The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1924, Page 50

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50 The Lutheran Pioneer.

so that you may show forth the praises of Him. who

called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.

If you will but listen to the promptings of the Holy

Spirit, who has made you His abode, if you will but

give heed to His voice, He will direct you in mis-

sionary paths and open your lips to “prophesy.”
F. J.L.

The Missionary Society,
And Who Should Belong to It.

‘The missionary society should not be made up
of a few benevolent, energetic women in the congre-
gation, but every woman without exception should
belong to it. There should be praying members, work-
ing members, and paying members. Every woman
in the church should be a member of the first class,
since every one can pray for the coming of Christ’s
kingdom. Possibly not all can belong to the second
class, but it goes without saying that the number
of working members could and should be much
larger than it is. And we shall also have to admit
that not all women in a congregation are able to
belong to the paying class; however, also this class
could have a larger membership than it has at the
present time. If all the members of the praying
class would do their duty faithfully, it would soon
show itself in a larger enrolment in the other two
classes.

And then there should be a male branch of
the missionary society, which should comprise all
the men of the church. All should pray, almost all
can pay, and not a few can work.

Then the day-school and the Sunday-school and
the Young People’s Senior and Junior Walther
Leagues should be as closely identified with this
missionary society as they are with the congregation.

_ ‘The society, of course, should work twelve
months in the year, just as the missionaries do.
Interest in this greatest work of the Church must
never lag. Summer and winter God is willing to
pour out His blessings on the work of missions;
summer and winter, therefore, we should be ready
for His blessings.

Praying, paying, and working go together, and
neither one nor the other should ever be neglected.

Finally, all should read more and talk more
about missions. A consequence of this would be
that all would know more about the work, have
a deeper love for it, pray more for it, pay more
for it, and work more for it. F.J.L.

Alabama Notes.

On the 30th day of May our training-school held
its first closing exercises. On account of lack of
room they were held at Possum Bend chapel, some
fifty miles from Selma, the home of the school. In
the afternoon Rev. Weeke, of Montgomery, delivered
the educational address. His theme was, “The Fear
of the Lord is the Beginning of Wisdom.” During
the course of his address he pointed out the fact
that no one is truly educated unless the fear of the
Lord governs his heart. Although it rained almost
all day, a representative audience was present to
hear this excellent address.

In the evening the students gave a concert. The
feature of this entertainment was the beautiful
singing of the students, who had been trained by
Professor Lehman. A packed house listened with
rapt attention as perfect harmony filled the chapel
and then winged its way out across the cotton- and
corn-fields, to be swallowed up by the haze and
blackness of the night.

But the singing was not the only thing that
delighted the hearts of the audience which had
braved the rain and mud to listen to our first at-
tempt at public entertainment; also some very good
orations were delivered by the girls who are to be
the first-fruits of our school. The subjects of these

orations were: “Some Things I have Learned in

the Lutheran School”; “Why We Should Support
Our Parochial Schools”; “The Value of a Christian
Education”; “Why We Need Christian Teachers
in Our Schools.” The audience was deeply im-
pressed by the words which came from the lips of
these young people, and we may rest assured that
those words will bear fruit.

The members of the Possum Bend congregation
entertained the school and friends with dinner and
ice cream, and we wish to express our thanks to
them for their kindness.

On the 28th of May the students were loaded
into cars and taken to Kings Landing, where they
entertained the members of this new and growing
congregation. The congregation treated its visitors
to a good supper, for which they were well repaid
by the students with their excellent singing and
speeches.

During the past year the Lord has wonderfully
blessed our school at Selma, so that we must con-
fess, “The Lord is good, and His mercy endureth
forever.” During the course of the year we were

permitted to enroll twenty-one; of this number we