The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1926, Page 147

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THE LUTHERAN PIONEER.

147

Mission-Stations.

1. St. Paul's, Little Rock, Ark. Missionary:
Ad. H. Poppe.* (All workers designated with an
asterisk [*] are white laborers.) This is our first
and oldest congregation. During the past- thirty
years it has been without its own pastor for about
twenty-eight years. Since July, 1918, Pastor Poppe
is regularly serving it. He is the pastor of a large
white congregation in Little Rock and is serving
our little colored flock without any remuneration.
Statistics: Baptized members, 20; communicants, 6.
(Explanation: The term “baptized members” in-
cludes all the baptized and confirmed members in
care of the missionary. “Communicants” are all the
confirmed members who are permitted to partake
of the Lord’s Supper.)

LovlsIana.

2, Mount Zion, New Orleans. (Founded 1878.
Missionary: Oscar W. Luecke,* since August, 1925.)
This is our oldest congregation in New Orleans.
Its baptized membership has increased from 266
to 274. The members are very scattered. Missionary
Luecke recently reported: “Mount Zion has just
painted the exterior of its church. The men of the
congregation did the work. Several of them now
intend to paint the school and the interior of the
church. In the past school-year we gained twenty-
five schoolchildren for Holy Baptism with the help
of the teachers. Up to now the congregation has
sent only $50 a month to the treasurer of the Board
at St. Louis. By fall we expect to increase this sum
considerably. We are pleased to be able to say that
we have twenty-three persons in our congregation
who read other church-papers besides the Colored
Lutheran.” This congregation has the largest
Sunday-school of our whole Mission, the enrolment
at the end of March being 214.

3. St. Paul’s, New Orleans. (Founded 1879.
Missionary: E. H. Wildgrube,* since March, 1922.)
St. Paul’s is our largest congregation. At present
its baptized membership is 405 and its communicant
membership 235. Missionary Wildgrube says in his
teport: “We have had the following losses during
the past two years: by death, 12; by excommuni-
cation, 8; -by release to other congregations, 23;
by removal to unknown addresses, 3. ‘Total loss, 46.
Despite these losses there has been an increase in
the membership. The attendance at services could
be far better, though a slight improvement can be
recorded.. You will probably ask, ‘What has the
missionary done?’ _He has preached the Law and

the Gospel to the best of his ability, visited the

people, and distributed tracts. [Remark of the
writer of this report: We learned officially that
Missionary Wildgrube, for example, in one case
visited a man who neglected the use of the Word
and Sacrament no less than thirty-four times before
the man was excluded.] Our monthly voters’
meetings are better attended than they used to be,
and our members show a great interest in these
meetings. The average attendance is fifteen. Such
an attendance is very good for a congregation in
New Orleans when it is considered that one of our
local white congregations with 800 communicants
is said to have an attendance of only about fifteen
at its voters’ meetings. — My sick-visits bring home
to me the pleasing fact that our members make
diligent use of their prayer-books. The Little
Treasury of Prayers either lies on a table stand-
ing near the bed or is under the pillow. That
is surely a gratifying sign. — Negroes, upon the
whole, are a light-hearted people. They like to sing
and whistle. Often they sing foolish songs, but at
other times one can hear that which is truly edifying.
Our church and school have done much to make
them acquainted with songs and hymns that are a
source of comfort for them in days of trouble. Once
when I passed a house whose occupants were un-
known to me, I heard this hymn sung: —

“By grace I’m saved, grace free and boundless!

My heart, believ’st thou this or not?

Why tremblest thou with terror groundless?

Has Scripture e’er a falsehood taught?

Then this word also true must be:

By grace there is a crown for thee.
I simply could not proceed on my way till the
song was ended. At another time — it wa’ early on
a Sunday morning—I heard somebody singing
‘A Mighty Fortress Is Our God’ on the street. I ran
out to see who it was. I found it to be a young
man who belonged to none of our congregations.
He had undoubtedly learned this Lutheran battle-
hymn in one of our Lutheran churches or
schools. Just as this young man learned the
song of us, so many a child and many an
adult has learned the Gospel of us, which he
treasures in his heart and from which he draws
comfort, though he may outwardly not belong to our
Church.” It would be a great pleasure to us to quote
more from the truly interesting letter of Missionary
Wildgrube if space permitted. He also reports
fully on the station at Pailets Land, which circum-
stances compelled us to close in 1925. :

4. Trinity, New Orleans. (Founded in 1913

Missionary: S. Thies,* since November, 1925.) This

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