The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1932, Page 13

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THE LUTHERAN PIONEER

13

Items of Missionary Interest.
(By the Eprror.)

Buffalo, N. Y.— On November 29, 1931, the
corner-stone was laid for our colored mission-chapel
in Buffalo. Conditions are getting very crowded at
the mission’s present home, and they loudly cry for
more room and better accommodations. We hope
to be able to bring an account of the dedication of
the new chapel in one of our next numbers.

Omaha, Nebr. — Our colored mission in Omaha
has had its first service, and while it was not an
extraordinarily well-attended service, — some of the
promoters of the new mission even may have been
disappointed that not more hearers were present, —
it is well to remember that the beginning is gen-
erally hard and that the greatest things in the world
began quite small. The first trouble the Omaha
colored missionary endeavor had was in getting a
suitable place to hold the services. After several
vain attempts a vacant store was finally secured.
Five colored and fifteen white persons attended the
first service. Several colored people looked in, but
did not stay. These will probably come back and
Many of our missions have
begun’ in the same small way. The daily papers
of Omaha kindly give our colored mission enter-
prise some very fine publicity, and this is bound
to help the work greatly. We hope to bring further
news from Omaha in the near future.

Canvasses.— A number of our colored congre-
gations have completed canvasses of the neighbor-
hoods in which they are located; others are engaged
in the important enterprise at this time; and still
others are seriously contemplating such neighbor-
hood canvasses. High Point has just completed
such a canvass; St. Philip’s, Chicago, put one on
the first Sunday of last month; Buffalo will have
its canvass as soon as the new chapel is completed;
St. Louis looks back upon’a successful canvass, and
in Springfield the seminary students are hard at
work. As the result of one recent canvass between
200 and 300 prospects were discovered.

Washington, D. C. — Student William Schiebel
of our Springfield Seminary is serving as supply
in Washington, D.C. The nature of the work to
be done in Washington among the colored people
demanded a resident worker. God bless the young
worker !

Gleanings from the Eastern Field. — Superin-
tendent Gehrke reports quite a number of accessions
on the Hastern Field. Atlanta is reaping the ben-

efit of a recent neighborhood canvass in an increased
church attendance and a number of prospects.
St. Philip’s, Chicago, received eleven new adult
members on the day of its fifth anniversary. Among
the new members are two grandfathers. On this
day of rejoicing 102 partook of Holy Communion.
The members at High Point recently made 250
visits in an attempt to increase their membership.
The catechetical class is attended by seven pupils
of the public schools. — On its recent annual Mis-
sion Sunday, Grace-Luther Memorial at Greensboro,
N. C., gathered $134.50. The Baltimore mission
last year at this time had only seven Sunday-school
pupils; to-day it has an enrolment of over forty.
At Spartanburg a live parent-teachers’ association
is doing much to increase the interest of the mem-
bers in their school, as it is encouraging the teachers
to put forth their best efforts. — Born to the
Rev. and Mrs. Fred Foard, November 14, 1931,
a baby boy. y

A Successful Canvass. — Not long ago twelve
pastors of a local conference canvassed a new suburb
of about 3,500 population. They found more than
fifty Lutheran families there. A new mission has
been opened as a result of the canvass. No doubt
many more such promising mission-fields could be
found. Let us do more canvassing! Such can-
vassing costs no money. We often hear people say
that we spend too much money for missions. Let
these people get busy canvassing neighborhoods like
this. We are sure that, if they go out to canvass
and find such fine prospects for our missionary en-
deavors, they will no longer complain of the cost
of missions, but will gladly help to bring those
whom they found in their canvass into the fold.
Try it!

Mission-Minded Lutherans. — The small con-
gregations of the Nevada Circuit of the California
and Nevada District, Missouri Synod, are given
weekly broadcasts over a Reno station. This mis-
sionary and publicity venture speaks well for the
mission-mindedness of these brethren. God bestow
His blessing upon the undertaking!

Missions in Labor Camps. — Our brethren of
the Ontario District, Missouri Synod, are making
all possible efforts to give the young men in the
Northern labor camps all the spiritual care they
possibly can. The Canadian government is giving
employment to a specially large number of young
men this winter in these camps, and the Home
Mission Board of the District wants to do all it can
to keep these laborers in contact with the Gospel.