The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1932, Page 119

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THE LUTHERAN PIONEER

119

In daily prayer they besought God, and constantly
they honestly sought that God’s kingdom might
come. And God has heard their prayers and blessed
their labors. God has heard their prayers and given
laborers; God has heard their prayers and blessed
abundantly the labors of the workers already in the
mission-fields, from Canada’s prairies to Argen-
tina’s pampas, in America and Europe, in Asia
and Australia. The instructions of the missionaries
have been signally blessed, and unexpected doors
have been opened. The thing aimed at and striven
for — success — has been attained. But with it has
come the penally. That was inevitable.

But what is the penalty that we have incurred ?
It is the increased responsibility that has come with
increased resources and larger opportunities. It is
the ever-widening scope that is stretching out
before us. It is the insistent demand that we reap
the harvest of our own labors in the mission-fields
already occupied. It is the clamorous invitation
that we enter the doors so widely open; it is the
urgent call that comes from idle laborers, “Send us;
‘send us!” In a word, the penalty of our missionary
success is ENLARGEMENT.

Caution urges: “During these days of financial
‘depression, enlargement dare not be thought of.”
But there is the problem. Work inspired by the
love for Christ will grow just as surely as will the
‘child in whose veins courses warm human blood,
forcing each tiny part to do its share in the growth.
And to this growth the parents not only consent;
they rather rejoice in the evidence of vitality, even
while shaking their heads at the frequent need of
getting longer trousers for the boy. Hannah went
up to the Tabernacle every year to see her Samuel,
and every year she brought him a new robe. And
as Hannah rejoiced to see Samuel grow before the
Lord, so we may be sure that she rejoiced when
the little robe each year had to give place to a larger
one, requiring more cloth in its making.

This is the lesson to us as missionary Christians:
the penalty we are expected to pay is the “penalty”
of increased effort, of larger gifts, and of greater
sacrifice.

When Moses, while encouraging the children of
Israel, was crying to the Lord in the anguish of
his heart there upon the shores of the Red Sea,
with the impassable waters before them and angry
Pharaoh behind them, God said to him: “Where-
fore criest thou unto Me? speak unto the children
of Israel that they go forward.”

“Advance!” must ever be the battle-cry of the

Church of God. Stillstand ist Rueckgang! To
stand still is to retreat. “Forward!” must ever be
written upon the banner waving before us and must
express an accepted and essential part of our plan,
not for this year only or for the next, but for
every year.

This, of course, means that we must continue
to occupy what we have so far gained. We must
hold the forts we have taken while thinking of
capturing new ones; we must hold the territory we
have conquered while looking about for new worlds
to conquer.

And this, in turn, means that all the regular
work will be well supported and kept in good con-
dition, that there may be a sure and firm founda--
tion on which to rear the superstructure. Every
muscle should be strained to bring the receipts of
our mission-treasuries up to the appropriations,
which in every instance were made with due delib-
eration and with consideration of the needs of the
fields and the ability of our members.

Some of the deficits in our mission-treasuries are
in the way of penalties of success; for unexpected
successes have made necessary unforeseen expendi-
tures. But these deficits need not mean defeat;
neither should the news of still greater increases fill
us with dismay. Said the great Napoleon: “The
secret of victory is to bring up the reserves when
the struggle is at its crisis.”

We feel the crisis is here. Now, where are the
reserves of God’s army of conquest inspired by
emergencies that might daunt lesser spirits? By
their timely effort at the crisis of the battle they
may, by the help of the Lord of the Church, save
the day. F.J.L.

A New City Church Problem.

As far as their religious and social interests are
concerned, cities can no longer be thought of as
bounded by their political limits. The social and
religious needs of cities extend far beyond their
municipal boundaries. The increasing congestion,
the new modes of rapid electric transit, the gen-
eral use of automobiles, have all a tendency to
induce cities to disgorge themselves and send out
their populations over a widely spread area. New
York and Philadelphia spill large portions of their
populations even over neighboring States. When
cities like New York, Boston, Chicago, and San
Francisco come into consideration, we no longer
merely think of these cities proper, but of the terri-