Collection › LCMS Convention Proceedings (St. Louis, Missouri) › 1938 · 37th Convention, St. Louis › Page 163
LCMS Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 1938, Page 163

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

Various Missions 163

3. Of old it was more or less a slow process when our mission-
aries pressed forward to the adjacent territories to gather Luth-
eran settlers and to minister to the spiritual needs of young and
old. Wearily they trudged along by wagon or on horseback in
the midst of wintry blasts or under the blazing sun of summer
until they finally reached their destination to bring their message
to the assembled groups or to bring comfort to the sick and dying.

4. But the days of frontier life and the covered wagon are
no more. The horse-drawn stage-coach, the ox-cart, and the
mule-team have made room for the auto and the swift-moving
train. The missionary of today therefore cannot only perform
his duty with greater ease and comfort (although there are still
less fortunate ones in the far-flung outlying territories), but he
can also reach out to more communities, to a larger number of
individuals, and bring the message of peace oftener than the
missionary of old.

5, Thirty years ago the Board of Home Missions began its
activities. Until then each District had conducted and supported
the work of Home Missions in its territory. But when the oppor-
tunities in some of the Districts increased in such a manner as
to make it impossible for them to finance the mission under-
takings alone, Synod appointed a Board of Home Missions whose
duty it should be to devise ways and means to come to the
assistance of. such Districts. During the first year only $3,742
was available, and when the first year closed its books, there
was a deficit of $4,643.

6. But what of the present day? And what of the future? As
we review the past few years, the years of stress, and then con-
sider the present, we cannot but lift up our hearts in deepest
gratitude toward Him who doeth all things well. Large harvests
follow thorough harrowing, better fruit is the result of careful
pruning, and spiritual growth is stimulated by hardships. This
has always been true regarding the work of the Church; so it
was in the days of the early Church and in the days of the Ref-
ormation, and so it is today. The depression was indeed a blessing
in disguise. The work of the Church and of its missions went
on in spite of reduced income. From 1932 to 1936 a total of 419
new stations were opened. 192 mission-stations became self-
supporting. During the same period 143 stations were discon-
tinued. To our knowledge none were closed because of lack
of funds, but rather because they proved to be barren fields, hold-
ing forth no prospect of future development. The faithful few
at such stations were, as a rule, affiliated with near-by parishes.