, the student Mr. Fr. König of Concordia