The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1928, Page 131

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THE LUTHERAN PIONEER.

131

ported and encouraged in every way possible by
the Negro preachers of all church denominations.
Almost all of our prominent black men and women
belong to one or more lodges. Negro preachers
do not only themselves belong to lodges, but they
use every possible opportunity to further the interest
of the lodge. They preach the annual sermon for
these societies, laud them to the very skies, and
speak in most commendatory terms of their beney-
olences and good works. In short, the lodge exerts
such a mighty influence upon the colored people
that no Negro of any prominence fails to belong to
one or more lodges. Most of our colored people are
of the opinion that they cannot exist unless they be-
long to them. Among Negro churches our Lutheran
Church is the only one, as far as my knowledge goes,
that lifts up its voice against the lodges. In the
light of Scripture we must warn against them as
Christless associations. We must expose their benev-
olences as self-love and selfishness and their lodge
worship as idolatry. We do not permit them to enter
our churches as lodges and oppose them publicly
and in private. Because of this our attitude we be-
come the object of their hatred and opposition, and
they leave nothing undone to hinder our work and
destroy it. They are ever busy in their endeavors
to entice our members into their societies and move
every stone to prevent people from joining our con-
gregations or from visiting our services. They give
us more worry and cause us more chagrin than we
experience from any other people. Only too often
they succeed in enticing this or that member of ours
into the net of the lodge, and all our endeavors to
free them from the net are frequently in vain. What
a curse the lodges are for our poor people! They
deprive them of their hard-earned money, keep them
in poverty, and teach them doctrines that lead to
hell. It is a hard, bitter fight that we are obliged
to carry on against them. The hindrances we meet
often seem to be irremovable, but we do not despair.
We continue to fight with the sword of the Spirit,
which is the Word of God, against this enemy of
Christ and His Church and are certain that with
God’s help we shall finally obtain the victory.”

God gives our missionaries happy experiences
and victories now and then. But the fact remains
that lodgery is a great hindrance to our work.

5. We finally mention the nomadic life of the
Negro as a hindrance to our work. Undesirable
local conditions, the hankering for easier work and
better pay, often induce our people, who in most
. cases are not the owners of their homes, to make

frequent changes in their domiciles. In our quar-.

terly reports our missionaries are asked to report on
“Losses by Removal to Parts Unknown” and “Num-
ber of Members Temporarily Absent.” In one con-
gregation twenty out of 139 persons are temporarily °
absent; in another congregation forty-three out of
125 persons; in a third, eleven out of fifty-three;
and in a fourth, ten of forty-three; in a fifth, four-
teen of thirty persons; and since these temporary
absentees frequently change their addresses, the
missionaries only too often lose all trace of them.
For this reason not a few must be stricken from the
membership lists of our stations.

These are the most important hindrances with
which our missionaries must cope. Whoever con-
siders these hindrances to any extent will no doubt
be inclined to say that the Colored Missions can
surely not report great successes. But we must not
forget the missionary promise of the Lord: “Lo,
I am with you alway, even unto the end of the
world.” This glorious promise assures us also of
the success of this mission.

Successes.

The Lord Jesus, in accordance with His promise,
has been with us during the past two years (1926
to 1928) and has blessed the labors of our mission-
aries to such an extent that a goodly number of new
members could be added to our congregations. Two
years ago the number of baptized members in the
care of our missionaries was 4,917. To-day the
baptized membership is 5,905. This represents a
net gain of 988 in two years. This is by far the
greatest gain in the period of two years which the
history of our Colored Missions is able to record. -
Given in percentages, the growth during the last
two years was 19.3 per cent. We can better under-
stand what this figure of 19.3 per cent. means when
we compare it with the gain of one of our synods.
The Missouri Synod had a gain of 22,945 persons in
the last two years, that is, a growth of 2.1 per cent.
From the happy success of our Colored Missions it
must be apparent that the exalted Lord Jesus was
with our missionaries and that He stood by them
faithfully in their despised and arduous work. To
Him, therefore, be all praise, honor, and glory for
the progress our mission has enjoyed! All glory to
Him who has given His blessing to the sowing and
planting done by our dear missionaries in church
and school! .

The statistical statement that the number of
baptized members at the present time is 988 greater
than it was two years ago does not express the whole
and complete increase which the Lord has given