# Der Lutheraner_St. Louis Missouri_1934 masthead not in scan _S75
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

75

is to be helped by laws, however wise and well-meaning they may be, nor by 'world views' invented by men, but only by the Gospel of the Savior of sinners, born at Bethlehem."

The general church prayer which we pray on Sundays in our worship services is very timely and very necessary. It embraces everything: the whole Christian Church and the individual congregation, the fatherland and the individual city and region, fellow believers abroad, and all classes and professions. The Biblical basis of this church prayer is 1 Tim. 2:1, "that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men."
L. F.

On the Office of Elder and Its Duties.

My dear nephew Arnold!

The news in your letter that you were elected elder at the New Year's meeting of your congregation has not exactly surprised me. I have known you for years, after all. Your dear parents brought you up as is fitting for Christian parents, in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. In your parents' home the Bible and other devotional books were in daily use, and good periodicals were at hand for instruction and entertainment. Your blessed mother was often glad that you took pleasure in such reading and made diligent use of it. So you have also grown in Christian knowledge and in love for the things of the kingdom of God. That is a great blessing of a truly Christian home. Your knowledge of the teachings of the Word of God and your zeal for the welfare of your congregation and of the kingdom of God in general had not remained hidden. Your fellow Christians in the congregation recognized that you are well qualified to serve as elder, and thereby as an assistant to your pastor, for the welfare of the congregation. And now you have not only informed me of your election to the office of elder, but have also put to me several questions about the conduct of this office. So I will go into your questions.

Arnold, you know very well that you have been elected only for a time determined by the congregation, and that you are to help your pastor, appointed by God, in the leadership of the congregation. As regards the outward organization of the congregation, the heavenly Master has allowed his congregations freedom. According to time, circumstances, and conditions, regulations may be made as the congregation finds good. Such regulations, however, are first earnestly deliberated, especially by the board, to which of course your pastor belongs, and then examined by the whole congregation and, if recognized as wholesome, put into effect. In such deliberations you will take part conscientiously and always keep the one goal in view, to advocate what is best for the welfare of the congregation and the honor of God. In such deliberations it may happen that a final result is not found at once, and that the matter must rather be deliberated repeatedly and examined from all sides. It may happen then that hour follows hour and that, quite possibly, deliberation must be resumed on the following evenings. Then the point is not to lose your zeal and love for the cause. When the congregation has then made a regulation because it expects benefit from it, you will also, together with your pastor, earnestly strive to put it into effect. Of course no regulation of the congregation may violate God's Word or injure love. Should this happen, you would have to help your pastor to change it or to repeal it again. In the time appointed to you, you will now certainly often have the opportunity to prove yourself a useful elder of the congregation and a faithful assistant to your pastor. Do it also conscientiously and with joy, and carry out your office properly, so that your pastor and all upright members of the congregation may rejoice over it.

Now there is yet another matter, dear nephew, to which I would like to point on this occasion, which certainly concerns you closely too as an elder. You see, when in this time, when the treasuries in the Synod suffer great need and the debt does not grow smaller, I must hear or read again and again that now here, now there banquets are arranged, costly trips are undertaken by individuals and societies, amusements of every kind are arranged, and yet, when it comes to giving for God's kingdom, there is always lamenting over lack of money, the thought often comes to me: Is it really so bottomlessly bad with everyone's money that the kingdom of God must suffer so miserably? I know well from my own observation that many of our good fellow Christians are without work and without earnings, others have used up their savings, still others have been cheated by unscrupulous fellow men, and many of our honest country people can scarcely keep themselves alive and pay their taxes. All such are sincerely to be pitied. But when, for amusements, entertainments, and similar things, many spend plenty of money, while matters of God's kingdom are neglected, then my heart grows heavy. I often ask myself: Are love for the kingdom of God and gratitude for the spiritual gifts of God still present, or has not the first love in many grown cold and worldly-mindedness moved in? Is not the danger great that our Chief Shepherd will turn away from us and give his commission, to build and spread his kingdom, to others? I must say, I am very concerned about the future. Are you not too?

See to it earnestly, then, that in your congregation not only the expenses for its own household are covered, but that every member also contributes according to his means for missions and everything connected with it, and for charitable purposes. This is indeed our Savior's will and commission.

Now be commended to the faithful God and cordially greeted by

Your uncle
Karl.

On Church Affairs.

Home Field.

The Number of Our College Students. How greatly the number of students at our colleges has decreased in the last three years is shown by the following table:

School year | Total number of students | Classes: 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | 6th
1931–1932 | 1,570 | 185 | 188 | 273 | 273 | 303 | 383
1932–1933 | 1,359 | 166 | 243 | 237 | 257 | 261 | 195
1933–1934 | 1,247 | 221 | 215 | 217 | 240 | 185 | 162

While the number of students in the first class (Prima) has still increased, a considerable decline is noticeable in the other classes. In the lowest class (Sexta) the number of students has fallen from 338 to 162, that is, by more than half. This report covers our institutions in Fort Wayne, Milwaukee, St. Paul, Concordia, Bronxville, Winfield, Conover, Oakland, Portland, Edmonton, and Austin.
E. E.

Our First Negro Congregation in Mississippi. The numerous friends of our Negro mission at Piney Woods, Mississippi, will be glad to hear that the first colored Lutheran congregation has now been founded there. It consists