The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1913, Page 38

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88

'Ehe Lutheran Pioneer.

perous one for our work. ‘The winter was very
mild. Attendance at divine service was better than
during any previous winter. Although the winter
was not severe, my people suffered a great deal from
sickness. The mumps and measles are raging among
our schoolchildren. During the past winter death
took away three of our members, two boys and our
oldest member, an old man over ninety years of age.
All died in firm faith in Christ, our Savior. ‘The
old man had long been a ward of our church, and
both St. Paul and Mount Zion assisted in burying
‘him. — Easter Sunday six children of our school
were added to our church, five by confirmation and
one by baptism. We have some adult catechumens
to be confirmed as soon as they have received the
proper instruction. — We had the decayed floor in
my school-room torn up and a cement one put in
at an expense of $26.75. St. Paul’s church must
be reshingled. We shall do this as soon as school
closes in June.— That we have encountered all
kinds of opposition, disappointments, contentions,
lapses in sin, and all such troubles is not necessary
to report. Notwithstanding this, the Lord is bless-
ing our work. Kindly extend our cordial thanks to
the Mission Board for support and confidence.”

Teacuer A. C. F. Lanae, of Gretna, La., has
been called to Bethlehem in New Orleans. This
school had 230 pupils at the,end of March.

‘THAT UNKNOWN LIBERAL BENEFACTOR OF OUR
CororeD Missron has again paid the Treasurer of
the Board a visit and added another $500.00 to the
large sum he had previously donatgd*to the cause.
—Father Wm. Waltke, of St. Paul’s Church,
St. Louis, has given $600.00 for the college at
Greensboro. God reward these benefactors for their
gifts of love!

Items of General Missionary Interest.

CoNnTRIBUTIONS OF NATIVE CHRISTIANS IN For-
EIGN Fienps. — In 1912, the income in the United
States for foreign missions was $14,942,532, while
the churches in non-Christian countries gave
$7,902,256. ‘To fully appreciate what the native
Christians are doing, it is well to remember that
* wages in India are about seven cents per day; in
Africa, ten to twelve cents; and in Korea a skilled
Inborer earns only fifteen to twenty-five cents! And
yet these native Christians have given such a great
sum. One denomination reports that its African
Christians, who, only a few years ago, were wild

savages, last year gave $5.00 per member; its Ko-
rean members, $3.50 per member; and its Persian
Christians, $6.25 per communicant. :

SELE-suprort oF AFRIcaAN Missions. —In the
district of Elat, opened to Christian missions less
than twenty years ago, now are to be found 42 self-
supporting schools with 3,400 pupils and 4,000 men
and women under religious instruction, with 7,000
regular contributors, and all the fourteen churches
in that region self-supporting. Surely, this is grati-
fying and encouraging, and shows how ill founded
are the fears that these native Christians are such
only for the purpose of receiving bodily benefits.

THe Prety anp Consistency or Forrian
Cumistians.— Concerning this point, Dr. J. B.
Shaw, of Chicago, recently wrote: “The rank and
file of our members live prayerless lives and get
on with a minimum of Bible study, while our new
converts in heathen lands are as devoted to the
Bible and as constant at the throne of grace as if
they were living in the first century instead of the
twentieth. Worldliness is our greatest obstacle at
home; while separation marks the members of the
Church abroad and makes them in very truth ‘a
peculiar people.’ ”

ACCESSIONS TO THE CHURCH IN 1912. — While
the reports on last ‘year’s accessions in the foreign
field are yet incomplete, the total number may be
safely given as ‘being considerably over 200,000,
more than 50,000 in excess of 1911. Among the
large additions may be mentioned those in the
Indian field, the three hundred students of Peking
University who embraced Christianity; the four
hundred at Paotingfu, where, during the Boxer up-
rising, so many Christians lost their lives; the
three thousand at Ichowfu, China, who accepted
Jesus Christ; the more than five hundred at Etah,
Africa, who were received into the Church; and
the five thousand in Korea who confessed Christ in
one single month.

‘THE Progress OF MISSIONS ALONG THE Conco.
— From Stanley Falls to Stanley Pool it is one
thousand miles. Twenty years ago there was not
one mission station in all this territory; to-day
there are to be found ten’ flourishing and rapidly
growing mission centers in this country. But for
all this progress there is still much room for mis-
sions and missionaries. In Belgian Congo alone
there are said to be sixty fields, of 10,000 square
miles each, where the Gospel is not yet proclaimed !
The Mohammedans are making great efforts among