Synodical Conference Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 1958, Page 88

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88 Proceedings of the Forty-fifth Convention

2. Concerning enrollment: It is commonly agreed that enroll-
ment of young boys just out of Standard VI (eighth grade)
would be most undesirable. Such boys would be ex-
tremely immature, incapable of handling a congregation
of grown men and women. The majority of such young
boys attempting to enroll in a Bible Institute would be of
inferior quality. The reason for this is that the “Cream of
the Crop” from such a group would go to our High
School, to other secondary institutions, to our Preliminary
Teacher Training Center, or they would be seeking teach-
ing positions in our schools or in government schools,

This does not mean, however, that we would not be able
to find enough candidates among older boys, and especially
among some of our teachers who would be willing to enter a Bible
Institute, and who, after two years of training, would make very
fine material for full-time work in congregations as religious
teachers.

Naturally these men would then have to receive a salary
which would approximate an ordinary teacher’s salary, at the
present time about seven or eight pounds per month. (19 to 22
dollars, U. S. currency)

3. Payment of salary of these graduates when they are in
the field: It is of course agreed that the ideal would be to
have the African churches themselves supply the salaries
in full, but that ideal at the present time cannot even be
anticipated. The churches that would have these religious
teachers would, of course, supply housing and perhaps pay
a small portion of the salary; however, as things stand now
about 75 per cent of the salary would have to be supplied
from some source other than the Nigerian Lutheran
Church. We have no answer ourselves as to what this
source might be, but it would have to come as a subsidy.
The big question is, “How will it affect the building of an
indigenous church?” We confess that we do not have the
answer to that question.

4. Expenses involved in establishing and maintaining this
institution: The funds for the physical plant itself and
maintenance thereof would have to be supplied entirely
by the Missionary Board. Also the funds for operating
the institution would have to be supplied by the Board in
full. This will include such items as staffing, board, books
and student allowances.

Since the Lutheran Women’s Missionary League at its 1957
convention in Minneapolis, Minn., was favorably inclined to set
aside funds for a Bible Institute in Nigeria ($25,000), and since
the Missionary Board regarded such an institution as a dire neces-
sity to carry on our work most effectively in the future, the Execu-
tive Committee was urged to go forward with this project. A Bible
Institute is now being established. *

Ogoja Development

Reporting on Ogoja Province, our latest field of missions in
Nigeria, Missionary Robert Lail wrote the following letter to the
Executive Secretary of the Missionary Board on January 20, 1958,
which reads as follows:

* A curriculum is being set up and the opening of the Institute is
planned for January 1, 1959, at Nung Udoe.