The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1931, Page 115

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THE LUTHERAN PIONEER.

115

roll now stands at thirty-eight souls, seventeen com-
municants, five voting members, — not a large
number, but faithful souls. The prospects are
bright for a strong congregation after all these years
of toil and discouragement.

On the picture you will see the teacher, Mrs.
Baxter, with some of her day-school children.

The East Selma Mission is an attempt by our
Alabama Lutherans to express their appreciation
and gratitude for the blessings they have received
through the Lutheran Church. Although they
themselves are only members of mission-congrega-
tions and far from being self-supporting, they re-
alize that they also have a duty toward their fellow-
men, the duty, yea, the privilege, to help spread
the Gospel among others less fortunate than them-
selves. Witness the collections of the past for India,

Mrs. Hattie Baxter’s School in East Selma, Ala.

China, and Africa and of the present for East
Selma, which is another cause for rejoicing; for
this year’s Easter effort in these so-called hard
times again netted over $700.

To God alone all glory and honor for what we
have been permitted to do in East Selma for the
upbuilding of Christ’s kingdom! And may these
few lines prove an encouragement to all whose
hearts are filled with love for missions, whether at
home or abroad! Epwanrp A. WEstcorr.

Northern Pastoral Conference of Our
Colored Missions.

The Northern Pastoral Conference of our Col-
ored Missions met for its semiannual convention at
St. Louis, June 10 and 11. The sessions of June 10
were held in St. Philip’s Church, of which Rev.
Schulze is pastor. The chairman, Pastor Carter of

Chicago, opened the conference with prayer and in
his opening address stated that the purpose of this
meeting was to have the members of the conference
gain inspiration for their work and by hearing of
the progress and difficulties of the other fields to
gain encouragement and help for themselves.

Pastor Carter also delivered a very interesting
paper on “The Negro Lodge.” In speaking of the
characteristics of this lodge, he pointed out that
the Negro lodge cannot be called Christless in the
same sense that the white lodges are Christless, as
the Negro lodge makes frequent use of the name
of Jesus Christ. However, it is Christless because
the Christ whom it speaks of is not the Christ of
the Bible. That Christ is not the Savior; for, like
in all other similar organizations, they are their
own saviors. Their teaching is salvation by char-
acter and good works. Therefore such a lodge is
no fit place for a Lutheran Christian to be found in.

In the afternoon various members of the Mis-
sion Board gave us an interesting résumé of the
proposed mission in Africa. Rey. Walther briefly
gave a complete history of the movement until now,
and the comments of Dr. Mueller and Rev. Wisler
gave the conference a good idea of the work that is
being done and caused the hope to be expressed that
those people in Africa will soon hear a Lutheran
missionary telling them more of the Savior of the
world.

Pastor Schulze outlined the missionary move-
ment known as “the Call of the Hour” and urged
every one to use the material available in working
in the various fields.

Pastor Mueller of Cleveland gave an interesting
talk on avoiding the summer slump in church
attendance.

The evening services were held at St. Philip’s,
during which Holy Communion was celebrated.
Pastor Rau of Cincinnati preached the pastoral
sermon, basing his topic, “We Preach Christ Cru-
cified,” on 1 Cor. 1, 23. 24.

The sessions of the following day were held at
Grace Church, of which Rev. Fey is pastor. The
morning was occupied in discussing Pastor Rau’s
paper on “The Curse of Canaan.” In the paper
it was stated that most likely Canaan was cursed
because he, like his father Ham, showed himself
to be an ungodly person. And this curse of
being a servant of servant was fulfilled, as history
points out. However, we must not forget that these
people also should hear of the Savior, and it should
be our task to preach Christ to them.

_ The afternoon was profitably spent in hearing