The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1926, Page 153

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THE LUTHERAN PIONEER.

153

Baptized membership: 88 (loss: 2). Communi-
cants: 56. The aggregate attendance at the Sunday
Services (morning and evening) averages 166 per-

sons. The pastor is instructing seven persons for
confirmation. The school has an enrolment of 154

and the Sunday-school of 92. Two years ago $1,500
were appropriated for an addition to the school, and
of this sum the children of Oregon, Washington, and
North Dakota gathered $1,036.48. Since then the
Board has been urged to use the present building,
which is a combined chapel and school, for school
purposes only and to build a new chapel farther in
town. This would cost about $10,000. For school
purposes the present building is in every way ade-
quate and ideally situated.— In Greer, lying
eighteen miles west of Spartanburg, the small
station was closed last year.

ALABAMA. +
Our latest, but largest and most promising
mission-field is in the Black Belt of Alabama. The
work was begun here ten years ago. Superintendent
Geo. A. Schmidt says in his report:
“This year the Alabama Field is celebrating its
tenth birthday. The field celebrated this tenth
anniversary of pure Lutheran Gospel-preaching in
a fitting manner at Eastertime. The anniversary
collection amounted to $700. With this money and
an additional $300 that is to be added our young
congregation at Camden is to be given a chapel and
school. It is estimated that 5,000 colored people
attended the anniversary services this spring.
“The wonderful growth of our Lutheran Church
on this field is without parallel in the history of
our Lutheran missions, we believe. And when the
enormous growth is viewed in the light of bitter
opposition in many quarters, of the general igno-
Tance of the people, ete., we have a clear proof of
the truth of the Psalm: ‘This is the Lord’s doing;
it is marvelous in our eyes.’
“After only ten short years we have in Alabama
23 organized congregations, three preaching-places,
and one higher institution of learning for the
‘education of teachers in the city of Selma. There
are working in the Alabama Field to-day 28 colored
lady teachers, 10 male teachers, 6 colored pastors,
one white teacher (the assistant of the superinten-
dent), and 4 white pastors; a total of 49 laborers.
‘These serve 1,687 persons (gain: 428). Of this
number 954 are communicant members and 233 are
voting members. ‘The mission-schools are attended
by about 1,500 pupils.

“The guests at the Lord’s Table for just the
first six months of the current year numbered
exactly 2,000. That means that every confirmed
member communed on an average of more than
two times in six- months.

“Who will attempt to estimate the blessings that
flow out over the spiritually and otherwise bankrupt
plantations in the Southland dotted with miserable
Negro cabins where our Lutheran Church is work-
ing among young and old? And the work is
still far from being completed. Pitiful pleas
continue to reach us continually. But only too often
we are compelled to answer: ‘We cannot come
to you; we haven’t enough laborers. You
must wait.’

“The possibilities for the spreading out of our
Lutheran Church are only limited by the number
of men and other resources available for church-
work. We have in these ten years only scratched
the surface of the soil here in Alabama. Also from
Florida, Georgia, and Mississippi the dumb cry of
thousands reaches us, as they lie helpless in their
spiritual misery and wretchedness.

“Looking up to Him who in these ten years has
so graciously and bounteously blessed us, we pour
out our thanks for this unmerited grace and face
the future with joyful hope for rich harvests as the
shadows lengthen in these last days of the world’s
existence.”

34. Christ, Rosebud, Wilcox Co. (Rural charge.
Founded in 1916. Missionary: Charles Peay, since
September, 1921.) Here our work in Alabama
was begun in January, 1916. This is our first and
largest congregation in the Black Belt of Alabama.
Number of baptized members: 184; communi-
cants, 113; voting members, 20. While Pastor
Peay is giving lectures in our northern States in
the interest of our Negro college in Greens-
boro, N. C., Superintendent Schmidt is serving
this station and the other two charges of Pastor
Peay: Oak Hill and Hamburg. This is what
Superintendent Schmidt has to say about these
three stations: “In these three charges we have
348 persons, of whom 218 are confirmed. The
aggregate average attendance is approximately 225.
The number of confirmed members who partake of
Holy Communion is remarkable. During the first
six months of the present year no less than
578 guests have appeared at Holy Communion,
which means that each member communed on an
average more than twice in that period. Have we
any white congregations which can show such a