# The Lutheran Pioneer_St. Louis_1931_S53
# Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

52

THE LUTHERAN PIONEER

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Christopher Frederick John Drewes.

Our late Director of Colored Missions died after
an illness of only six days in St. Louis, the victim
of influenza and pneumonia. All too early he passed
from among us; but there was, after all, a certain
completeness about the active career of his life.
His faith was tested by the frailness of his body and
the resultant restriction of his movements and his

Rev. C. F. Drewes,

Field Secretary of the Colored Missions of the
Ev. Luth. Synodical Conference of North America
and Editor of the “Missionstaube.”

Died March 3, 1931.

energy; but so nobly did he meet the test that he
left to us who knew him a worthy example of cheer-
ful, Christian fortitude. Always there was the
greater concern for others, always courage to do
when duty called, always the serenity of the trust-
ing child of God.

Christopher Frederick Drewes was born at Wol-
cotisville, Niagara Co., N. Y., on January 12, 1870,

and baptized when only eleven days old, on the third .

' Sunday after Epiphany, in St. Michael’s Church of
Wolcottsville. In due time he attended St. Michael’s
parochial school and, for a brief period, the public

.at Hannibal, Mo.

school. On Pentecost Sunday, May 13, 1883, he
was confirmed by Pastor Chr. Hochstetter.

In October of the year in which he was con-
firmed he entered Concordia College, Fort Wayne,
Ind., to prepare himself for the holy ministry.
After completing the six years’ course at this in-
stitution, he was graduated in June, 1889. The
next three years he spent at Concordia Seminary,
St. Louis, as a student of theology, graduating from
there June 27, 1892.

: The Pastor.

After his graduation he received a call to
Trinity Congregation, Memphis, Tenn., and was or-
dained and installed there by Rev. G. Theiss, on
Sunday, July 10, 1892, only about a week after his
graduation, since conditions urgently demanded an
early filling of the vacancy in the pastorate at
Memphis. After serving in Memphis for a little
more than two years, Pastor Drewes was strongly
urged to accept the pastorate of St. John’s Church
Though he was very hesitant
about leaving Memphis so soon, as his work there
had been very successful, he was finally persuaded
that it was his duty to follow the advice of wise
counselors and accept the difficult position at Han-
nibal, where he was installed by Rev. H. Dahlke,
November 11, 1894. Only three years after his
coming to Hannibal, he was granted the privilege
of dedicating a new house of worship. In this pas-
torate our departed brother spent eleven toilsome
and strenuous, but also blessed and gratifying years.
The work and difficulties he encountered here were
well fitted to ripen and strengthen his character and
deepen his spiritual knowledge, and the experience
was not in vain. In the fall of 1905 he was called
to Bethany Church, St. Louis, situated on the cor-
ner of Natural Bridge and Clay Avenues. He was
installed there by Rev. E. H. T. Schuessler, Oc-
tober 22, 1905. ‘This charge he served with his
wonted faithfulness and efficiency till May 1, 1917,
when he accepted the call to become the Executive
Secretary of the Mission Board of the Synodical
Conference.

The Missionary Administrator.

At its convention in August, 1908, held at
Winona, Minn., the Synodical Conference elected
Pastor Drewes a member of the Board of Colored
Missions, and the board elected him its recording
secretary in the following month. Three years later,
September 15, 1911, he was made chairman of the
board and editor of the Missionstaube. He served