# Synodical Conference Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1950_S90
# Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

90 Proceedings of the Forty-First Convention,

a cost of $2,500. An addressograph machine was added to the office
for speedy mailing. A power lawn mower has been purchased to
keep the physical appearance of the plant. A motion picture
machine was recently purchased by the congregation.

But with all of this we have our needs to further the work.
We look forward to the purchasing of a slide machine for our
Sunday school. We believe that it will be a step toward enlarging
our Sunday school. We also see the need of a parish school. The
congregation has a school fund of some $1,600 against that day,
and week by week the fund is growing.

Our people give sacrificially toward the support of their church.
The budget of the congregation for the present fiscal year is $5,000.
We owe all of our blessings to God’s grace alone.

THE SOUTHEASTERN DISTRICT (Wisconsin Synod)

The Southeastern District of the Wisconsin Synod has been
striving to establish a Negro mission congregation in Milwaukee,
Wis. Extensive surveys were conducted, and efforts were made to
obtain a proper meeting place, however, it was not possible up
to this time to find a suitable location. Pastor G. Groerich, who
canvassed the Negro territory in Milwaukee under the direction
of the District Mission Board, wrote in his report: “In my survey
I found church conditions among the colored at lowest ebb; dilapi-
dated store-front churches, sometimes three and four in one block.
If possible, we should establish a mission in the 6th Ward area,
north of Walnut St., and go to work with ‘a prayer in our hearts
and a song on our lips.’ ”

We feel confident that a Negro mission in Milwaukee will
flourish as soon as a place for worship can be found. The Board
is endeavoring to work out this problem in some manner and to
establish a mission as soon as possible.

LUTHERAN CO-OPERATIVE SCHOOL, MEMPHIS, TENN.
By the Rev. Victor Brugge

The Lutheran Co-operative School which the Synodical Con-
ference sponsored in 1945 wishes to make the following report.

Under direction and supervision of the Missionary Board of the
Synodical Conference a board of pastors and laymen from Memphis
act as a subsidiary board to assist and control the activities of the
Lutheran Co-operative School.

The school has a white woman (the original founder of the
school), Mrs. Nero Smith, as principal, and five full-time colored
teachers and one part-time teacher. Rev. Vernon Koeper, super-
intendent, teaches all classes in Catechism and Bible History. The
enrollment has averaged 240 for the school year.

The Rev. Vernon Koeper also opens the school each morning
with a chapel service of prayer, song, and meditation.

The health of the school has been excellent during the past
year—and there was only one case of discipline, properly and
well handled by the principal and the superintendent. ,

There is still an indebtedness upon the school. The Wisconsin
Synod responded to the memorial of Milwaukee (1948) to the
amount of $4,483.11.