The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1890, Page 30

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30

The Lutheran Pioneer.

Now while this necessity compels us to ask
our Christians for larger gifts for our work,
our courage to do so almost fails us in view

Our Colored Mission, which is carried on by | of the unsatisfactory state of our treasury and
the Synodical Conference, was begun in 1877. | of the fact that contributions have decreased.

Two papers, the Mfissionstaube, which has 13,000 | Yet we hope that God will give us the spirit

subscribers, and the Pioneer, which has 5000] of love and cheerfulness for this work, if we

subscribers, are published in its interest. There| but become fully conscious how glorious the
are four missionary stations. The first station | mission work among the colored people of this
was organized in Little Rock, Ark., where Rev. | country is, which the Lord has entrusted to us,

Allenbach has charge of church and school. |and with what abundant fruit of our labor He

The congregation numbers 63 souls, 21 of | has already blessed us.

whom are communicant members. There are} Whoever has followed the reports of our

75 pupils in the day-school and 34 in the| missionaries must joyfully confess that the true

Sunday school. This station has a church and|God is with us and that He has given our

school-house. - |faithful Jaborers victory upon victory. Not

The station last organized isin Springfield, Ill. | only are they often permitted to witness the

Tt has.a church and school. Rev. Knabenschuh | converting power exercised by the divine word

is the missionary. Although the station is not | over deeply sunken slaves of vice among colored

quite three years old, it numbers 75 souls, of | people, but the regular attendance of strangers
whom 80 are communicant members, 55 chil- | at our divine services is increasing. Our schools,
dren attend the week-day school and 60 the/ however, are experiencing special blessings.

Sunday school. The church property carries] Their reputation among the colored people of

a debt of $1500. New Orleans is so good, that they are not only

Meherrin, Virginia, our third station, has, | filled, but that hundreds of children must be
for the last two years, been cared for by/|turned away every year for want of room and
students of our Springfield Seminary. It num-/}teachers.. What blessings go forth from these
bers 66 souls, 34 being communicant members, | schools to hundreds of colored children who

50 children in the day-school and 50 in the| would grow up in the streets as heathen with-

Sunday school. out them! What blessings do these pupils of

Our fourth, largest and most important sta-|our schools bring to their homes when they
tion is in New Orleans, La. The missionaries | study their catechism and Bible history aloud,

Bakke and Burgdorf are faithfully laboring |sing their Lutheran hymns and by their con-

there in four congregations with four school-|duct show their parents the result of a training

teachers: Vix, Rischow, Scheffler and Moser. |in a Christian’school! Tlie sects are already

They have four churches; but as there is but| becoming aware of the great influence of our

one school-house three churches are used: for|schools and intend to erect schools in the in-

school purposes. This is a great disadvantage | terest of their missions. If Synod would re-

and even the single school-house is most un-|solve to carry on our Colored Mission on a

satisfactory with regard to size and arrange-| larger scale, not only to cover New Orleans

ment. This station numbers 372 souls, 182| with a net of Lutheran echools, but also to begin
of whom are communicant members, 411 pu-| to labor in the country districts in which sheer
pils attend the day echool, and 432 the Sunday | heathenism almost reigns among the colored
school. So many colored children apply for | people—our Lutheran Colored Mission would
admiesion to the day school, that children must | become a power by means of which an effective
be turned away almost daily for want of room. | colored mission might be carried into Africa.
, The schools number 96, 97 and 98 pupils re-|'The work the Lord has called us to do is great,
spectively. glorious, and hopeful. May He grant us the
Altogether the four stations number 576 souls, |spirit of faith and love to become faithful
268 communicants, 591 day school pupils and| laborers and may He crown our labor in this
576 children in the Sunday schools, 5 mission-| field with His divine blessing. —r.
aries, 4 teachers, 7 churches, and 3 school- ——« eo
houses. The receipts for the year 1889 amounted
to $7516.50; $575 are regularly required every
month forsalaries, The receipts for the months
January to May amount to $2077. This is} Again we have had occasion to hear the
$800 less than the current expenses for the| parable of the great supper spoken of in our
same time. : churches. We all know how it runs: A cer-
* The most pressing needs of our Colored |tain man arranged a grand supper and bade
Mission are, above all, three school-houses in}many. But when he-sent his servants to tell

Report of our Mission Board submitted to
the Synods of the Synodical Conference.

(For the ‘‘Lutheran Pioneecr.’?
Encouraging.

“New Orleans. They should be built in the|them: Come, for all is ready — they all had

_ course of the summer, each building containing | excuses. Their minds were too much wrapped
two class rooms. Of course, this would require | up in the affairs of this world, and for this rea-
two more teachers. Meherrin must have a]son they had no time to follow the divine mes-
“missionary of its own, and its church which | sage: ‘‘Come!?— Then the master commanded

proves ‘to be too small for the growing number’ his servants to go out on the streets and Janes
‘of church-goérs should at least be enlarged. Jand call the poor and low. — We all know the

meaning of this parable, too, and need, there-
fore, not go into its details.

“Come, for all is ready,’’ this is the divine
invitation which every true Christian is ex-
pected to carry to those not yet under the in-
fluence of the gospel, and preeminently so is
this our work among the colored people. Have
we been, are we successful? Ay, but that not
of ourselves. Thanks to our heavenly Father
who has deemed us fit to be instruments in His
hands toward the salvation of some.

If we were to say that our work has been
slow, we would not give God the credit due
Him; on the contrary, our friends say that
Bethlehem is in a very prosperous condition.
And, what is more, we see that our members
have come to understand their duties as priests
of God Almighty. Almost every one of them
is a home missionary, working for the exten-
sion of His church here on earth, and also to-
ward the external prosperity of the congre-
gation. Only a few months ago the adult
members, their number being 24 at that time,
collected nearly 30 dollars for a set of pulpit-
chairs; and only a few weeks ago the little
flock raised another purse of twenty-two dol-
lars to be appropriated for a clerical robe.
Besides one of the lady-members placed two
bouquets of artificial flowers on the altar.

185 dollars have been deposited up to this
date, by the congregation and Sunday School
for a new building.

During the last month thirteen souls were
added to the church, and among them were
five of my pupils. Only five, but they are true
little Lutherans. May our heavenly Father
pour out his richest blessings upon these young
warriors and induce many to follow their ex-
ample! Five ladies and one old gentleman
constituted the remainder.

The old gentleman, though almost a nona-
genarian, bad never by baptism been trans-
planted into the kingdom of God, and now
when he, kindly assisted, staggered to the
altar, when his aged, trembling form was bent
over the font to receive the sacrament of holy
baptism, a deeper silence than usual pervaded
the sanctuary. It was a truly touching sight;
the very dregs of life’s cup he offered up to his
God at this moment, still there is a chance as
long as life lasts.

Our School was said to be in a very fine con-
dition, and I think it was, but it affords me
pleasure to state that the present rate percent.
of attendance compares very favorably with
that of the same month of the last session. But
let me ask you one question: Do you, co-
workers in the church of Christ, desire me to
tell pupils applying for admission next year
‘that there is no room’’? Consider, you can not
help finding the correct solution of thisimportant
question and means to alleviate the difficulty.

“Praise to the Lord! O let all that is in me
adore Him!
All that hath life and breath, come now with
praises before Him!
Let the Amen
Sound from His people again,

Gladly for aye we adore Him!”’ E.R,

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