# LCMS Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1926_S173
# Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

Ev. Luth. Synod of Missouri, Ohio, and Other States. 1926, 173

Sound home-training, supplemented by a Christian day-school and
pastoral attention to the young people after their confirmation, will
even in the absence of any organized effort keep our people faithful
to the Church and active in the Lord’s work. But it cannot be denied
that the program of the Walther League and the personal influence
of its officers. have been a powerful incentive to foster that spirit and
to encourage those activities which our pastors and teachers have
ever been urging upon our young people. We have throughout our
congregations many earnest young people. The work ‘of Gospel-
preaching and Christian instruction has not been in vain.

If our report could stop here, no one would be better pleased
than the Board for Young People’s Work. While it is- true, on the’
one hand, that our young Christians have progressed in their testi-
mony of the Lutheran faith and in sacrifices for the kingdom of God,
it is also true, on the other hand, that worldly-mindedness, the love
of pleasure, and even looseness of morals have become shockingly
apparent among our young people within recent years. If the modern
age has produced a crop of young people who are irresponsible, selfish,
pleasure-mad, and money-crazed, we have our share of them. It seems
to the Board that conditions are so alarming that the work among
our young people cannot be overemphasized. The literature read by
many of our boys and girls is filled with ideas and suggestions of all
that is vile and vicious and brutish. The modern dance is indulged
in in some of our homes. The modern theater is regularly visited.
When the speech and conduct of Christian young people begins to
reflect the habit and thought acquired at such places, it is time that
we consider means for effectively opposing these evils.

In viewing conditions as they have developed and are beginning
to multiply, the Board for Young People’s Work has been careful to
distinguish between that which is common to our imperfect Christian
life in all ages and that which is peculiar to our own day. There has
never been a time when Christian young people were perfect. There
have ever been lapses, offenses, and even scandals. But to rejoice in
the progress made and not ‘point out the dark side of the picture
would hardly be serving the cause of the young people and of Synod.

We believe congregations would do well to make the interests of
the young people their own, to do all in their power to provide suit-
able meeting-places, and in every way to encourage them in their
work for the Church and their entertainment. Money thus spent is
a good investment. We believe Bible study, supplemented by pastoral
‘admonition, and the solicitous care for the individual young Chris-
tian are a God-given means which we have for the building up of the
young Christian. Wherever these means are supported by a truly
Christian home life, there is every reason why a youth strong in every
Christian virtue should continue to grace our congregations. Where