The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1929, Page 71

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.a few disappointments.

THE LUTHERAN PIONEER. 71

appointment of practically every member to one or
more of nine different committees, Chairman Hill
called on the field superintendent for a report. The
Rey. Frank Alston said in substance: “When our
Director Drewes personally visited the churches and
schools in the field last fall, he found many things
which brought joy to him;. but he also met with
In a number of instances it
appeared to the Director that the Lord’s work was not
being carried on in church and school as vigorously
as it should be.” ‘Then followed a lively discussion,
in which, among many other things, it was pointed
out that in some cases the small number of members
present at the churches to greet the Director was
due to the fact that the meetings were held during
the week and then quite often upon rather short
notice. “We have found many reasons for the lack
of more visible progress, but do we blame our-
selves as much as we should?” “The law of inertia
is, “Things do not move unless you move them.’ ”
A committee was finally appointed to make as
thorough a study of conditions in the field as the
time would permit and to present the findings, in-
cluding possible recommendations, before the close
of conference. ’

On Saturday afternoon Prof. Walter Beck sub-
mitted a report written by him, which is a model
of its kind. Instead of delving into the past‘activi-
ties of the workers in the field, the committee
concentrated its efforts upon preparing a set of
instructions for the superintendent, the pastors,
teachers, congregations, and the conference which,
if carefully followed, cannot but be productive of
good results. Conference realized the importance
of the proposed regulations as a means of system-
atizing mission-work and therefore adopted the
report without changing a comma. To be sure, un-
less we are actuated by the love of Christ and
a genuine passion for souls, the enforcement of
man-made rules can bring about only a kind of
artificial life such as a Russian professor claims to
have produced when he, as he states, kept the severed
head of a dog alive for more than three hours by
means of a pumping arrangement,

If the conference had done no more than to
pledge itself to carry out all provisions of the com-

_ mittee report, the precious time and money spent in

Salisbury would be a good investment. But con-
ference did more than this. It also heard a discourse
on “The Historical Background of Luther’s Cate-
chism,” which Dr. Nau delivered without notes. The
divisions of the subject were: “1. Instruction of the
young in the Middle Ages. 2. The service rendered

by Luther. 3. Catechetical instruction in the
American Lutheran Church.”

The Rev. Fred Foard’s paper on “The Difference
of the Lutheran Church and the Reformed Church
in Spirit and Practise” was heard in part. He was
requested to review briefly at the next conference
the principles by which the Reformed churches are
guided and then to enlarge on the Reformed practise.

Two catechizations for the first three grades, one
by Miss Harris, on the Bible, and the other by
Teacher Frank Thompson, on Lesson 14 of the
Lutheran Catechism, were held under conditions
that were far from ideal since the conference served
as the primary grades. If all teachers expend as
much time preparing their lessons as these two
teachers spent on their conference paper, the pupils
in our schools will receive a thorough instruction in
the chief parts of Christian doctrine and the teachers
themselves will be greatly benefited.

Teacher John McDowell’s essay on “Social
Activities of the Teacher” raised the interesting
question, “To what extent shall our Lutheran
teachers take part in civic or community affairs?”
Since many in conference believed that conditions
which the worker must meet in this mission differ
almost fundamentally from those in other parts of
the Church, the question will undoubtedly form the
subject of a special paper at a later conference.
“Public school teachers must serve in different ways.
They are for the general public. Our teachers are
to serve the Church.”

The Rev. Wm. O. Hill preached a Lenten sermon
on John 19, 16. 17 injthe Communion service on
Friday evening.

The women of the church served an almost be-
wildering variety of food in the school-hall. They
also deserve to be complimented for keeping the
church neat and clean. A clean church commands
respect.

We have space for only a few of the many fine
expressions heard during the discussions : —

“Remain a Lutheran church. The more Lu-
theran I make my church, the better excuse I have
for maintaining another church in my city.”

“Tf one seeks to ape other churches, people will
say: ‘Why shall we go to the little frame Lutheran
church in the back alley? We are going to follow the
crowd.’” Thanks to the greater liberality of fellow-
Christians, the newer Lutheran churches are well
located and are a credit to their communities.

“The Lutheran practise attracted my attention,
and J liked it. Later I learned the doctrine.”

“The biggest difference must be found in the

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