The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1929, Sheet 175

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THE LUTHERAN PIONEER.

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178

Missionary Zeal. — Almost three million copies
of the missionary number of the Seventh-day Ad-
ventists’ Watchman Magazine are published this
year in twenty-two languages for use in their
“Harvest Ingathering” campaign for foreign and
home missions. ‘The Seventh-day Adventists are
working in 127 countries, and 279 languages. They
are supporting 7,803 missionary evangelists, physi-
cians, and teachers. They are further conducting
54 sanitariums, 662 schools, and 38 printing-plants.
Twenty years ago the missionary budget of this
denomination was less than $300,000; to-day the
budget is $4,500,000! Last year each member of
the denomination contributed an average of over $75
for evangelistic work.

The Curse of Heathenism. — “Throughout Asia
and Africa the practical religion of the masses of
the people is a combination of demonism and some
form of ancestor worship. It is a religion with no
joy, no love, hardly anything but fear. They are in
constant dread of evil spirits that may be lurking
by the roads they travel, in the water they drink, the
clothing they wear, the houses they live in. Their
religious exercises are mainly a painful, costly, un-
ceasing effort to buy off and ward off evil spirits.”

Early Work among the American Negroes. —
“The first successful worker in this field was the
Rey. Samuel Thomas, of Goose Creek Parish in
South Carolina. The records show that he was en-
gaged as early as 1695 and that ten years later he
reported twenty black communicants.... By 1705
he had brought under his instruction as many as
1,000 slaves.” (Woodson, The History of the Negro
Church.)

A School for Negro Evangelists. — In 1743 there
was established at Charleston, S. C., a special school
to train Negroes for participation in missionary
work. The two teachers of this school were men of
color who had been thoroughly instructed in the
fundamentals of education and in the doctrines of
the Church of England. An evening school for
adults was conducted in connection with the mis-
sionary institute. During the twenty years of its
existence many youths were prepared for evangelis-
tic service.

A Growing Missionary Society. — The Women’s
Missionary Society of the United Lutheran Church
in America, according to its last report, numbers
58,769 active members. This is an increase of one
and one-third per cent. over the preceding year. In
addition the society lists 10,199 active members of
young women’s societies and 42,473 children in the
so-called “Light Brigades.”

Opposition to Work among the Negro Slaves. —
In all the colonies the missionaries found much op-
position to their work among the Negroes from the
white planters, who feared that they would have to
set free their slaves after they had become Chris-
tians. Many planters were of the opinion that the
training given by the missionaries might make the
slaves unwilling to work. This opposition to re-
ligious work among the Negroes was less pronounced
in Pennsylvania than elsewhere, due to the influence
of the Quakers and German Lutherans.

Bible Distribution in China. — During the past
year the National Bible Society of Scotland has
distributed more than three million Scripture por-
tions in China. Despite the confusion of the civil
war these Bible portions found purchasers and
readers. Not long ago this same society sent large
consignments of Bibles to Tibet and Turkestan.

Danish Lutheran Mission among the Indians. —
The mission-school at Oaks, Okla., maintained by
the United Danish Lutheran Church for work
among the Cherokee Indians, was opened on Sep-
tember 2 with a total enrolment of 95, of whom 13
are pupils in the junior high school. The primary
and intermediate rooms are filled to capacity, the
former in charge of Miss Helen Sager, of Fertile,
Towa, the latter in charge of Miss Edna Simonsen,
of Hampton, Nebr. Rey. C. A. Vammen is in charge
of the work. Two Indian children who graduated
at the junior high school last spring are continuing
their studies this fall at Wolbach, Nebr., and are
living at the home of Rev. and Mrs. S. S. Kaldahl.

A Unique Prize Contest. — A free pilgrimage to
Lourdes has been offered by an Italian periodical
to that Catholic priest who destroys, or delivers for
destruction, the largest number of Protestant Bibles
and the greatest quantity of Protestant reading-
matter. The second prize in the contest is made up
of a quantity of Roman Catholic reading-matter.

AN INSTITUTION OF MISSIONS.

The Lutheran Sanitarium at Wheat
Ridge, Colo., is unique among institutions
of its kind. While its equipment is of the
best to render the highest type of physical
service, its real claim to the support of the
Church rests upon the fact that it is a mis-
sionary institution, comforting the sufferer
by directing him to the grace of God in
Christ Jesus. $75,000 will be needed for
Wheat Ridge in 1930. Under the auspices of the Walther
Lea;
will be sold again to raise this sum. every purchase is
a contribution to the cause of mercy and love practised
in our Wheat Ridge Sanitarium. Order your seals from
the young Beople of your church or from the Walther
League, 6438 Eggleston Ave., Chicago, Ill. :

e the well-known Wheat Ridge Christmas Seals .