The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1904, Page 47

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The Lutheran Pioneer.

47

The Second Annual Conference of Our
New Orleans Churches.

The second annual conference of our churches
at New Orleans was held at St. Paul’s Church on
April 17, 18, and 19. The opening service, held
on Sunday evening, was conducted by Rev. K.
Kretzschmar. His sermon set forth, ‘‘What the
Lutheran church really is.’? Wrong notions con-
cerning the Lutheran church are met at almost
every hand, while the true essence and being of the
Lutheran church is neither understood nor appre-
ciated. To dispel the wrong ideas in the matter and
to impress upon his hearers what indeed the Lu-
theran church is and stands for was the pastor’s
purpose in choosing just this theme for the occasion.
And wisely did he make his choice, for besides the
many members present there was not a small num-
ber of visitors in attendance at the service. A very
conservative estimate would place the number of
hearers at about 200, rather above than below that
number. The choirs from Mount Zion and St. Paul’s
churches sang selections in all the meetings.

The session on Monday night was opened by a
prayer and a lesson from Holy Scriptures read by
the Rey. F. Lankenau, preceded by a song by the
convention.* Mr. R. A. Dixon, occupying the chair,
then presided over the meeting. After a brief ex-
planation of the nature of the sessions, the under-
signed was requested to submit the treatise he had
prepared on ‘‘Church Fairs.”’ This topic is indeed
a timely one, especially for our churches in towns
and cities. Our Lutheran people see the evil ex-
ample of church fairs and the like at almost every
turn they make; they are oftentimes accosted to
help, give, or buy for the benefit of churches get-
ting up such money-making schemes for the benefit
of the church. They now and then hear the praises
of these concerns or of those who show themselves
zealous for their success. The matter at first glance
does not look so bad; it holds out ostensibly an easy
method of gaining a maintenance for the church, etc.
What, now, is God’s decision in the premises? May
we, or may we not, with God’s pleasure, also hold
similar fairs, concerts, bazaars, etc.? The consider-
ation of all these things caused the last year’s ses-
sion to request an especial treatise on this matter.
The light of God’s Word was thrown upon this in-
stitution fostered by so many churches, and in this

‘light it was seen that God’s pleasure does not and
cannot: rest upon such schemes, though enticing
and promising they may appear.

At the conclusion of this treatise Mr. Edward

Wilcox, a member of Bethlehem chapel, read a

paper in which he answered the question: ‘‘What
causes the poor attendance at divine service?’? The
poor-attendance fact cannot be denied. It is quite
general, and much deplored. Which are its causes?
Among those treated of were the general lukewarm-
ness of the Christians of to-day; the lack of an
early religious training; the lack of family devo-
tion; the desire to hear something new.” 3

The session of Tuesday was opened by the under-
signed in the same manner as the previous session.
After some routine business had been disposed of,
Rev. F. Lankenau began to read his paper on ‘‘The
Lodge Weighed and Found Wanting.’ In it the
speaker showed that a Christian had every reason to
keep aloof from the lodge or secret society. Begin-
ning with the first commandment of God and going
through the whole Decalogue he showed that the
lodge in every case is at variance with, and in direct
opposition to, God’s holy commandments.

The conference on hearing all the papers co-
incided with them on every point, as was evidenced
by expressions from the floor. May God thus bring
our good people from knowledge to knowledge of
things divine, and give them and us strength and
courage of conviction to live according to His Word.

The collections raised during the sessions,
amounting to about $20.00, were devoted to the
“Building Fund of the New College at New Orleans.??
The next conference will meet at Bethlehem at a
time to be fixed later on. J. KossMAnn.

News from Our New Orleans Field.

In another column we give an account of the
conference held by our mission churches at New
Orleans. ‘‘Church fairs,’’ lodges, and church at-
tendance were the topics for discussion.

On Easter Sunday every station devoted its
offering to the college cause. The offerings reached
the following amounts: St. Paul’s congregation,
$25.00; Mount Zion congregation, $25.00; Beth-
lehem Sunday School; $18.30. St. Paul’s church,
near Mansura, La., also made an offering for the
Same cause amounting to $15.00. At the confer-
ence sessions something like $20.00 was raised.

Mr. Fuhrmann, called into the colored mission ~
(St. Paul’s) about Christmas and taken sick some
weeks since, is reported to have improved some- ~
what. However, his condition will not permit him
to reenter upon his work for some time tocome.

Bethlehem Sunday School now consists of eleven
classes with ten teachers (the latter all being young
people from the congregation), besides the pastor,