The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1925, Page 183

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THE LUTHERAN PIONEER.

ARE YOU INTERESTED
IN MISSIONS?

OF COURSE YOU ARE. IF YOU WEREN'T,
YOU WOULDN’T BE A READER OF

“The Lutheran Pioneer.”

But if you are interested in missions, you
must also wish: to have others interested in
this greatest work of the Church.

What people need to get interested in mis-
sions is information on the whole work of

missions,

It is the business of “The Lutheran Pioneer”
to give this needed information. Will you
not help us in our endeavors to bring this
needful information to your friends and fel-
low-members? Will you not do them and us~
the favor to ask them to subscribe for

“THE LUTHERAN PIONEER”?
PLEASE!
Give your orders to your pastor or teacher

or send them direct to Concordia Publishing
House, 3558 S. Jefferson Ave., St. Louis, Mo.

Before the coming of the Gospel the natives
were much like the Fijians before their conversion —

socially degraded, morally most foul, debasingly .

superstitious, and inhumanly cruel. The first band
of missionaries came to the islands from Boston in
1819. They were sent out by the American Board.
When they arrived, they found that circumstances
had paved the way for them; for news had come
from Tahiti and other islands concerning the won-
derful changes the Gospel of Christ had there
wrought. Here, as was the sad experience of mis-
_ Sionaries on other island groups of the Pacific, the
“missionaries found their main enemies to be the
wicked white traders, who did all they could to
hinder the entrance and progress of the Gospel.

But despite the endeavors of Satan and his
minions the Gospel took root, and converts were
made. Among the first to embrace Christianity
were members of the royal family. The most
famous of all Hawaiian converts was Queen Kapio-
lini, whose decision for Christ and courageous battle
_ against superstition led great numbers of her people
to gather about the Cross.

During the first years the growth of Christianity
was slow, but in 1837 a change took place on the
islands, and during the following six years 27,000

183

were baptized. Gradually the whole group was
Christianized, and from Hawaii the Gospel-mes-
sengers went out into other parts of the island
world of the Pacific with their precious and trans-
forming tidings of grace. Since 1870 the churches
of Hawaii are entirely in the hands of natives.
F.J.L,

A Plea to Our Young People.

The Board for Colored Missions has recently
sent out a plea to the Walther Leaguers and other
young people of the Synodical Conference which we ©
feel constrained to give publicity also through the
columns of the Pioneer. We are sure that this
appeal to our young Christians will stir their hearts
and induce them to hasten to the assistance of our
college.at Greensboro. Here is the appeal: —
DEaR WattTHER LEAGUERS : —

Do you know that we Christians of the Sy1iod-
ical Conference have a college and seminary in
Greensboro, N.C., for the education and training
of colored preachers and teachers? This institution
is accredited by the State of North Carolina.
A member of the Booker T. Washington Party
which inspected the college several years ago said
“that it is one of the best schools he has ever
visited.” The faculty is composed of six capable
and conscientious white men, who are constrained
by the love of Christ and of the Lutheran Church
and by pity for the poor, unfortunate Negro to
prepare their students for efficient work in the
Lord’s vineyard.

A Great Handicap.

However, the work of our heroic, self-sacrificing
men is greatly hampered by the lack of adequate
buildings. Our future colored ministers must sleep
in poorly ventilated attic-rooms, the walls of which
are composed of beaver-board, where they must
endure the cold of winter and the heat of spring
and early fall. The girls — our future colored

teachers — have been domiciled in a former school- .

house for the last five years, which meant the
closing of a Christian day-school to 160 children.
The housing condition at Immanuel Lutheran
College is deplorable, discouraging, shockingly
wretched. :
What the Editor of the “Lutheran Witness” Saw.
The editor of the Lutheran Witness had occa-
sion to visit the Greensboro College last winter ;
and this is what he says: —