The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1928, Page 130

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THE LUTHERAN PIONEER.

Twenty-Fourth Report
of the Board for Colored Missions.
July, 1926, to July, 1928.

“Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing
them in the name of the Father and of the Son and
of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all
things whatsoever I have commanded you. And, lo,
I am with you alway, even unto the end of the
world.” This is the Great Commission of our Lord
and Savior Jesus Christ. Mission-work is founded
upon this command of the Lord, also the work of
the Evangelical Lutheran Synodical Conference of
North America, which looks back upon a half cen-
tury of work among the American Negroes. Negroes
are a part of “all nations.” Therefore we should
teach the Negroes, that is, make them disciples of
Jesus.

But this is no small matter. The Colored Mis-
sion work must contend with many difficulties. Let
us call your attention to a few of these.

We pass over such hindrances as our Colored
Missions have in common with other missions, call-
ing your attention only to those which are especially
apparent in the work among the Negroes of America.

Hindrances.

1. In the first place we wish to call attention to
the ostracism, that is, the exclusion from the com-
pany of the whites, to which our white missionaries
and their families are exposed because of their work.
Our missionaries are called “nigger-lovers” and
“nigger-preachers” and are therefore excluded from
white society. This fact demands a strong faith and
considerable heroism on the part of our workers,
since they must labor under such conditions day
after day, week after week, month after month, and
year after year. It is probably easier to be a mis-
sionary among the Negroes of Africa than among
the Negroes of our own country. A Southern lady,
some years ago, wrote to one of our missionaries:
“Tf you had been sent to Africa, then the love, the
sympathy, and the prayers of the whole Lutheran
Church would have accompanied you. Your journeys
and experiences would have been published and read
with interest in the periodicals. But since you are
working among the poor Negroes of the South, it
seems as if all doors are closed to you, and you must
work among a despised people, alone, and forsaken
by many who otherwise would be your friends.” It
is hardest, of course, for the wife and children of the
missionary to bear this ostracism. For this reason
it very often happens that calls to white congrega-

tions are accepted only too soon by our white
laborers.

2. In this last sentence we have called attention
to another difficulty under which our Colored Mis-
sions must labor. It is the frequent change in per-
sonnel. The late Missionary Bakke, who served over
forty years in our Colored Missions, once wrote:
“Most of our white missionaries leave the service
after only a few years, many after only a few
months. This frequent change of our laborers is
a great hindrance to the progress of our work.” Of
course, we must not forget to mention that a number
of our missionaries have given many years of faith-
ful service to our Colored Missions. Of the twenty
white pastors and professors active at the present
time in our Negro Missions three have served for
a period of more than ten years. Pastor G. M.
Kramer has served twenty-one years, Prof. Fr.
Berg, twenty years, and Superintendent George A.
Schmidt, fourteen years. When we consider the fact
that it takes a white man at least two years before
he learns to know the Negro, it is not difficult for
us to understand that this frequent change of mis-
sion-workers must be detrimental to the work.

3. Since the World War another hindrance has
become apparent. We refer to race consciousness.
Our colored Lutheran members indeed love and
respect their white pastors, but the non-Luther-
ans frequently ask them: “Are there not enough
preachers among our own race? Why must you have
a white man for your preacher?” Last winter our
colored vicar in X. induced two mothers to promise
to bring their children to be baptized. But on the
appointed Sunday only one mother brought her
children. Why had the other woman not come?
Because she had learned in the meantime that not
the colored student, but a white pastor would baptize
the children. That is an important reason why we
ought to educate colored mission-workers. As long
as we have white workers among the Negroes, and
that will be the case for still a considerable time, —
this race consciousness will be a real hindrance to
the progress of our work.

4. Also the lodges give our missionaries consider-
able trouble. While the lodge evil may be bad
enough everywhere, it seems to be worse among the
colored people of our country. One of our oldest
Negro pastors, John McDavid, writes: “At this
day not the sectarian preachers nor the sectarian
churches are our principal opponents, but the secret
societies, or lodges. Probably no people is so
enamored with the lodge and bound hand and foot
by it as just the Negro people. The lodges are sup-