# LCMS Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1938_S126
# Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

126 Young People’s Work

We believe it does. It replaces unreliable estimates with more
definite information to show how many of our younger members
are engaged in the pursuit of higher secular education; it indicates
the schools toward which the youth of our Church is tending to
concentrate; and it continues to disclose the names of students
whose presence on the campus had remained entirely unknown to
our Church. During the last year, pastors in whose community
away-from-home students had been reported to us were circu-
larized to ascertain whether the census yielded tangible results
beyond mere statistics. The replies were not complete. But if the
same ratio as obtained among the men who did answer holds good
for those who neglected to reply, then a total of 580 Lutheran
students of whose presence on the campus our Church was not
aware were discovered through the student census. Without in-
tending to claim that these 580 students would have been lost to
our Church except for the census, we believe nevertheless that
their “discovery” through the census should be admitted as evidence
that the painful process of filling out, sorting, and tabulating the
cards has its distinct value.

In closing this part of our report two observations should be
made. 1) The response to the last student census was 77 per cent.,
a decided improvement over former years. 2) To the question
addressed to university pastors: “Is it your experience that parents
generally announce their students to you?” the answer was “No” in
74 per cent. of the replies received. Here evidently is a decided
weakness in our Student Welfare Work, even though we concede
that the Church should not wait to serve students until their
existence is officially brought to her attention via the parents.

We respectfully suggest to Synod

A) To encourage all pastors to cooperate promptly in taking.

the annual student census;

B) To request particularly the parents to report without delay
the presence of their sons and daughters at any non-synodical in-
stitution of higher learning to the respective university pastor;

C) To urge that in the selection of institutions of higher learn-
ing all possible preference be given to Valparaiso University and
to such colleges and universities where our Church is able to offer
regular services through one of our pastors.

2. University Pastors’ Conference

We have in our Synod today approximately thirty pastors who
are engaged entirely in Student Welfare Work or who are able to
give this department of church activity more than passing attention.
These brethren form the University Pastors’ Conference. Their
names may be found on page 107 of the 1938 Lutheran Annual.