The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1933, Page 37

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THE LUTHERAN PIONEER

37

and thanks due, the Lord for the fruits of the
earth, coupled with addresses on the great harvest
of souls and our missionary obligations, are fol-
lowed by “praises with hands,” special offerings,

Maplesville Chapel No. 2.

usually for missionary purposes. These collections
have made possible chapels in India, China, and
Alabama as well as lent support to other worthy
causes. The last two efforts went to help our own
Mission Board with its financial problems. Figures
for the 1932 festival offerings approximate $700.
This is the lowest mark in years, compared with
such totals as $1,200 and even $1,400. All things
considered, $700 is a fair showing; for had not
cotton slid from 10 to 5 cents a pound, it is cer-
tain we should have reached $1,000. Even so, we
are not at all convinced that this represents our
best effort; for we also have our share of such as
need growth in Christian stewardship and hide
behind the depression.
January
Pastoral Conference.
The host at this con-
’ ference was our Trinity
Congregation in Selma.
The night sessions on
Friday were of benefit
primarily to the congre-
_ gation, which heard a
sermon by Rev. A. Dom-
inick with its clarion
call for progressive sanc-
tification, based on the
admonition of St. Paul:
“Be ye renewed in the

Rev. A. Dominick.

spirit of your minds,” and listened to a paper by
Prof. R. O. L. Lynn with its enlightening informa-
tion on “Who Should Receive a Christian Burial.”
The Saturday sessions kept all busy with the con-
tinued study of Galatians, the reading and criti-
cizing of a sermon outline, and much important
business relating to the progress and welfare of our
field, particularly respecting the new policy of our
Board, which is, that all stations operate on a con-
gregational budget and guarantee a certain sum of
their pastor’s salary.

Rev. R. O. L. Lynn.

1932 Contribution Figures.

The total our stations contributed in church and
Sunday-school (week-day school-fees not included)
amounts to $5,253.87, an average of $3.75 for each
communicant member. Our field did not quite hold
its own, dropping $354.85 behind its 1931 and
$1,175.93 behind its 1930 totals. So in two years
our contributions to the support of the Gospel in our
midst diminished by about $1,200. To all indica-
tions we now have reached our rock-bottom level,
which may be used as a starting-point for better per-
formance this year. The Board’s new policy, then,
comes at an opportune time when contributions are
at a low ebb and under God will stimulate greater