The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1926, Page 10

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10

THE LUTHERAN PIONEER.

perhaps, about a thousand more for the necessary
alterations. Fortunately, there is enough income
from the property to render the congregation con-
fident that-it will be able to pay the interest on
a loan. A building and loan association would
doubtless loan a part of the needed sum on the
property itself, but would require other guarantees
for advancing the whole amount. The situation
has been reported to the Mission Board, and some
plan to help this mission may already have been
adopted. * * k

Our mission congregation at Yonkers, N.Y., is
also eager to have a church building of its own.
It has been worshiping in the parish-house of the
white sister congregation at Yonkers, and it can
still do so, but it feels that it owes it to both friends
and’ strangers to’ have
its own home. Should
it continue to make use
of such hospitality year
after year, indefinitely?
Should it continue year
after year to tell stran-
gers that it is unable to
have a home of its own?
Next year the mission
will have had its own
pastor for fifteen years,
and it is beginning to
feel that it is about
time to have its own
church. The congrega-

tion has bought a suitable lot for about $1,800, and
this lot has been paid for. It has about $4,000
available for a building. With a lot paid for and
* $4,000 available, it is certainly not out of question
to think of building. But it is also certainly nec-
essary to face the problem of borrowing thousands
of dollars. The congregation increased the building
fund by more than three hundred dollars at the
Reformation Festival, and it may be assumed, there-
fore, that the members are willing to do what they
can towards securing a building. It will be in-
teresting to learn what the members will pledge
themselves to do when they take up the question
of building and borrowing. May they find some
_ way of securing sufficient funds, and may the year
1926 mark the beginning of a new era of growth
for Bethany Congregation at Yonkers, N. Y.!
J. P. Sura.

- a
“CHRISTIANITY is not a static business, it is a
growing enterprise.”

Rev. W. O. Hill,
Our Missionary in
Yonkers, N. Y.

Concordia Pastoral Conference.

Concordia Pastoral Conference convened in
regular session on Saturday afternoon, Novem-
ber 28, 1925, in Bethlehem Lutheran Church,
Monroe, N.C. The president, Rev. C. R. March,
being in Buffalo, N. Y., for a missionary survey,
was unable to be present. Rev. F. D. Alston was
chosen chairman until the arrival of the vice-presi-
dent. Rey. Gustavus Roberts was received into
membership.

An encouraging report of the work of our
brethren in Yonkers, Philadelphia, and Atlanta
was given by Superintendent J.P. Smith. This
was followed’ by Rey. Shufelt’s paper on “A Pas-
toral Letter to a Lodge-member” and an earnest
discussion of the lodge question. Rev. J. W. Fuller
then began his paper on “The Mode of Baptism,”
which he was asked to conclude at the next meeting.

At the Sunday morning service Rey. Gustavus
Roberts preached, and Rev. Shufelt conducted the
confessional service. Superintendent J. P. Smith
preached in the afternoon.

The next session, D. v., will meet in Immanuel
Lutheran Church, Shankletown, on Saturday, Jan-
uary 30. J. E. Suurerr, Cor.

Our Work at Kolar Gold Fields, India.

I.

It is now several months ago since we moved
into this section of India, the Kolar Gold Fields
of Mysore State. You may be interested to learn
some of the facts with which we have become ac-
quainted since we are living here.

On a plateau, nearly 3,000 feet above sea-level,
in the native state of Mysore’ (area, 29,475 square
miles; population, 6,000,000), ‘are the Kolar Gold
Fields. They are about fifty miles east of Ban-
galore, in the southern part of India. Kolar Gold
Fields are composed of six mines, each mine with “
many shafts, on an area‘about five miles long and
from one to two miles across. ''The latest statistics
which we have, dating back several years, give the
population at 87,682. Due to‘strict retrenchment,
the population has somewhat decreased since that
time. The people are divided as follows: Hindus,
66,840; Christians, 12, 092; Moslems, 7,205; Bud-
dhists, 1,106; Jains, 439. |

In the Kolar Gold alge to distinct kinds of
religious work are being carried on. The one type
is like our congregational!syork at home. Since