# LCMS Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1932_S110
# Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

midst. May God grant us, the members of the Missouri §
Holy Spirit, to realize our solemn responsibilities!

Tue Boarp or Foretcan Missions.
W. Arnpr, Recording Secretary.

of Foreign Missions with its director, to Prof. M. S. Sommer and the
Rev. H. M. Zorn, who last year, as our representatives, visited the
Indian field 3 to all individuals and Societies, friends of missions, that
took special interest in our Foreign Mission, imploring them to con-
tinue in love for their Savior.

3. We recommend that Synod transmit, through its director of
Foreign Missions, encouraging greetings to all fellow-workers in

India and China, wishing them God’s grace and blessing in their ar-
duous work.

Ev. Luth. Synod of Missouri, Ohio, and Other States. 1932. 147

4. We recommend that Professor Sommer be given an opportunity
to address the convention on his recent mission-visit to India.

5. Whereas the primary purpose, in our opinion, is not to offer
promiscuous educational facilities to the heathen, we recommend that

‘in our higher educational endeavors in the foreign fields we concen-

trate on the training of native church-workers.

6. Due to the distressing situation that men who have been called
last year cannot be sent out and maintained and missionaries on fur-
lough will not be able to return to their respective fields unless funds
are made available, we recommend that Synod request the Board of
Directors to allow the Board for Foreign Missions sufficient sums to
maintain the present work as outlined by the Board in its report,
page 117, paragraph 3.

7. We recommend that the words “who live in St. Louis” and “two
members of the theological faculty” be stricken from the rules and
regulations in the Synodical Handbook governing the Board for
Foreign Missions.

8. We recommend that, if possible, a former well-tried, well-quali-
fied missionary of each field (India and China) be elected to member-
ship of the Board for Foreign Missions.

9. We recommend that Synod request the Board for Foreign
Missions to appoint executive committees from its own midst for the
missions in India and China; the Board to draft the necessary regu-
lations for these so constituted committees.

Action.
Synod adopted these recommendations.

The Term Question in Our China Missions.
(Memorial 313.) *

The Pastoral Conference of Greater Boston and Vicinity has
considered at length the action of the last Delegate Synod in sanc-
tioning the use of the Chinese idol name Shang-Di as a name for
the true God. (Cf. 1929 Bericht, p. 195; Proceedings, p. 196.) We
believe that this action was taken without sufficient consideration
of the question at issue ; and we respectfully ask that steps be taken
to insure a proper and thoroughgoing study of all the facts concerned,
the theological question as to whether the proper name of an idol
can be used as the proper name of the true God being decided by
the Word of God alone and the linguistic question as to the force
of the term Shang-Di or of other terms used for God being referred
to the missionaries, who have studied these questions for decision
on the basis of Chinese linguistic usage.

Wa ter A. Reunina, Secretary.