The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1932, Page 110

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110

THE LUTHERAN PIONEER

Items of Missionary Interest.
(By the Eprror.)

Institutional Mission-Work in Milwaukee. —
During the past thirty years Past. E. A. Duemling,
the senior institutional worker of our Church in
Milwaukee, has preached to 358,685 persons, made
39,670 sick-calls, communed 11,484, baptized 598,
buried 518, confirmed 282, and solemnized 100 mar-
riages. These figures are surely eloquent testimony
of the service rendered by this single institutional
missionary and of the blessings which our twenty-
seven representatives in this work are doing in the
nineteen cities where they are performing their
labor of love in our name.

Lutheran Gains in 1931. — That mission-work
in our homeland is getting increasingly difficult and
that we must put forth the most earnest efforts if
our dear Church is to grow, is shown by the latest
statistics published by Dr. Kieffer in the Christian
Herald. According to his report the Lutherans
have made a gain of only 1.65 per cent. last year.
The Missouri Synod gained 16,153 communicant
members in 1931, and 40,256 in five years; the
Wisconsin Synod stood still last year, but lost
12,236 in five years; the Slovak Synod also made
no gains in 1931; the Norwegian Synod lost 321
last year. For the first time our Negro Mission is
listed separately with a communicant membership
of 3,756.

Lutheran Refugees on the Way to Brazil. —
Our readers no doubt have heard of the German-
Russian refugees who fled from Russia to Harbin,
Manchuria, several years ago to escape the intol-
erable conditions imposed upon them. Tarly this
year these poor refugees were informed that, if they
did not move elsewhere, they would be deported
back to Russia. The appeal of their sad condition
touched the hearts of Lutherans in Europe and
America, and now we read that on May 7 they left
Shanghai for their new home in Brazil on the
French liner Parthos. At Marseilles, France, they
will be fitted out and then sent on to Santos, Brazil,
from Bordeaux. The Lutherans of America have
contributed $10,000 to this work of mercy and are
asked to contribute another $10,000.

An Anniversary. — April 17 Pastor H. Frincke
of Monroe, Mich., celebrated his golden jubilee as
minister. We make mention of this happy event in
the PronerEr because the jubilarian served our
Colored Mission station in Little Rock for six
months while yet a student and has retained his

interest in our Colored Mission till this day. Pastor
Frincke is still well and hearty and able to take
care of his large congregation without assistance.
God grant him continued health and strength!

Home Missions of the Missouri Synod. — The
work among the English- and German-speaking
white unchurched people in the United States done
by this body requires the services of over 900
workers and annually costs over one million dollars.
The work is carried on at 1,684 stations. This body
also conducts more or less extensive missions among
the Indians, Negroes, Poles. Lithuanians, Letts,
Slovaks, Italians, Mexicans, Persians, and Finns.
Aside from the work mentioned the laborers of the
Missouri Synod also serve deaf-mute, blind, and
Jewish groups, do slum work in larger cities, and
carry on extensive institutional work in nineteen
large cities of our country.

A Large German Mission Enterprise. — The
Rhenish Society has eighty-one stations and eighty-
seven foreign missionaries. In their thousand con-
gregations they have 501,000 members. Last year
they baptized 11,000 adult heathen, and they had
28,000 under instruction. The society had more
than 6,000 native workers in its employ. It con-
ducts 862 elementary schools. The society works
in Southwest Africa, Sumatra, New Guinea, and
China.

Open Doors in India. — In the Teluga area of
India there is said to be a strong movement of the
middle classes toward Christianity. It is reported
that, unlike the movement of the lower classes
some years ago, the present movement seems to be
for religious and not for social and economic
reasons.

Missionary Societies in New Guinea. — Up to
1886 the island of Papua, or New Guinea, was one
of the darkest spots on earth; its inhabitants were
most ferocious cannibals. But in 1886 the German
Neuendettelsau Missionary Society began its work
in German New Guinea, and four years later the
London Missionary Society brought the light of the
Gospel to British New Guinea. Years before the
coming of these societies, James Chalmers, a noted.
English missionary, who had visited the island, had
been killed by the bloodthirsty natives. Thanks to.
the faithful services of especially these missionary
societies, New Guinea has in parts been trans-
formed. Fertile fields bearing rich harvests show
the influence of the missionaries. Men skilled in.
carpentry and other trades and women expert in
weaving, sewing, and basketry are some of the re--