550 



LUTHERANS. 



There are at present under the supervision of 

 Lutherans, twenty-one theological seminaries, 

 twenty-four colleges, twenty-nine academies 

 and high-schools, eleven young ladies' semina- 

 ries, and forty-seven benevolent institutions. 

 The periodicals include 39 English, 55 German, 

 21 Norwegian, 8 Swedish, 1 Finnish, and 1 

 Icelandic. A summary of the statistics of the 

 various synods and general bodies composing 

 the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is 

 given in the table on page 551. Only two of the 

 general bodies held conventions during the year. 



General Synod (North). This body held its thir- 

 ty-second Biennial Convention at Harrisburg, 

 Pa., May 27 to June 2, 1885. There were pres- 

 ent at this convention 178 clerical and lay del- 

 egates, representing 23 district synods and 878 

 ministers, 1,460 congregations, and 134,840 

 communicant members. This body has under 

 its control five theological seminaries or de- 

 partments : At Gettysburg, Pa., 41 students; 

 Hartwick, N. Y., 3 ; Springfield, O., 9 ; Selins- 

 grove, Pa., 12 ; Chicago, 111., 4; three colleges 

 at Gettysburg, Springfield, and Carthage ; four 

 academies ; four young ladies' seminaries ; and 

 one orphans' home, at Loysville, Pa. 



Rev. M. Rhodes, D. D., of St. Louis, Mo., 

 was elected president. The attention of the 

 Synod was given principally to the considera- 

 tion of its benevolent enterprises and boards. 

 The Board of Foreign Missions reported re- 

 ceipts for two years amounting to $60,576.72, 

 to which is to be added a balance on hand 

 of $7,161.10. The expenditures for the same 

 period were $60,814.16. The contributions of 

 the 331 woman's missionary societies, with a 

 membership of 9,525, amounted to $18,825.98, 

 of which $9,602.50 was received by the Board 

 of Foreign Missions for use in the Guntur and 

 Muhlenberg Missions. The ladies' societies 

 support two zenana workers in the India Mis- 

 sion. The Children's Foreign Missionary So- 

 ciety contributed $4,837.64. The missionary 

 operations at and around Guntur, India, and 

 Muhlenberg, Africa, were reported as being 

 in a flourishing condition, the former embrac- 

 ing 7 talulcs or townships, 296 villages con- 

 taining Christians, 75 chapels, 4 ordained and 

 7 unordained missionaries, 2 native pastors, 1 

 evangelist, 16 catechists, 67 village preachers, 

 2 zenana missionaries, 2 native helpers in ze- 

 nana work, 6 Bible and tract colporteurs, 8,518 

 baptized and 3,359 communicant members, 

 6,127 Sunday-school pupils, and 2,781 pupils 

 in the other schools, with 147 teachers. The 

 African Mission reported 2 ordained and 1 un- 

 ordained missionaries, 127 pupils in schools, 

 and 81 communicant members. The General 

 Synod (South) has for the past few years co- 

 operated with the General Synod in its mission- 



ary operations, and has lately sent a man to the 

 Guntur station. 



The Board of Home Missions reported re- 

 ceipts for two years amounting to $46,984; 

 expenditures, $42,638.11. The number of 

 separate missions that received aid from the 

 board was 87, and the number of missiona- 

 ries employed 97. These missions are distrib- 

 uted in Canada, New York, Connecticut, 

 Pennsylvania, Maryland, District of Colum- 

 bia, Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, Ken- 

 tucky, Tennessee, Missouri, Iowa, Minnesota, 

 Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Colorado, and Wyo- 

 ming. Thirty- eight new missionaries were 

 added, twenty-one of them being in entirely 

 new fields. The great want for this growing 

 work was men for the ministry. The Board 

 of Church Extension reported receipts amount- 

 ing to $77,806.92. The assets of the board are 

 $105,5,05.81, and its liabilities $44, 867.61. The 

 Board of Publication reported net assets 

 amounting to $68,083.91, and the sales for the 

 year ending March 31, 1885, amounted to $47,- 

 250.60. During the past two years twenty- 

 eight new publications have been issued. The 

 board was instructed to secure at the earliest 

 practicable time the preparation und publica- 

 tion of a " Cyclopaedia of Lutheranism," and to 

 encourage the preparation of commentaries 

 by Lutheran authors on the various books of 

 Scripture for the use of Sunday-school teach- 

 ers, as well as of historical works and litera- 

 ture in general, for the promotion of general 

 information respecting the Lutheran Church ; 

 also to publish a concise popular history of 

 the General Synod, to be issued in German, 

 Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, and English. 

 The Parent Education Society reported the re- 

 ceipt of $2,880.80, and the expenditure of $2,- 

 559.50. The Historical Society reported that 

 arrangements were effected by which the so- 

 ciety expected soon to possess an almost com- 

 plete array of American Lutheran literature. 



The committee on common order of serv- 

 ice for English-speaking Lutherans reported, 

 through Rev. G. U. Wenner, orders for morn- 

 ing and communion service and an evening 

 service. The report was received, and after 

 thorough discussion the following resolution 

 was unanimously adopted : 



That the General Synod has learned with great sat- 

 isfaction that its committee of conference with 

 committees of the General Council and General bynod 

 (South) for the arrangement of a common ord 

 service for English-speaking Lutherans, has r< 

 a harmonious and unanimous agreement with 

 committees ; that it approves of the work of the c( 

 mittee submitted to us. and that the coinmittt 

 continued with instructions to finish the details, an 

 also be authorized to publish the completed ser 

 for the use of the churches, provided the othc 

 bodies adopt it. 



