Collection › LCMS Convention Proceedings (St. Louis, Missouri) › 1935 · 36th Convention, Cleveland › Page 115
LCMS Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 1935, Page 115

Scan: The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod
Transcription machine transcription, uncorrected

Ev. Luth. Synod: of. Missouri, Ohio, and Other ‘States:, 1935. 115

‘emphasizing that we were exceedingly grateful for the fine cooperation
‘extended your Secretary, not only on the part of the subsidized, but
‘also: on the part of the self-sustaining: mission boards. ‘

4. The meetings held with the various Home Mission boards
culminated in the agreement —

5. To restudy the work now in progress and carefully to consider
the coordination, consolidation, or elimination of given fields wherever
it seems justified;

6. To pave the way for a coordinated and a more unified mission
activity; : fo

7. To enter upon a more agressive, systematic, nation-wide mis-
sion program. ;

8. To be enabled to do this in a thorough, systematic, and unified
manner, it was agreed to institute a careful survey of every mission-
parish now subsidized’ by the District Home Mission board and to
institute a progressive, thorough, and systematic survey of outstand-
ing mission opportunities. Both surveys were agreed to be made
along lines of an adopted questionnaire. The questionnaire covering
fields already occupied touches upon every important phase of mission
activity that will shed light on the past history and the past per-
formances and on the present status, on the strategic importance, and
on the future outlook of the individual mission-station. The other
questionnaire offers guiding lines for the opening of new fields. The
purpose of these questionnaires is to bring about a greater uniformity
of action, which will enable our department to make a comparative
study of outstanding mission opportunities in the country and ‘to
ascertain the relative importance of these opportunities. All boards
agreed to conduct a survey of existing and of new mission-fields as
indicated and to send a copy of their findings to your Secretary of
Missions for further study and analysis.

9. Consolidations.—— During the past triennial period consolida-
tions and coordinations of mission-stations and even of parishes were
effected in every District. Many of the existing inequalities were
removed, and others are to be adjusted as soon as it will be feasible.

10. We have in Synod more ‘than 1,600 congregations and
preaching-stations with fewer than 100 souls each. Let us remember
that not all of these small groups are in the subsidized Districts, and
not all receive a subsidy, since many are grouped together in a self-
supporting parish, while others are served by pastors of self-supporting
congregations at no cost to Synod. Some stations, though small, are
at strategic points and wield a wholesome influence on the surround-
ing territory and ought therefore to be continued. Among the number
of small mission-stations we have, as might be expected, a large
number that are still in their infancy, either just begun or in
existence but a few'years. ‘Some small stations, located in a com-