LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 1973, Page 1

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1. MISSIONS

1-01
Report of Board for Missions

Introduction

This report is organized around Hymn 400, the hymn from which
the New Orleans convention theme, “Ever, Only, All for Thee,”
has been taken. Each of the report’s six parts corresponds to
a verse of Hymn 400:

Part I: Our Life, Moments, and Days: An Overview of
Synod’s Mission History

Part II: Missionary Hands and Feet: Special Ministries
(Deaf, Blind, Campus, Medical, Social) and Missionary
Personnel at Home and Abroad

Part II: Evangelistic Voices and Lips: Proclaiming the
Message of God’s Good News Around the Globe

Part IV: Using Our Silver, Gold, and Intellects: Money and
Mission Planning

Part V: Our Wills and Our Hearts: Mission Issues Confront-
ing the Board for Missions and the Synod

Part VI: Conclusion: Wholly, Wholly, Wholly

Appendixes: A. Reports from Overseas Churches and Mis-
sions

B. North American District Mission Reports

I. OUR LIFE, MOMENTS, AND DAYS: AN OVERVIEW
OF SYNOD’'S MISSION HISTORY

Take my life and let it be
Consecrated, Lord. to Thee:
Take my moments and my days.
Let them flow in ceaseless praise.

“Take My Life...”

With that kind of faith and commitment 665 Saxons set sail
for the New World in five chartered ships more than a century
and a quarter ago. And the Lord took them seriously. He “took
their lives” —the lives of those on one ship lost at sea, and the
lives of those who made it safely across.

The Saxon immigrants landed at New Orleans, then made
their way up the Mississippi to Missouri. Other German Lu-
therans with a special dedication to their Lord also came to the
New World about this time. Sent by a mission-conscious Ba-
varian pastor, Wilhelm Loehe, numerous clergymen served as
traveling missionaries among their German countrymen, while
a whole colony of Bavarian families inspired by Loehe settled
in the Saginaw Valley of Michigan with the hope of converting
“heathen Indians.”

In late April 1847 clergy and lay representatives of 13 Ger-
man Lutheran congregations met together in Chicago. Conse-
crating themselves to their Lord, they founded the German
Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Missouri, Ohio, and Other States.

“Take My Moments and My Days...”

The Missouri Synod has not always been fully consecrated
to the Lord and His mission the past 125 years. Yet, God in His
mercy has taken “our moments and our days” and used them for
His purpose.

1. 1847—1892 ... Moments and Days of Inner Missions

The primary mission concern of the Missouri Synod during
its first 45 years was “Inner Missions’ —that is, contacting and
gathering German immigrants pouring into the country. By 1872
the Synod already had 109 stations with 77,832 members: by
1875, it had grown to 257 stations with 112,590 members. In 1854,
work was begun among Germans in Canada, resulting in the
organization of the first Canadian district in 1879.

God moved the Synod even in these early moments and days,
however, to reach out also to those not of “its own kind.” At-
tempts—though unsuccessful—were made to proclaim the
Gospel to the Chippewa Indians in Michigan, Wisconsin, and
Minnesota. Funds were raised at Mission Festivals and sent to
German missionary societies for work in India. Some pastors
began to preach in English as well as German, leading to the
formation of the English District in 1872. The Synodical Con-

ference. a federation of conservative Lutheran synods estab-
lished in 1872. began work among blacks in the South in 1877.
A Jewish Lutheran initiated evangelistic work among the Jews
on behalf of the Synod in 1881. A fledgling ministry among the
Chinese in St. Louis ended abruptly in 1875 with the death of
the pastor involved. And in 1858, Johann Friedrich Buenger of
St. Louis led an effort to establish a hospital “not only for Lu-
therans, but for all the ill to whom God may lead us as we care
for them bodily and spiritually.”

2. 1893-1946... Moments and Days of a Growing
Involvement in Christ's Mission

May 6, 1893, marks the beginning of the second period of
the Synod’s mission history. On that day the first synodical
board for foreign missions met.

Sought and soon found were opportunities for overseas in-
volvement. Two former missionaries from the Leipzig Mission
Society were commissioned as Missouri missionaries to India
on Oct. 14, 1894; they began work in 1895. Missionaries were
sent among German immigrants in Brazil in 1900, and Argentina
5 years later.

Backed by a mission society he had organized, a Missouri
Synod pastor (Arndt) began evangelistic efforts in China in
1913—with the Synod officially adopting the work as its own 4
years later. Mission workers were sent to Ceylon (from India) in
1927, to Africa in 1936 ithrough the Synodical Conference),
to Germans in Uruguay and to U.S. servicemen in Panama in
1942, and to the Philippine Islands in 1946. Missionaries sent
out from the Texas District began serving expatriates in Mexico
in 1921 and Mexican nationals in 1940—with the Synod then
assuming responsibility in 1947.

During this same 53-year period. God was taking Synod's
‘‘moments and days” and leading the Synod to a more extensive
mission involvement in North America also. World War I caused
many Missouri Synod congregations and schools to switch over
to the English language —and, as a result, to discover a deeper
obligation to English-speaking Americans around them.

The Synodical Conference work among blacks in the South
began to take hold around the turn of the century. In 1916 a
young black teacher, Rosa Young, made a plea for help which
led to the establishment of black Lutheran schools and con-
gregations in Alabama. By 1920 there were 82 workers in these
missions—63 blacks and 19 whites. A few black congregations
were also established in northern cities.

Special ministries begun during this same period include
a synodical ministry to the deaf (1894) and a synodical mission
to the blind (1927). Several Districts had full-time ministries to
the campus already in the 20s, and in 1938 Synod appointed its
first Secretary for Campus Ministry.

The Synod also became a pioneer in the use of mass com-
munications—with the dedication of KFUO in 1924, the be-
ginning of the Lutheran Hour with Dr. Walter A. Maier in 1929,
and the Spanish Lutheran Hour with Dr. Andrew Melendez in
1940. The Lutheran Hour played a big role in the spread of the
Missouri Synod throughout the country. and especially in the
South.

3. 1947-1972... Moments and Days of
Mushrooming Mission Expansion

More has happened. mission-wise, in the 25 years since the
1947 centennial celebration of the Synod, than in the whole
century before.

At the end of World War II the Missouri Synod was involved
in mission work in 12 countries, including the U. S. and Canada.
Today the Synod is directly involved in 29 countries. In addi-
tion, it supplies fraternal assistance to Free churches in five
European countries and has missionaries on loan to church or
inter-church agencies in several other lands. 1973 marks the
25th anniversary of the Missouri Synod’s entry into Japan and
New Guinea and the 15th anniversary of our entry into Korea.

Fifteen years ago (Jan. 8, 1958) the India Evangelical Lu-
theran Church was organized. and a year later (at the San Fran-
cisco Convention) officially recognized as the first sister church
to have grown out of synodical mission efforts. Today a national
church has been organized in almost every overseas country
to which we have sent missionaries. The Milwaukee convention