The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1931, Page 187

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THE LUTHERAN PIONEER. 187

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York, to assist at the commissioning of Rev. Otto
Sieker for the work in the sanatoria of the Saranac
region of New York State. Pastor F. H. Lindeman
preached on “The Compassionate Christ,” and
President Arthur Brunn performed the act of
commissioning with the assistance of a number of
other pastors. Pastor Sieker’s address is Box 14,
Saranac Lake, N. Y. God bless Pastor Sieker in
his important work among the thousands of victims
of the Great White Plague!

A Call to Youth. — “The Call of the Hour to
our Church’s youth requires our young men and young
women to dedicate their lives to the Cross and to
cooperate with God in His eternal missionary yearn-
ings for the souls of men. The Call of the Hour
is not for temporal wisdom, but for spiritual power ;
not for plans, but for a passion for souls; not for
money, but for sacrifice; not for temporally minded
youth, but for a youth fired with the Spirit of the
living God. The Call of the Hour is a plea for
the realization of the Great Commission in the
hearts of our youth.”

Home Missions in Minnesota. — The Minne-
sota District of the Missouri Synod carries on Home
Missions at 135 stations. The chief work is done
by fifty pastors, who devote their whole time to this
blessed work. The great mission-field of the Dis-
trict is in the northern part of the State. Over
9,000 persons are served. In the past six years ten
new stations have been opened in the Twin Cities,
Minneapolis and St. Paul. Most of these stations
are in a flourishing condition.

New Director of Home Missions. — A number
of our Districts have for years had directors for
their Home Mission enterprises, and invariably the
result has been most satisfactory. The increase
in overhead expense has been more than met by
greater receipts from mission-congregations and
actual savings in the conduct of the work. The
last District to call a full-time director for its
Home Missions is the Atlantic District. The Rev.
Louis Henze will have entered upon his work as
Director of Home Missions in the Atlantic District
by the time these lines are read by our subscribers.
God bless him in his important work!

The Important Question. — Our talents, how-
ever few they may be, are to be put to use. The
question that should most concern us is not, “How
many talents have I received?” but, “What am
I doing with the talents that were given me?”
You have a Savior; what are you doing to bring
this Savior to others?

Redeeming the Time.— While in the United
States on furlough, Rey, Milton Germann Kuolt,
one of our missionaries in India, is taking a course
at the New York State College for Teachers in
Albany, N. Y. He is working for his Master’s
degree, the possession of which will be of great
value to him in India as the supervisor of our many
mission-schools.

Bringing a Sacrifice for Missions. — We read
the following in one of our District bulletins: “Do
we know what sacrifices are? Would you be ready
to do what Missionary Lutz and wife did? When
they departed for their field of labor in India, they
were compelled, for educational reasons, to leave
several of their children with friends. They will
not see them for seven years!” That is bringing
a sacrifice, is it not? When giving our financial
contribution for missions, let us think of the sacri-
fice that these and other missionaries must bring
to serve as our substitutes.

This Year’s Mission-Day Collections. — In one
of the many congregational bulletins that are kindly
sent us we read this: “Not only were the services
well attended, not only did we receive splendid
encouragement from the words of our festival
speaker, but to our joy the festival offering exceeded
that of last year by a wide margin, running up to
the very gratifying sum of $590, about $200 more
than our offering of last year.’ This is in accor-
dance with the writer’s personal experience. At
most of the mission-day services at which he was
privileged to be present the collections were greater
than last year. This in spite of the depression!
When God makes the heart willing to give, it finds
a way to carry out its wishes.

Oldest Lutheran Church in America. — The
oldest Lutheran congregation existing in America
to-day is St. Matthew’s, New York City, which is
a member of the Missouri Synod. Its charter is
dated 1664, though it existed under oppression and
without formal organization before. At first this
congregation was Dutch, then German, but now it
is almost exclusively English.

A Missionary among Bandits. — Rev. B. W.
Nelson, a Norwegian Lutheran missionary, was
seized by Chinese bandits a year ago in Honan
Province and did not regain his freedom till just
recently. But he made the best of use of his year
in captivity by witnessing steadfastly for Christ,
thus walking in the footsteps of Paul, who, while
a prisoner at Rome, diligently and courageously
preached the Gospel.