The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1930, Page 114

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114

THE LUTHERAN PIONEER.

Read and Ponder.

Our expenses for pleasures and luxuries are
simply enormous. The people of our country spend
almost incredible sums of money for things that
are not really necessary. Here are a few items:
For automobiles our annual expense is more than
THREE AND A HALF BILLION DOLLARS; our expense
account for tobacco exceeds TWO BILLION DOLLARS;
for candies the bill is more than ONE BILLION
DOLLARS; for soft drinks it is 750 MILLION DOLLARS
EVERY YEAR. Over against these enormous expen-
ditures for luxuries we have an annual expense of
LESS THAN FIVE HUNDRED MILLION DOLLARS FOR
ALL CHURCH INTERESTS. In view of these figures,
does it look as if we were heeding the admonition
of the Lord to seek first the kingdom of God?

The writer showed these figures to a brother
pastor a few days ago, and then he submitted to
him the following facts taken from the Literary
Digest: In a large congregation, consisting of over
500 families, 145 families paid nothing at all. The
remaining families contributed as follows: Forty
gave less than the cost of an auto tire a year; 119
gave less than the cost of two tires in a year; five
families gave a weekly contribution equal to the cost
of an ice-cream soda; seven families pledged the
cost of a package of gum per week; twenty-eight
families promised to give every week a sum equal to
a@ movie admission; forty-six families contributed
every week the cost of a half-pound of candy;
twenty-two families agreed to pay each week a sum
equal to the cost of two and one half gallons of gaso-
line; and fifty-one families pledged per week what
would equal the cost of a man’s “smokes” for a day.

After we had studied this “set-up,” we both, my
colleague and I, agreed that this was hardly treating
God and His kingdom in a fair way, and my brother
pastor added: “I am sure that my people make a
better showing than that.” He agreed to look over
the pledges his people had made in last fall’s every-
member canvass and to report his findings upon the
occasion of his next visit.

You will realize that I expectantly looked for-
ward to his next visit and earnestly hoped it might
be right soon. It was probably a week later when
he came. After he had made himself at home in
my study, I impatiently waited for him to make his
report, but he apparently was interested in every
_ other subject except the one I was most concerned
_ about. Finally I asked him outright what his find-

“ings were as far as the contributions of his members

were concerned. With a rueful smile he answered,

“The contributions of my people are less than those
of that congregation on which the Digest reported !”’

How many pastors would not have to say the
same?

However, what can we do to remedy the situa-
tion? Must we take for granted that our people
are really so indifferent to the needs of God’s king-
dom as the above figures seem to indicate? Is it
not rather true that our people are such poor givers
because they do not realize the needs of the Church
nor their need of the Church? If our members
could be made to see the financial wants of the
Church in order to carry on its great work of ser-
vice; if we could induce the members to consider
fully that, being in the world, the Church has its
material needs just as has every organization on
earth, the members would most certainly respond
with the necessary assistance.

And then our people do not realize what they
owe to the Church and its unselfish ministrations.
Too many among us just take the Church for
granted and only realize what it all means to us
when we are deprived of its blessings. It is with
the Church just as it is with health, parents, or
wife — we learn its great value and our obligation
to it when deprived of its service. F. J. L.

General Conference, Springfield, IIl.,
July 31—August 4.

Pastors, teachers, and lay delegates from the
various congregations of our wide-spread Colored
Missions field met at Springfield, Ill., July 31 to
August 4. This is the third biennial conference
held. We expect to bring a full report of this im-
portant meeting in our next issue. Three impor-
tant papers were presented: Rev. J. W. Fuller read
a paper on “The Negro Lodge,” Prof. F. &. Mayer
of the Springfield Seminary read a timely paper on
the Augsburg Confession, and Prof. Theo. Graebner
of the St. Louis Seminary read an essay on “The
Layman’s Activity in the Work of the Church.”
We understand that a short exegetical paper was also
presented, but are unable to give the name of the
author. f

The General Conference also discussed matters
of directly practical value, such as the feasibility of
organizing the conference into a synod; the desir-
ability of introducing the Common Order of Service
into all our colored congregations; the practica-
bility of establishing a printing office for our Col-
ored Missions; and the like. :