# LCMS Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1938_S108 # Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration) 108 Elementary Education millions of American men, women, and children have no church affiliations. The decrease in enrolment, which has been felt keenly by most denominations, is reflected also in our statistics. A bird’s- eye view of the situation is presented in the following table: Sunday-School Statistics Gains Gains and and Child Year Schools Losses Pupils Losses Baptisms Marriages 1930 2,849 145 210,988 9,808 — 186 1,241 1931 3,041 192 223,024 12,036 —36 —828 1932 3,107 66 233,279 10,255 —1,923 — 1,297 1933, 3,240 133 244,133 10,854 516 1,405 1934 3,346 106 252,487 8,354 1,552 2,010 1935 3,345 —1 251,295 — 1,192 298 1,094 1936 3,415 70 249,229 — 2,066 1,220 1,101 After an average annual gain of 10,000 pupils over a period of years we experienced a sharp decrease, landing us in the minus column. If all the factors which play into these figures could be considered, there would probably not be much cause for alarm. We shall mention several of these factors. One is the annual question- naire from which the tables for the Statistical Year-book are com~ piled. Changes have been made in these questionnaires from time to time; pastors are becoming more exact in crediting pupils to the proper columns, and the losses may represent, in part, a redistri- bution. Again, some Sunday-schools are periodically purging their enrolment records. A glance at the figures in the Statistical Year- books which record the increase in the number of souls in Synod will indicate the chief reason why there are fewer children in Sun- day-school. Certainly the depression plays into our figures, for it reduced the number of marriages appreciably. Since 1933 there has been an increase in the number of marriages and also in the number of births. We feel justified in affirming that our Sunday- school has held its own, that is to say, our pupils are not drifting away from the Sunday-school into an unchurched existence. That the birth-rate is not sufficiently large to ensure what should be regarded as the normal growth of the Sunday-school is a statement which will hardly be challenged. Losses in Sunday-school enrol- ment in the United States during the past few years have been computed at several millions, and it is said that there are about 17 million boys and girls between the ages of four and eighteen who are not attending any Sunday-school. The total number of un- reached children and young people is said to be in excess of 25 mil- lion. What a vast field for evangelism awaits the active and aggres- sive Church! The Board of Education deems the adolescent problem of suf-