The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1916, Page 62

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62

A-Letter: and a Plea.

Concord, N. C., June 27, 1916.

Dear Members or Our CoLorep Lurieran
Cuurce : —

You all know, I presume, that next year the
Lutheran Church in all parts of the world is going
to celebrate its four-hundredth anniversary. While,
as you also know, the Lutheran Chureh is older than
four hundred years, still it was four hundred years
ago that God, through Dr. Martin Luther, raised
His Church from a grave of ignorance, superstition,
and error, and gave to men again His Word pure
and unadulterated, long buried and well-nigh for-
gotten. This great event the Lutheran Church is
not going to let pass by without a fitting celebration
in all the larger cities of this and other countries.
But her members are going to do more to show their
gratitude to God; they are also going to raise large
suns of money for the advancement of the Lutheran
Church, and so make it possible to help poor con-
gregations to build churches and schools. Don’t
you think this is a fine idea? Don’t you think it
is better, not only to say that you are thankful to
God for what He did through His servant Martin
Luther, but also to prove this by giving some of
your earthly goods, that others, too, may derive
the benefits of the Reformation, and enjoy “God’s
Word and Luther’s doctrine pure,” and eventually
be saved? I am sure you do. And don’t you
think we ought to do the same? ;

I have been waiting to see what our Colored
Lutheran Church would do for 1917. Until now
I have heard only that it will commemorate the
Reformation by fitting services. Now, that is fine;
but I think we can and ought to do more, don’t you?
I am sure we ought to do more than only celebrate
this great event by a special service or two in our

' churches. Agreeing with me, perhaps, you will ask,
What can we do? I will gladly tell you what I think
would be a good plan and which I hope you-will
‘also consider a good way of celebrating the four-
‘hundredth birthday of our Church.

God, you know, has been, and is now especially,
opening up great doors of opportunity for our Lu-

_ theran Church down here in the South. One great

hindrance is, and always has been, the lack of
equipment and funds for equipment to properly take
hold of these new places to which the Lord directs us.

Now, I feel that if we had a fund to-which we could

_ 80 each time we needed a new chapel, and build one

The Lutheran Pioneer.

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at the respective place, we could make better head-
way, and our missionaries and members would not,
as happened in one place, find their organ and other
church equipments out in the street when they came
to hold services.

And don’t you think we members of our Colored
congregations ought to start a fund of this kind
right now? ‘Then we would have gathered a neat
sum by October 31, 1917, and we could then cele-
brate the four-hundredth anniversary of our dear
Tutheran Church in a fitting way.

I would like to suggest to you, my dear fellow-
Lutherans, to bring this up at your next congre-
gational meeting, and to take the proper steps to
have this idea put into action. Speak to your pastor
about it, ask his opinion on it, and beg him to kindly
write to the Editor of the Pronurr, telling him to
go ahead, assuring him that you are with him.

Let us endeavor to show, in a measure at least,
rod and all those who have made the Lutheran
Chureh among our people possible, how much we
appreciate it. But as I expect to write to you
again next month about this fund, I will close.
I hope God will make you willing and ready to help
others to a church and a school as you have been
helped.

With greetings,
Yours in Christ,

Nore. — The Editor sincerely hopes that all our
Colored brethren and sisters will take up the idea
of our nameless brother from North Carolina, and
earry it out enthusiastically and successfully. Let
all our pastors, teachers, and members push this
matter, and it is bound to prove a success. We have
been reliably informed: that two of our mission-
churches in North Carolina have already begun the
good work, and have sent in their first instalments
for the Church Extension Fund. Let all the other
churches follow!

Items of Interest from the Colored
‘Mission Field.

Mretine or SynopicaL ConrerENcE. — From
the 16th to the 22d of this month the Synodical
Conference will be in session: at Toledo, O. This
convention will be officially attended by repre-
sentatives of the Missouri, Wisconsin, Minnesota,
Michigan, Nebraska, Slavonian, and Norwegian
Synods. The main business before this Conference