LUTHERANS. 



511 



ministers, 1.591 congregations, 273,659 com- 

 municant members, 1,280 Sunday schools, 155,- 

 725 pupils, 338 parochial schools, 16,206 pupils ; 

 2 theological seminaries, 6 colleges, 5 academies, 

 and 19 orphans' homes, homes for deaconesses, 

 hospitals, and immigrant missions. 



General Synod. No convention of this body 

 was held during 1890 ; and in the mean time its 

 affairs were managed by the various boards, 

 nearly all of them employing secretaries to whom 

 is intrusted general oversight of the work of 

 their department. The missions in India and 

 Africa were cared for by the Board of Foreign 

 Missions. The report in the " Annual Cyclo- 

 paedia " for 1889 is the latest official report of 

 the work of these missions. The Board of Home 

 Missions has been prosecuting its work with 

 energy. During the year 101 missions were 

 supported, of which 26 are new organizations. 

 The number of missionaries employed was 114, 

 and the number of mission churches erected was 

 25. The estimate of expenses was $35,000. 

 The Board of Church Extension is continuing its 

 strong efforts, in advance of the Home Mission 

 Board, to secure lots for the erection of churches 

 in new localities. This general body numbers 23 

 district synods, 969 ministers, 1,409 congregations, 

 154,465 communicant members, 1,355 Sunday- 

 schools, 155,116 pupils, 5 theological seminaries, 

 5 colleges, 2 academies, and 5 orphans' homes and 

 other charitable institutions. Hamma Divinity 

 Hall, founded by the Rev. Dr. Hamma, of Balti- 

 more, Md., erected on the grounds of Wittenberg 

 College, Springfield, Ohio, was dedicated on Nov. 

 20, 1890, in the presence of a large assembly. 

 The cost of the new building is about $10,000. 



United Synod. This body, organized in 1886, 

 numbers 9 district synods, 189 ministers, 396 

 congregations, and 35,782 communicant mem- 

 bers ; 1 theological seminary, 4 colleges, 7 acade- 

 mies, and 8 ladies' seminaries, besides several 

 charitable institutions. This general body is 

 prosecuting, with energy, the work of home mis- 

 sions in its territory, under the supervision of a 

 superintendent and an efficient board of missions, 

 as well as foreign missionary work in Japan. 



Independent Synods. Thirteen synods oc- 

 cupy an independent position. They number 

 1,319 ministers, 2,849 congregations, 328,435 

 communicant members, 436 Sunday-schools, 11,- 

 482 pupils, 426 parochial schools, 201 teachers, 

 16,489 pupils, 12 theological seminaries, 7 col- 

 leges, 13 academies, and 8 orphans' homes and 

 other charitable institutions. Among these 

 synods are several of the largest and most active 

 of the district synods in the Church, such as the 

 Joint Synod of Ohio, the German Iowa, and the 

 various Norwegian synods, and they embrace 

 English, German, Norwegian, Danish, Finnish, 

 Icelandic, Slavonian, and French Lutheran con- 

 gregations. Several of them are active in the 

 work of home and foreign missions, as also the 

 work of education. Luther College, Decorah, 

 Iowa, of the old Norwegian synod, was dedicated 

 on Oct. 14, 1890. The property is valued at 

 $75,000. The institution has 145 students. 



Union among Norwegians. During the 

 year three of the Norwegian synods united, after 

 many years of separation, in the formation of 

 one large and influential synod. About the 

 middle of the present century Norwegians began 



to come to this country in considerable numbers. 

 In 1845 their number was roughly estimated at 

 10,000 ; at present the number probably reaches 

 nearly 500,000. The entire Scandinavian popu- 

 lation of this country doubtless numbers more 

 than 1,500,000, a large portion of whom are 

 Norwegians. They have gone principally to the 

 Northwest, and have become a powerful factor 

 in the settlement of that portion of the United 

 States, and they are gaining for themselves ' the 

 finest lands in the most commanding situations 

 in the first nation of the age." 



From the very beginning of the existence of 

 the Norwegian Lutheran Church in this country 

 there have been different parties, which could 

 not or would not work together in harmony, 

 though all claim to be strictly and distinctively 

 Lutheran. These different tendencies were 

 brought from Norway by the immigrants them- 

 selves, and hence can not be said to have arisen 

 here, or to owe their origin to their peculiar 

 "situation in this country. Some were adherents 

 of Hauge, a reformer in the mother-country, 

 and were noted for their simplicity and earnest- 

 ness in worship and work ; others came over in 

 full sympathy with the state Church of Norway, 

 and were zealous for the faith and usages of the 

 Church at home and accustomed to the full 

 liturgy and vestments of the Church. It was 

 very natural that these two parties, differing so 

 widely in their views, should not be able to labor 

 harmoniously in one synodical organization. 

 Then there was a third party mediating between 

 these two extremes. These differences, instead 

 of being healed, caused great controversies to 

 arise and a gradual development of some doc- 

 trinal differences. Notwithstanding this state 

 of affairs, there have always been those, in all 

 the synods, who lamented these divisions and 

 have been anxious for peace and harmony, pray- 

 ing for a union of the entire Norwegian Church 

 in America. To this end, conferences were held 

 in 1859, 1863. and 1864, and again in 1881, and 

 since then. During the long interval between 

 the last two conferences, numerous changes took 

 place, which indicated better feeling and a better 

 understanding, and the time seemed ripe for a 

 strong effort at a general union among all the 

 different synods, of which there were five. The 

 conference held at St. Ansgar, Iowa, in 1881, 

 enabled them to see not how much they differed, 

 but how nearly they agreed on all points that 

 had caused divisions. Other conferences were 

 held from year to year, with the result of gradu- 

 ally bringing the different parties more closely 

 together, and in 1888 two conferences were held, 

 at the latter of which, in November, at Scandi- 

 navia, Wis., the plan of Union agreed upon at 

 Eau Claire, Wis., earlier in the year, was unani- 

 mously adopted and sent to the four synods for 

 adoption. It was unanimously adopted by three ; 

 but the fourth, Hauge's, refused. From the synods 

 the plan of union was sent to the individual con- 

 gregations for ratification, and their action was 

 again to be presented for final action at a joint 

 convention of the synods in Minneapolis, Minn., 

 in 1890. 



Accordingly, on June 11, the Norwegian Au- 

 gustana Synod, the Norwegian-Danish Confer- 

 ence, and the Anti-Missouri Brotherhood of Nor- 

 wegians met separately, at places arranged for 



