# LCMS Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1944_S390
# Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

. build the seminary and make it. financially possible for as ma

8390 : Miscellaneous Matters

8) We, as Lutherans and children of the Reformation, b
lieve we have a special postwar obligation to fulfill not only :
- Europe at large, but especially in the 1
The Land of the which gave birth to the Reformation.
Reformation — Conflicting reports as to the status of the
a Christian Church in Germany forbid an’
accurate portrayal] of the situation. There are, however, a numb
of facts which seem to be generally accepted. Even though -
a) the Church has been persecuted, :
b) youth has to a large degree been weaned away fro’
the Church,
c) Christian education has been reduced to the minimum :
d) the great majority of civilian pastors have been drafted 4
into the army, By
e) practically all seminaries have been closed,
f) large numbers of church buildings and Christian i
stitutions have been bombed out of. existence,
- §) church life has been generally disrupted,
there nevertheless exists in Germany today a stronger nucleus: of
Christianity than in many of the preceding decades. ~

Especially unto Them Who Are of the Household

: . . of Faith

Our primary concern begins, of course, with our brethren :

of the Freikirche. We have heard that the Zehlendorf seminary

in Berlin has been bombed out. Three of Pastor Wilikomm’

sons were killed in action. Two of these were pastors in
Freikirche. Even before the United States ext

Free Church tered the war the printing of literature by the;

Freikirche was restricted. We shall have to re

qualified students as possible to enter the seminary. To buil
up a native German ministry must be a first objective. Wé sha