The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1929, Page 93

Transcription machine transcription, uncorrected

⤓ Download .txt · copy text

THE LUTHERAN PIONEER.

93

Christ’s disciples, we must always confess our love
and faith by our deeds. It was said of His first dis-
ciples that men “took knowledge of them that they
had been with Jesus.” True, we cannot be with
Him as they were, to hear Him speak those wonder-
ful words of life, but we may be with Him con-
stantly by prayer.

China Famine. — The famine in China involves
about 20,000,000, and thousands are dying daily.
Plant life is completely gone in many sections, and
there is no prospect of a harvest this spring. Many
are wandering hopelessly from place to place. In-
stances are frequent where whole families commit
suicide to escape the pangs of hunger. Wives, young
girls, and boys are sold or given away. In many
cases parents are known to have destroyed their
children.

Losses Due to Change of Residence. — At the
convention of the Episcopalian Church recently
held in Washington, D. C., it was reported that the
annual loss of members to that Church due to mov-
ing from place to place is between 30,000 and
40,000. Our losses in this regard also are great.
Every one ought to cooperate, so that such losses
may be decreased.

Where Much of Our Money Goes. — The people
of the United States spend every year for the opera-
tion of pleasure automobiles the enormous sum
of $3,500,000,000 ; for tobacco, over $2,000,000,000 ;
for candy, over $1,000,000,000; for soft drinks,
$750,000,000; and they give to the Church
$469,000,000. Is this the proper proportion ?

Incidental Ministry.

How one minister spends his “vacation” is de-
scribed by Dr. Burt Smith in the Parish School.
Dr. F. B. Schmitt of St. Paul’s Lutheran Church,
Newark, O., takes a month’s vacation each year
along the sparsely settled shores of Lake Hughes in
Northern Michigan. For the past eight seasons he
and his wife have occupied a cabin near Steuben,
Mich., where hemlock is plentiful and where, in con-
sequence, there are a number of lumber-camps.

The lumberjacks and their families live in tar-
paper shacks, and their nearest church is thirty-five
miles away. Many of the younger people were born
in the camps and have had no opportunity of relig-
ious contact throughout their lives.

When Pastor Schmitt realized this dearth of
religious privilege, he decided to make it a matter

of earnest prayer and a constant topic of conversa-
tion. He found the people of the community thirst-
ing for the Gospel and ready to welcome him with
open arms. So he began his “incidental ministry,”
which occupies practically his entire time and atten-
tion during what used to be a vacation period each
summer. He told another that, distances being great
and travel difficult, he was hampered in the amount
of visiting and preaching he could do. Overhearing
his statement, a friend, who is neither a church-
member nor a professing Christian, arranged to
provide an automobile to permit the pastor to ex-
tend his service into remoter sections. Many bap-
tisms of children and adults have been performed
on request, and the people have had the Gospel
preached to them.

Dr. Smith, who tells the story of Dr. Schmitt,
comments: “When a minister on his ‘month’s vaca-
tion’ becomes concerned about the religious state of
the people living in the woods and making their’
living as lumberjacks, the proof is clear that he
puts his ministerial office above pleasures or earned
rest.” — NV. L. C. News Bulletin.

0

Sowing the Seed.

A mission-worker gave several foreign-language
Gospels of St. John to some little girls outside
a church who were listening to the singing. A few
weeks later three of these girls returned with their
mothers. The women told the minister that, if his
church taught what was printed in those little gos-
pels, they wanted to come and learn more about the
“blessed story.” Within less than a year, due to this
good seed, three families became active and respected
members of the church. The very shadows of
a cathedral lengthen on good ground.

Clergymen and pastors, in calling upon their
members, usually leave their cards when parish-
ioners are not at home. A young minister in Phila-
delphia recently decided to buy four hundred copies
of the Gospel of St. Matthew and four hundred Gos-
pels of St. John to use instead of calling-cards.
A word from him written on the back of the cover
made these little books particularly precious to those
who received them. It gave them an individuality
of their own.

What do people usually carry in the pockets of
their automobiles? Here is an ingenious place in
which to store some of the living seed. When a car
is stopped, the wondrous words that are old, but ever
new may be read. Boats must wait for time and