Synodical Conference Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 1950, Page 14

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14 Proceedings of the Forty-First Convention,

_ BUSINESS TRANSACTIONS

Forty-Fourth Report of the Missionary Board
for Negro Missions
1948—1950

UNITED STATES

The Synodical Conference was organized in 1872. In its Con-
stitution the Conference clearly defined its doctrinal basis, its
purpose, and the scope of its activities. Among the latter were
listed particularly “matters pertaining to home and foreign mis-
sion work.”

Resolutions

The home mission phase was emphasized at the sixth conven-
tion of the Conference in 1877, when the assembly adopted a reso-
lution “to conduct.conjointly a mission among the colored people
of the United States.” The foreign mission project was given serious
consideration at the convention in 1934, when the delegate assembly
decided to send three pastors to the Dark Continent to investigate
the request of a group of African Christians “that the Lutheran
Church come into Nigeria with the Gospel of Christ.”

Supervision

When the synodical convention in 1877 adopted the resolution
“to conduct conjointly a mission among the colored people of the
United States,” the Conference, upon recommendation of a special
floor committee, entrusted the management and supervision of this
particular enterprise to a duly elected Missionary Board. For sixty-
nine years this Board directed all the affairs of the mission, con-
centrating its work in the early years in the South, where the field
was especially ripe for the harvest. In the course of time congre-
gations were also established in the northern, western, and eastern
sections of our country. The work at present embraces practically
every State of the Union. .

A New Setup

At its 39th convention at Milwaukee, Wis., in 1946, the Synod-
ical Conference decided to change the entire domestic mission setup
by appealing to the constituent Synods (or the respective Districts
of the Synods) “to take over the work among the Negroes in their
territorial areas.” This new arrangement implied that Synods or
Districts that assumed such supervision “in consultation with the
Missionary Board have the power to call missionaries, teachers,
and assistants for mission stations and fix the missionary workers’
salaries, give instructions, exercise the right of visitation, and guide,
direct, and supervise all Negro Missions of the respective Synods
or Districts, encourage pastors and congregations to greater zeal
and closer co-operation, study mission opportunities within the
District, etc.” (38th Convention Proceedings, 1944, page 66.)

During the past four years the Missionary Board through its
Executive Secretary approached the various Districts in whose
midst Lutheran Negro congregations were located and advocated
the acceptance of the Synodical Conference resolution re super-