The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1932, Page 115

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THE LUTHERAN PIONEER

115

indigenous churches, to whom they intrusted the
responsibility of spreading the Gospel in their
countries. Paul soon found Timothy, Titus, and
others, to whom could be entrusted the leadership
of churches founded by him, so that he might with-
draw to take up the work elsewhere. Hand in hand
with the training of a native ministry went the
training of a reliable and resourceful laity, a laity
that felt its responsibility in meeting the needs
of the Church in men and money. All things being
equal, the presence of a native ministry should result
in a speedy realization on the part of the members
that the membership of a church should be the
source of men and money to carry on the activities
of the church; though now and then experience
shows that mission-churches are slow in recognizing
their responsibilities in this respect. Probably upon
the whole Paul and his associates had a more satis-
factory experience in this respect than have many
of our missionaries to-day. However, the natural
thing is that mission-churches become “adult”
churches and that they try to answer all material
and spiritual needs with their own local resources
as soon as possible.

By the planting of mission-churches “in all the
world,” more mission-work will be done than if the
home churches would center their missionary activ-
ities upon their immediate surroundings and only
proceed farther from the home base as they suc-
ceeded in bringing the unchurched into the fold
of the Church. Every new mission-station will
become the center of keen missionary activities and
be a growing plant by spending itself. As particles
of leaven leaven the lumps in which they are placed,
so every mission-station begins to exert its whole-
some influence at once. ‘The missionary spirit is
generally more keen in mission-congregations of the
homeland than is the case in the longer established
churches; but the most zealous missionary churches,
as a rule, are to be found in countries where the
Gospel-message has been heard for only a genera-
tion or so. ‘The love of Christ* constrains these
young Christians with an irresistible power to bring
the Gospel, which gave them new life, to such
as are still dead in trespasses and sins. And by
thus doing something for those outside the Church,
these infant churches gather new strength for still
more work.

By all means therefore let us heed the Lord’s
parting word,

“Go YE into ALL THE Wort!”

F.J.L.

The Northern Conference Meets
at Buffalo.

On May 18 and 19 Our Savior Church in Buffalo-
welcomed the Northern Conference for its fourth
annual session. The Rev. Edgar Pflug and his con-
gregation were glad to do the welcoming in their
beautiful new chapel. This chapel was made pos-
sible through the combined efforts of the other Buf-
falo Lutheran churches. Already the attendance at
the services has increased from 35 to 140. This is
the Lord’s doing. Suitable places of worship do-
much to hasten our missions in becoming self-
supporting. ‘

Car transportation made the long-distance trav--
eling both interesting and inexpensive. President.
Carter of Chicago seemingly showed no evil effect
of much driving when he opened the session of the-
first morning. The roll-call showed only the Cin-
cinnati brother absent. We welcomed the Rev. A.
Bohm of Springfield as a new member. It was
again emphasized that practical discussions for our
specific work should always receive the right of
way. Individual field reports therefore formed the-
basis of most discussions. Buffalo’s city missionary,
the Rev. H. F. Wind, was present at most sessions
and offered his counsel. The Rev. John Fey of
St. Louis delivered a paper on “Institutions of
Higher Education for Negroes,” in which the dan-
gers to our Lutheran youth were also pointed out.
The undersigned led in a brief discussion on “Negro:
Periodicals.” No change was made in officers.

Most noteworthy were the two evening services.
On Wednesday evening the Rev. M. N. Carter led |
the live discussion in the open session on the topic
“How Can I Best Serve MY Church?” He pointed
out what the proper attitude of all members and
organizations should be towards the church and
what the actions of the members should be towards
the church. A fine “get-acquainted” meeting was
held in the basement after the service. Thursday
evening Holy Communion was celebrated with the
congregation; the Rev. Andrew Schulze preached
the sermon. Before departing, President Carter ex-
tended thanks for the fine hospitality shown the
conference in Buffalo. Ernst G@. MUELLER.

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‘Wer cannot build safely except we build on
Christ; we cannot rest safely except we rest in
Christ; we cannot walk safely except we walk
with Christ; we cannot die safely except we die-
in Christ.”