# Synodical Conference Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1924_S41
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

of the Ev. Luth. Synodical Conference of North America. 1924. 41

sacraments, administered in accordance with Christ's institution, have borne fruit, for which every Christian ought to rejoice from the heart and thank God. As regards the inner growth of the congregation, it can be said that, as far as men can see, it has advanced in knowledge, in faith and trust in God, and in conduct. To be sure, there were also some in the congregation who went backward instead of forward; but after they had been under church discipline for a longer time, they too improved; only one person did we have to excommunicate. Attendance at the services and the use of the Holy Supper is not what it ought to be; but even in this respect a slight advance can be recorded. Our people, namely, often live with non-Lutheran relatives and among people of other faiths or of no church. This, along with much else, often hinders our people, many of whom are still very weak in faith, from doing precisely what would bring them the greatest blessing. That our people have nevertheless made progress, by and large, in knowledge, in faith and trust in God, and in conduct, can often be seen on house visits when one talks with them about spiritual things. In many homes of our members family devotions are now held. Some people who had no Bible and no prayer book ordered these books from the pastor, after he had preached on the great blessing of regular family devotions and had talked with them about it in their homes. — The outward growth is satisfactory too. Although in the past two years we lost eighteen through death, our congregation has nevertheless grown by 41 souls and 21 confirmed members. At present the pastor has six adult persons in confirmation instruction, who are to be received as members of this congregation before the end of this year. Things go quite well in the school too. About 150 pupils were taught last year by our three teachers." Teacher Wm. Seeberry has the upper grades, Teacher A. Berger the middle grades, and Miss S. Raymond the little ones. For Teacher Seeberry's class, which had to vacate its former room in Luther College, the commission last fall bought a portable school building (35×25×12 feet), which cost $1,739 in all. This is our first experiment with a building of this kind.

4. Trinity, New Orleans. (Founded 1913.) This is a daughter of the St. Paul's congregation and is served by P. Wildgrube.* He writes: "This small congregation can record only a slight growth in numbers. At the end of June 1922 it had 49 souls and 40 communicant members. We lost only one member, and that through death. Today the congregation has 53 souls and 42 communicants. Thirteen of these communicants partake of the Holy Supper as often as ten times a year and go to church every Sunday, however bad the weather. Almost all of them put a quarter into the collection. The others, who very seldom come to the service and to the Lord's Table, sometimes get to hear sermons in their homes. It is very hard to bring them to church, because their relatives care nothing about whether they go to church or not. These are for the most part young people. — Since the beginning of the past school year the school, which Teacher A. D. Johnson conducts, has made fine progress. The number of pupils has almost doubled, and almost half of the children who attended the weekday school appeared in the Sunday school."