# Synodical Conference Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1886_S73
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

of the Ev. Luth. Synodical Conference of North America. 1886. 73

the Negroes living there are already members of the Baptist church, whose
children, even when they attend the weekday school, nevertheless go on Sundays to their
Baptist school. This circumstance was unknown at the beginning of this mission,
but was already communicated to the Reverend Conference at its last session. Another
drawback was that Missionary Bühler lived 5 miles from the mission station,
by which more lively contact with the Negroes was considerably hindered and curtailed.
The seminarian now working there naturally lives in Meherrin itself, in the midst
of the Negroes. — The question whether to give up this mission station or
to continue it has had to occupy the Commission repeatedly in these two years,
since Missionary Bühler informed it in writing that he had
lost his joyfulness for it and longed to return to the pastoral office,
and since the expense for it, given the state of our treasury, weighed all the more heavily
because the money used here could be used equally necessarily, if not better, on a far more hopeful field.
To be on the safe side, it asked in November 1884 Pastor Hugo Hanser, since blessedly
departed, and in March of this year Pastor Oehlschläger
to undertake an exact inspection of this mission field and to
report. Both report in agreement as to the faithful and
self-denying work of Missionary Bühler and the slight hope
for a successful mission, but did not dare to recommend the immediate abandoning of
the work, since some souls have already been won, and
others at least wish to have a missionary and a school from
us among them. — So it is now for the Reverend Synodical Conference
to decide finally on this.

II. Little Rock, Ark.

This is our first and oldest mission station among the Negroes.
At Easter 1878 Missionary Berg began his work here, founded
the first Lutheran Negro congregation and built the first Lutheran Negro
church. The beginning of the mission work here was very promising.
Already in the first year the school numbered well over 100 children and made
the calling of a teacher necessary; in the second year the number rose
to 190 and one already had to think of the calling of a second teacher.
The services were very well attended. The congregation of the Missouri Synod there
with its pastor Obermeyer supported the work most
vigorously. The hope of a richly blessed activity was great.
Unfortunately it was not fulfilled. Frequent change of missionaries and
longer vacancies did great harm to the work begun so promisingly.
Already in the late autumn of 1881 Missionary Berg followed a call
to a German congregation. After a vacancy of eight months,
Candidate Meiländer did indeed enter the mission work, but was already after