LCMS Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 1973, Page 83

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THE CONVENTION ESSAY 83

The Mission Enterprise

To understand the missionary concept practiced dur-
ing the first several decades of synodical history, one
must distinguish between the “innere” (inner) and
“sussere” (foreign) mission concepts. The “innere”
or inner mission concept included primarily the services
to one’s own countrymen and community. In contrast,
“Sussere” or “foreign” missions dealt with foreign
tongues and other races, such as the Chippewa Indians.

That neither the inner or foreign work was pursued
as extensively as it might have been was chiefly due to
the Synod’s limited resources of manpower and money.
There was always a shortage of clergymen because of
the steady stream of German immigrants. For example,
between 1852 and 1854 over 500,000 arrived; between
1847 and 1874, it is estimated that 2,668,000 settled in
America. The peak was reached in 1882 when within
one year more than 250,000 settled in the mid and far
west. This caused the Synod to set up an immigrant
mission at the port of arrival in New York City (1869)
and Baltimore, Md. (1872). In its strenuous efforts to
assist the immigrants, the Synod even stationed a mis-
sionary in Bremen, Germany, in 1882.

From its beginning, the Synod operated with a de-
centralized concept of mission outreach. The primary
responsibility for missions lay with the congregations.
Pastors and people were expected to bring the Gospel
to newly established settlements. We might call this
the “leap frog” mission method. The mother congrega-
tion, observing new settlements in neighboring terri-
tories, sometimes a hundred or more miles away, called
an assistant pastor to make exploratory trips and to
organize new congregations. When the new settlement
became strong enough to support its own ministry and
school, it called its own staff and assumed responsibility
for additional settlements.

It soon became apparent, however, that an organized
plan and overall strategy were required. Thus, the Dis-
tricts (1870s) and synodical (1878) mission boards were
established in order to meet the constantly growing
needs and to provide coordination in allocating available
men and funds.

The “Macedonian calls’ came from everywhere:
Mobile, Houston, Memphis, Iowa City, Keokuk, San
Francisco, and from many points in between, as well as
from the huge Canadian west.

Permit just one illustration. Towards the end of
1859 a pleading letter was received from California
which stated in part:

Dear sirs over yonder: There are many Lutheran people
here, at least in name; but they see nothing here but
united churches. Dear sirs, if the Word applies also to
you: go into the world, preach, and baptize, you ought
to send a man into California. Work, and have no doubts
concerning his maintenance. Our God is rich enough .. .
[Der Lutheraner, XVI (13 December 1859), p. 70, trans-
lated in CHIQ, IV (April 1931), 25—26]

J. M. Buehler soon was sent to San Francisco.
To illustrate the limited financial resources available,

we need only to look at the commissioning of John
Hilgendorf of Omaha, Nebr. In 1872 he was asked to

explore the Colorado Territory, 500 miles distant, and
given a check of $50 for expenses. President Buenger
wrote him: “This sum, of course, will not suffice, but
a missionary knows how to help himself.” No personal
sacrifices were too great, no distances impossible, no
financial allowance too small. The workers were will-
ing to dare and to give their all to Christ and His Gospel.

Chippewa Indians

The first “foreign” mission which enlisted the sup-
port of the Synod centered on the Chippewa Indians in
Michigan. Wilhelm Loehe had established this work
in 1845, and 3 years later transferred the operation to
the Synod (Missouri Synod Proceedings, 1848, p. 17 ff.).
Beginning in Frankenmuth, Mich., the work was ex-
tended into several additional stations and by 1857 to
Crow Wing, Minn.

The members of the Synod knew the concept of
“mission to the whole man” well. Missionary and Mrs.
F. A. Craemer among others practiced the concept in
their little Indian mission school in the 1840s which at
one time reached a peak enrollment of 30. Whenever
the Indian youngsters returned from a visit to their
homes, they were filthy beyond description, wearing
tattered clothing. To Mrs. Craemer fell the lot of wash-
ing and delousing them and teaching them some of the
amenities of life. She knew she had won the hearts of
her little charges when they started calling her “Mut-
ter” (Mother). Two of these early missionaries gave
their lives in the service of their Lord. Missionary J. F.
Maier (November 1850) died at the age of 27 in a storm
at sea, and the wife of Missionary E. G. H. Miessler
died in childbirth at the age of 26 and is the only white
person buried in the Indian cemetery in St. Louis, Mich.

Foreign Missions

The transition from Chippewa and home missions
to foreign missions was gradual. With the decline of
the German immigration in the 1880s, the Synod ini-
tiated a Jewish mission in New York City in 1884, and
Estonian and Latvian missions in 1889. That same year
it also opened a new Indian mission in Wisconsin. Work
among the deaf blossomed forth through the efforts of
Pastor Augustus H. Reinke, “the father of deaf work,”
in 1893. Blind work followed. Further work was initi-
ated among the Polish immigrants in 1908, the Persians
in 1911, and the Italians in 1922.

In the decade following the Civil War, President
H. A. Preus of the Synodical Conference urged that
work be initiated among the blacks of our country.
The suggestion was received with warm approval and
immediately set into motion. The veteran home mis-
sionary, Pastor John Frederick Doescher, was com-
missioned as the first missionary in 1877 (Bakke, Our
Colored Missions, p.20; also Der Lutheraner, Vol. 33
[1 Nov. 1877], p. 167). Energetically he began to explore
the southern states, moving through Tennessee, Ar-
kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Georgia, and Florida, and
soon established a number of preaching stations (Nau,