# The Lutheran Pioneer_St. Louis_1926_S57 # Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration) 56 THE LUTHERAN PIONEER. has no use for so-called “Modernism” and “Liber- alism”; what he needs is the Gospel as we have it. Shall the great Church of Paul and Luther refuse to give the Negroes of North and South, of East and West what alone can supply their spiritual needs? Salisbury, N. C. Carrincton R. Maron. Our Negro Mission in Cincinnati. In his report to the Federation of Lutheran Churches in Cincinnati our Missionary, Rev. George A. Kase, says: I shall submit to you the following statistics and add what I think must-be done in order that, so far as it is humanly possible, a greater growth may be realized. Every Sunday we held Sunday-school and divine services. Once each week, except for six weeks this summer, Bible class was conducted. The Sunday-school at the close of the year shows an enrolment of 47, with an average attendance for the last quarter of 29. The average attendance at our Sunday services is 20 and at Bible class 16. We baptized four children and one adult, confirmed.eight adults, celebrated Holy Com- munion twice, at which 16 communed. We had no marriages nor funerals. We made 231 calls on members and at the homes of prospects. The. little flock, using the envelope system, contributed in all $544.57 to the cause. Of this $60 was paid toward the missionary’s salary, $78.25 towards our Federa- tion’s budget and building fund, and $358.39 for running expenses, closing the year with a balance in the treasury of $56.93. We must call this a laudable showing consider- ing the poverty of these: people. This means an average contribution of almost $50 per communicant member. Some members of our Federation prob- ably think that we ought to grow in numbers more rapidly. ‘That may be. All our congregations ought to grow in numbers if we consider the many churchless people in our immediate neighborhoods. _ But why do we not grow as we ought? It is a mat- ter that should prompt us all to serious thinking. I believe I can say that I have faithfully tried to increase our attendance in all departments of Em- manuel Church, but possibly more could have been done. Every family given me.as prospects has re- ceived letters of invitation to come to our meetings, to send their children to our Sunday- and Saturday- school and to come to our Bible class meetings. Most of these have been visited by me, and nearly |~ all have promised either to come themselves or send their children. -But you cannot depend on their promises. I have sent various committees to see these people; the results were practically the same. Promises are readily given, but seldom kept. While we truly believe that we shall grow in number of adults taken in as time goes and eventually become a fair-sized congregation, I am, on the other hand, convinced that we shall have little success with the children unless we start our parochial school. I am, therefore, glad to report that our Board of Trustees has again sent in a petition for a teacher; and let us all pray the Lord of the Harvest to grant us our request. At the present time I. am ingteucting seven adults for confirmation. ‘This class may be in- creased by two, who are regular attendants, but do not as yet know whether they will join the church or not. Since the Lenten season began, we are having our regular Lenten services every Thursday evening. It certainly is inspiring to me to hear these people sing our beautiful Lenten hymns. And how they appreciate these services in which the suffering and death of our dear Lord Christ is so simply set before them! I have been asked whether our white people could attend any of these services. That depends on them. The colored people always delight to see them, and so do I. Come at any time. You are welcome. News from St. Louis. Hardly had we gotten over the good news that a large lot had been bought for our new church on St. Ferdinand and Goode Aves. when the Board for Colored Missions purchased a large building for us at 1721 Wash St. sold its property on 15th and Morgan Sts., it was necessary for our Colored Mission to vacate the old Immanuel School, which will be wrecked in the near future. In looking for suitable quarters, we found no place more suitable for our purposes than the one referred to. We moved from the.old to the new quarters during the last week of February. That must be the twelfth time the local Colored Mission has moved during its existence. The property at 1721 Wash St. has been bought, but that doesn’t mean that it is paid for. There’s a dif- ference between buying a thing and paying for it. We trust that some way will be found to pay for our new quarters later. Besides. two: schoolrooms, one on the first and the other on the second floor, each with a seating capacity of fifty children, there Since Immanuel Congregation | 22s) 21) SET ER BE OPT TTT ENE!