The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1930, Page 77

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THE LUTHERAN PIONEER.

Items of Missionary Interest.
(By the Eprror.)

Communion Statistics.— We are pleased to note
that our Negro members are frequent attendants at
the Lord’s Table. Their average attendance at Com-
munion is considerably above that of our white con-
gregations and seems to indicate that spiritual life
among our colored members is more vigorous than
among our white Christians.

Station KFU0.—“KFUO is doing a great work.
Not only our Lutheran people, but many of our Re-
formed neighbors declare the sermons and addresses
of our Station as the best sent out on the air.” So
writes one of our Lutheran pastors. A non-Lutheran
clergyman writes: “May I take this time to express
my appreciation of your programs? The excellent
thinking, good expression, and spiritual interpreta-
tion of the Word of God are quite a contrast to most
radio programs. We all love the high-class music,
and it gives us much satisfaction to hear your
players praise God in music.”

Slovak Mission in Buffalo. — Due to the initia-
tive of Missionary Wind, of Buffalo, a Slovak mis-
sion has been organized in that city. Rev. George
Pankuch, a Slovak missionary, had forty-seven
hearers in his first service. About seventy-five
Slovaks have been gathered in Bridgeburg, Ontario,
forty-five in Welland, and over fifty in Niagara
Falls, Ontario. It:is probable that a number will
also be found in Lackawanna, N. Y.

Geronimo’s Grave. — This noted Indian brave,
who joined the Reformed Church before his death,
died hated by other Apaches. He lies buried in a
secret grave because of the fear entertained by his
relatives that, if his last resting-place were known,
it might be despoiled by those who blame him for
the downfall of the Apaches. The Wisconsin Synod
has for many years been carrying on a very success-
ful mission among the remnants of the Apaches in
Arizona.

Good Samaritan Service.—In one single month
the Toledo City Mission fed 3,250 down-and-out
men, ministered to 2,080 in the chapel services, and
furnished lodgings to 1,179. Of course, these cold
figures do not adequately express all the good that
this one outpost against distress has been able to do,
good which most comfortable people forget.

Benevolent Institutions in the United States.
There are said to be 15,600 welfare institutions in
America. Among this number we find 4,900 hos-
pitals, 2,700 children’s homes, 1,300 homes for the

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aged, 526 mental hospitals, 293 institutions for
incurables, etc. These are said to minister to
about 6,000,000 a year. The capital investment
represented by these institutions is $1,500,000,000,
and the yearly operating cost is approximately
$350,000,000.

Cost of Building Enterprises for 1930. — It
is estimated that in this year over seven bil-
lion dollars will be spent for new buildings. Of
this great amount about $220,000,000 will be used
for churches, $370,000,000 for hospitals, and
$150,000,000 for various welfare buildings.

Death of a Missionary in China. — Missionary
J.J. Lindell, a worker of the Lutheran Augustana
Synod, died at Honanfu, Honan, China, not long
ago. He died of typhus fever. Only a short time
ago this mission lost one of its most important
workers by death, Dr. C. P. Friberg.

Cannibalism in China.—A missionary in Kansu
Province, China, George Andrews, reports that can-
nibalism has not yet been checked. He claims that
he witnessed many instances where flesh was cut
from corpses, cooked, and eaten. One man who was
accused of cannibalism justified his action by saying,
“Why should I be punished for eating what dogs are
eating?” The selling of children, this missionary
claims, has only stopped because there are no buyers.
Typhus fever has killed thousands, among them
fourteen mission-workers.

Also a Distinction.— Godthaab, a village of only
380 inhabitants; is the capital of Greenland. It is
a Lutheran town and has the distinction of being the
smallest capital in the world. Hans Egede, the first
Lutheran missionary to Greenland, founded the
town in 1728, two hundred and two years ago.

A Challenge. — Fifty years ago one could have
drawn a red line fifty miles inland and parallel to
the coast all around the Continent of Africa, and
with the exception of the South African colonies
there were hardly fifty stations inside that red line.
To-day there are 1,500 stations occupied by white
missionaries, while thousands of posts are held by
the host of faithful black preachers of the Gospel. —
The advance in Africa in the last twenty-five years
has been unprecedented in the annals of missions.
The Sudan Interior Mission has made an annual
gain of 20 per cent. for the past four years. If all
the missions can keep up the same ratio of increase
for another quarter of a century, Africa may not be
Christian, but it will be Christianized. There will
be no dark parts where the light of the Gospel has
not shed its ray; there will be no tribe without its