# The Lutheran Pioneer_St. Louis_1929_S142 # Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration) THE LUTHERAN PIONEER. 141 buildings have been erected in the past five years, and the large attendance at school and growing con- gregation loudly call for more room. Christian Chinese Officials. — The new Chinese government consists of ten ministers of state, and five of these are professing Christians. The five Christian officials occupy the most important posi- tions. Dr. Wang is minister of foreign affairs; Dr. Kung is the minister of industry and commerce ; Dr. Wong is the minister of justice; General Feng heads the department of war; and Mr. Soong is the minister of finance. May these high officials prove faithful Christians! A Good Way to Begin Married Life. — A young Christian dyer of silk thread, a Chinese, married the granddaughter of an elder-of the Chefoo church. On the evening of the wedding-day the little bride, no more than seventeen years old, sent for the mis- sionary to come to her house and establish a family altar. Surely an excellent way to begin family life. Japan.—Japan now has a self-supporting native Lutheran congregation at Kurume; Rev. Kishi, pastor. The congregation was founded by Pastor J. M. T. Winther, a missionary of the United Danish Church in Japan. It is not unreasonable to expect that other native J apanese Lutheran churches will follow the example set by their brethren at Kurume. — Japan now has twenty-two ordained native Lu- theran pastors. Of this number five were only recently ordained. Sixteen young men are at present preparing for the Lutheran ministry at the theologi- eal Seminary in Tokyo. Faith in the Power of Prayer. — A little school- girl in Japan who heard her teacher praying for a boy’s sick brother showed her own faith in the power of prayer by saying, “Why do you only pray for Jiro? JI have two sick uncles in Tokyo; why don’t you pray for them?” Needless to say, the uncles were included. A Successful Mission Enterprise.—Nearly a thou- sand lepers have been received in the Chiengmai, Siam, leper asylum during the nineteen years of its existence. The gates of the institution are open at all times, and no pressure is exerted upon the patients to remain; but only one or two have ever left of their own accord. Practically all have become Christians. Increase in Korea. — Korea is largely occupied by missionary forces of the Presbyterian Church. Last year intensive evangelistic efforts were carried on by a group of native workers, with the result that ten churches were established in non-Christian vil- Jages during the year. Hospital Evangelism.—There are great possibili- ties in the work of the institutional missionary. A missionary visited a patient in a hospital; by God’s grace the man was converted and later bap- tized. Since his conversion the man has brought all of his family, all of his father’s family, and two neighboring families into the Church. Six other families have also been added to the Church as a result of this man’s efforts. A Welsh Missionary Honored. — The British Government gave Dr. H. Gordon Roberts, medical missionary to India, $40,000 in recognition of his valuable services in war times. He gave the whole sum to his hospital, which Lord Reading declares to be “the most efficient and best-equipped in India.” A Word on Stewardship. — Says Fritz Kreisler, the noted violinist: “I was born with music in my system. I knew musical scores before I knew my a-b-c’s. It was a gift of Providence. I did not aquire it. So I do not even deserve thanks. Music is too sacred to be sold. And the outrageous prices the musical celebrities charge to-day truly are a crime against society. I never look upon money I earn as my own. It is public money. It is only a fund entrusted to my care for proper disburse- ment. I am constantly endeavoring to reduce my needs to the minimum. I feel morally guilty in ordering a costly meal, for it deprives some one else of a slice of bread, some child, perhaps, of a bottle of milk. In all these years of my so-called success in music we have not built a home for ourselves. Between it and us stand all the homeless in the world.” : Through a Tunnel. — A traveler tells of passing from a Switzerland winter, through the tunnel under the Alps, into an Italian spring with its flowers and soft sunshine. To the faith of a Chris- tian like Paul, death is no more than the passing through a tunnel, a short moment of darkness, then the brightness of Jesus’ face. May we help to make the death of many just that: a departure from this life to be forever with Christ! May This be Applied to You ?— “He who knows, cares; he who cares, shares; he who shares, dares.” F.J.L. An Episode and Its Lessons. The furnaceman assumes a new role in the episode narrated by the Living Church: — “The furnaceman in a Chicago church house- hold, a Negro, emptying the family’s waste basket