The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1926, Page 190

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190

THE LUTHERAN PIONEER.

of his father, and as he was ever on the search for
his relatives, he asked the man who he was. To his
great surprise the man replied that his name was
Ganesh. By the goodness of God he had found
his twin brother.

After they had touched upon various matters
relating to the early family history, Ganesh took
Gopal to his home. It was a small, broken-down,
dirty, and miserable hut. <A dirty heathen woman
dressed in rags met them at the entrance. She was
the wife of Ganesh. ‘Two little naked children
looked at Gopal with frightened eyes. They were
his little nephews. Gopal was told there was an-
other child, a girl ten years of age, but she was
married and was living in another village with
her husband.

Ganesh was a heathen, a worshiper of idols.
He and his family were wretched, exceedingly
poor and miserable. He and his family had no
happiness in this world, and the future was an
unknown terror.

Gopal was a Christian; he and his family
worshiped Christ as their Savior. They had found
true happiness in serving their Redeemer, and
their future seemed to grow brighter with each
passing day. :

What made the difference in the two brothers?
What made the difference in the two families? The
answer is simple: one had heard and received the
Gospel of Jesus, the other had never had the
opportunity.

This same Gospel has the same power to-day
that it always had. There are millions of families
like that of Ganesh, living in dark heathenism,
and if they only had the Gospel-message, it would
change them into “new creatures,” into. God’s
children. It would bring light, joy, peace, and
true happiness into lives that now only know misery
and darkness.

Is it worth while to bring the Gospel of Jesus
into heathen lands? For the answer, just shut your
eyes and try to imagine yourselves with your loved
ones living in a distant heathen village of India
or China. You would be no better than Ganesh
and his wife, and your children would be like their
children.

What you are now Jesus did for you through
His Gospel. You owe it all to Jesus. Now, your
Savior, who was so merciful to you, is pleading
with you to have mercy and to help send this
Gospel, which has done so much for you to others
that are still in darkness. Will'you do it?

You alone, or you with others, can have a native
Christian missionary work for you in India or
in China or in some other field of our Church. By
helping to support a worker in India or China you
can work for your Lord twenty-four hours each day.

Eight to ten dollars a month will support a
native worker in India with his wife. The hope of
salvation of thousands will depend on this worker
alone. Thirty dollars a month will enable the
Board for Negro Missions to engage a teacher to
teach the colored children in Alabama the way
to Jesus and through Him to heaven. What an
opportunity for one of our more well-to-do
Christians ! F.J.L.

Church Giving in the United States.

There has been a healthy and steady increase
in the religious giving of the members of all
denominations. In 1925 the people of the United
States and Canada gave the large sum of
$656,000,000 for church maintenance and benev-
olences. Of this grand total the Disciples gave
more than $20,000,000; the Congregationalists,
over $26,000,000; the Episcopalians, $39,000,000;
the Baptists, $73,000,000; the Presbyterians,
$78,000,000; the Methodists, $147,000,000, of
which the Methodist Episcopal churches gave
nearly $94,000,000, while the Roman Catholics led
with a total of $168,000,000, or approximately
one-fourth of the whole amount. In 1924 the
total contributions of the Lutherans for all church
purposes were $51,090,327, and of.the Missouri
Synod for the year 1925 it was $13,701,745.

In per capita giving to outside benevolences the
United Presbyterian, a small denomination, ranks
first, with $14.95 per member, while the Methodist
Episcopalians ranked thirteenth with $3.81 per
member. For benevolences, that is, for all outside
religious purposes, the communicant members of
the Missouri Synod gave an average of $6.83 per
communicant member in 1925, and for home pur-
poses the average contribution per communicant
member was $15.16 last year; a total of $21.99
for all church purposes.

This is an impressive showing and evidences
a gratifying growth in the grace of giving
Christendom. But impressive as this showing may
be, it is not up to the standard which a well-
balanced stewardship would set for the religious
needs of to-day.

Speaking of increase in church giving, Dr. Love-