The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1926, Page 56

Transcription machine transcription, uncorrected

⤓ Download .txt · copy text

56 THE LUTHERAN PIONEER.

has no use for so-called “Modernism” and “Liber-
alism”; what he needs is the Gospel as we have it.
Shall the great Church of Paul and Luther refuse
to give the Negroes of North and South, of East and
West what alone can supply their spiritual needs?
Salisbury, N. C. Carrincton R. Maron.

Our Negro Mission in Cincinnati.

In his report to the Federation of Lutheran
Churches in Cincinnati our Missionary, Rev. George
A. Kase, says: I shall submit to you the following
statistics and add what I think must-be done in
order that, so far as it is humanly possible, a greater
growth may be realized. Every Sunday we held
Sunday-school and divine services. Once each
week, except for six weeks this summer, Bible class
was conducted. The Sunday-school at the close of
the year shows an enrolment of 47, with an average
attendance for the last quarter of 29. The average
attendance at our Sunday services is 20 and at
Bible class 16. We baptized four children and one
adult, confirmed.eight adults, celebrated Holy Com-
munion twice, at which 16 communed. We had no
marriages nor funerals. We made 231 calls on
members and at the homes of prospects. The. little
flock, using the envelope system, contributed in all
$544.57 to the cause. Of this $60 was paid toward
the missionary’s salary, $78.25 towards our Federa-
tion’s budget and building fund, and $358.39 for
running expenses, closing the year with a balance
in the treasury of $56.93.

We must call this a laudable showing consider-
ing the poverty of these: people. This means an
average contribution of almost $50 per communicant
member. Some members of our Federation prob-
ably think that we ought to grow in numbers more
rapidly. ‘That may be. All our congregations
ought to grow in numbers if we consider the many
churchless people in our immediate neighborhoods.
_ But why do we not grow as we ought? It is a mat-
ter that should prompt us all to serious thinking.
I believe I can say that I have faithfully tried to
increase our attendance in all departments of Em-
manuel Church, but possibly more could have been
done. Every family given me.as prospects has re-
ceived letters of invitation to come to our meetings,
to send their children to our Sunday- and Saturday-
school and to come to our Bible class meetings.
Most of these have been visited by me, and nearly

|~ all have promised either to come themselves or send

their children. -But you cannot depend on their
promises. I have sent various committees to see
these people; the results were practically the same.
Promises are readily given, but seldom kept. While
we truly believe that we shall grow in number of
adults taken in as time goes and eventually become
a fair-sized congregation, I am, on the other hand,
convinced that we shall have little success with the
children unless we start our parochial school. I am,
therefore, glad to report that our Board of Trustees
has again sent in a petition for a teacher; and let
us all pray the Lord of the Harvest to grant us our
request.

At the present time I. am ingteucting seven
adults for confirmation. ‘This class may be in-
creased by two, who are regular attendants, but do
not as yet know whether they will join the church
or not. Since the Lenten season began, we are
having our regular Lenten services every Thursday
evening. It certainly is inspiring to me to hear
these people sing our beautiful Lenten hymns. And
how they appreciate these services in which the
suffering and death of our dear Lord Christ is so
simply set before them! I have been asked whether
our white people could attend any of these services.
That depends on them. The colored people always
delight to see them, and so do I. Come at any time.
You are welcome.

News from St. Louis.

Hardly had we gotten over the good news that
a large lot had been bought for our new church on
St. Ferdinand and Goode Aves. when the Board for
Colored Missions purchased a large building for us
at 1721 Wash St.
sold its property on 15th and Morgan Sts., it was
necessary for our Colored Mission to vacate the old
Immanuel School, which will be wrecked in the
near future. In looking for suitable quarters, we
found no place more suitable for our purposes than
the one referred to. We moved from the.old to the
new quarters during the last week of February.
That must be the twelfth time the local Colored
Mission has moved during its existence. The
property at 1721 Wash St. has been bought, but
that doesn’t mean that it is paid for. There’s a dif-
ference between buying a thing and paying for it.
We trust that some way will be found to pay for
our new quarters later. Besides. two: schoolrooms,
one on the first and the other on the second floor,
each with a seating capacity of fifty children, there

Since Immanuel Congregation |

22s) 21) SET ER BE OPT TTT ENE!