The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1928, Page 141

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THE LUTHERAN PIONEER.

141

(1926) he made a dozen wooden play-carts for
children, nicely painted red and green, from dis-
carded apple-boxes. These carts were sold at a
picnic that the money might be a contribution to
the debt fund for the chapel. These contributions
were not large in value, but like the widow who
gave her mite, this man contributed all he had.

Humorous and Yet Pathetic. — At some of the
larger public institutions there are also children
who receive religious instruction from the mis-
sionary. One morning, in a Wisconsin institution,
the missionary pastor spoke to the Sunday-school
about creation. He told the children that God
created all things out of nothing, by the mere
power of His word. He concluded by saying that
Adam was the first man created by God. After a
little while the pastor requested the class to review
this lesson. Questions were put by him and
promptly answered by the children. Finally he
asked, “Tell me, children, who was the first man
created by God?” Here was a golden opportunity
for little Willie to save the honor of his class and
win the praise of his teacher. With beaming coun-
tenance and the attitude of a conquering hero,
assuring himself that he was being seen and would
be heard, Willie answered, “George Washington !” —
Beneath the humor of the situation is a note of
tragedy. There are some twenty-seven million chil-
dren and young people under the age of twenty-five
in our country who have no religious instruction of
any kind, who know perhaps less of the saving truth
than this little boy. What a challenge to our Church
to whom the Savior gave the command: “Suffer the
little children to come unto Me”! What an appeal
to our Christians whom God has blessed so richly in
their spiritual and bodily needs!

Publishes Telugu Lutheran Paper. — A monthly
church-paper in the Telugu language has come into
existence in the mission-field of the Lutheran Joint
Synod of Ohio in India. The paper, which is
published in Nayudupet by the Rev. C. Scriba under
the name of Messenger of the Congregations Con-
nected with the Evangelical Lutheran Mission of
Ohio, sells for a price of three annas a year, plus
postage. The subscription price in American money
is six cents. Its purpose is to disseminate informa-
tion of common interest to the Indian Christians
connected with the mission. — NV. L. C. B.

Becomes “Coast Missionary.” — Rev. C. K.
Malmin, of Heron Lake, Minn., has taken up his
duties as the first “coast missionary in Alaska” of
the Norwegian Lutheran Church of America. The

new position, established by the Board of Home
Missions of that body, is one to which great impor-
tance is attached because of the wide range of duties.
Pastor Malmin, as professor, spent some time at
Nome and was for a time missionary in charge of
the Lutheran Seamen’s Home at Ketchikan. His
new work will be that of “spiritual prospector,”
covering a territory two thousand miles in extent,
with his northernmost point at a new mission at
Iglo. —N.L.C. B.

“The Statistical Review” of the Japan Religious
Bureau states that out of sixty-five million inhabi-
tants of Japan there are forty-eight million Bud-
dhists, seventeen million Shintoists, and 210,000
adult Christians. However, although but thirty-
two one-hundredths per cent. of the population are
Christian, the students in colleges and universities
are forty per cent. If college-trained men and
women will rule the Japanese world of the future,
it is easy to see that a day of growth is just ahead
for the Christian Church.

Jews Accept the Savior.— The Jewish Gazette
(Vienna) regrets that what it terms the “baptism
plague” had spread in that city during the past
twelve years. It says that twelve thousand Jews in
Vienna have joined the Christian Church, about one
half becoming Catholic and the other half Prot-
estant. In Hungary it is said forty thousand Jews
have been baptized, and in Budapest Presbyterians
alone claim to have received 2,500. In the Ukraine
many Christian congregations are said to have been
organized, which number their members exclusively
among the Jews.

Missionary Districts. — Of the 7,000 communi-
cant members in the Oregon and Washington
District of the Missouri Synod, 4,000 are members
of mission-congregations, and of the 9,000 com-
municant members of the California and Nevada
District of the same body no less than 5,500 are
members of mission-churches.. Of 4,000 members
found in the churches of the same Synod in and -
about Los Angeles, 3,000 are in mission-congrega-
tions. The Home Mission opportunities in and
about Los Angeles are almost unbounded. In 1920
the population of the city was 575,000; to-day it
has reached almost: 1,500,000! And people who
claim to know predict that this marvelous growth
promises to continue in the future. What a loud
challenge to our Church!

Sowing the Seed in a City’s Institution. — From
a recent report of the institutional missions of our
brethren in Milwaukee we cull the following: Ser-