The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1931, Page 139

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THE LUTHERAN PIONEER. 139

Itinerant Missionary Teachers. — The Home
Mission Board of the Northern Illinois District
(Missouri Synod) has called three of this year’s
graduates to open new missions with schools wher-
ever the opportunity presents itself. — The Oregon
and Washington District is seriously considering
doing the same thing.

A City Missionary Canvass. — On Pentecost
about seventy-five canvassers, members of our con-
gregation at Topeka, Kans., went out to canvass the
city or as much of it as possible. They canvassed
ninety city blocks west of their church. The terri-
tory surveyed is described as the best-churched part
of the city. The canvassers made 1,588 calls, found
437 not at home, 956 belonged to churches, and 194.
were without church connection. These the can-
vassers classed as A, B, and C prospects, good, fair,
and poor. The A class had fifty-two, the B class
seventy-nine. In these two classes they found forty-
two children not attending Sunday-school. Im-
mediate results of the canvass: two children; four
others promised; two parents expressed the wish to
have their children baptized; six expressed a desire

_to have the pastor call on them soon; and a few

Lutherans who had remained in hiding so far were
found. Lesson: Let us make canvasses in all our
towns and cities!

Home Missions in South Dakota. — At the

_ present time twenty-six missionaries are serving

subsidized stations in the Home Mission field of the
South Dakota District (Missouri Synod). These
men are serving sixty-one stations and institutions.
They have in their care 3,324 baptized members,
1,475 communicants, 96 schoolchildren, and 699
Sunday-school pupils. These mission-places raised
for home purposes the sum of $16,905.24, and for
outside benevolences they gathered $2,786.61. The
District Home Mission Treasury subsidized these
stations to the amount of $17,413.51. Five new
places were established in the past year.

Thirty Years of Institutional Mission-Work.—
During the thirty years that our congregations in
Milwaukee have carried on their blessed work in the
various public institutions of the city the chapel
services conducted have been attended by 346,522
persons. During this period the missionaries made
38,122 sick-calls; they communed 10,882 persons,
baptized 571, buried 491, and confirmed 258. This
ever-increasing work which our Church is doing in
the various public institutions is a most blessed,
though very arduous work. We feel that it requires
the bestowal of a particurly great measure of divine

grace upon our institutional workers; and we also
feel that God is giving them from His fulness grace
for grace, judged by the success which is attending
their work.

Travels of a Dollar Bill.— At Waukegan, Ill.,
the Chamber of Commerce set out to learn just how
a dollar bill was employed in the course of two
weeks. A small circular was attached to the bill on
which the spender was asked to tell how he used the
money. At the end of the two weeks it was found
that the dollar had been used five times for salary,
five times for tobacco, five times for cigarets, three
times for candy, three times for meals, twice for
men’s furnishings, once for automobile accessories,
once for bacon, once for washing powder, once for
garters, twice for shaves, once for toothpaste, but
not once for a book or a magazine, never for charity,
and never for church!

Lutherans in Ontario, Canada.—This province
has a population of about three million. Almost
70,000 of these told the census takers that they were
Lutherans. However, hardly 45,000 are enrolled as
baptized members of the various Lutheran church-
bodies. This would mean that fully 25,000 nominal
Lutherans are not connected with any Lutheran
congregation. These 25,000 persons claiming to be
Lutherans, but not worshiping at a Lutheran altar
are a distinct challenge to our brethren in Ontario.
May God grant them the willingness and strength
to answer the challenge!

About Giving. — “People do not give according
to their means. They give according to their in-
terest. Where the heart is, there the treasure will be
also. Create a lively interest in a man’s heart for
any cause, and you need not concern yourself about
his gifts to that cause. We do not give to causes in
which we have no interest.” —Watchman-Examiner.

Is There Any Further Need for Foreign Mis-
sions ? — Look at these few items and then tell us
whether you do not fully realize that there is a need
for the preaching of Christ among the heathen: In
India there are 330,000,000 persons, of whom pos-

sibly about 5,000,000 are Christians. In all China ©

there is but one Protestant missionary to every
70,000 persons and one Christian mission to every
30,000 persons. Does the fact that among 400,000,000
people there are not 2,000,000 Christians indicate
that the missionary need of China has been met?
Of Africa’s 150,000,000 less than two per cent. have
been reached by the Gospel of Jesus. In South
America and Central America there are likewise
millions of unreached pagans.