LUTHERANS. 



465 



pupils, and 14 Sunday schools with 705 pupils. 

 The mission also supports a hospital and a dis- 

 pensary, and employs several trained nurses. The 

 mission in Africa is in Liberia, with Muhlenberg 

 as its center. Its working force consists of 7 

 missionaries, who labor in various localities. The 

 industrial establishment of this mission is valued 

 at $77,350, embracing 500 acres of land and 50,000 

 coffee trees, whose products are sold for the main- 

 tenance of the mission. 



Home Missions. The Board of Home Missions 

 supports 160 missions, at an expense of $90,533.41 

 in two years. These missions are thus located: 

 California, 8; Colorado, 4; District of Columbia, 

 1; Illinois, 6; Indiana, 9; Iowa, 7; Kansas, 12; 

 Kentucky, 3: Maryland, 11; Michigan, 3; Mis- 

 souri, 3; Nebraska, 19; New Jersey, 3; New 

 Mexico, 1; New York, 15; Ohio, 12; Pennsyl- 

 vania, 39; Tennessee, West Virginia, Wisconsin, 

 and Wyoming, each 1. Of these, 144 are Eng- 

 lish, 14 German, and 2 Scandinavian. The board 

 asked for $100,000 for the next biennium. 



Church Extension. The Board of Church Ex- 

 tension reported assets amounting to $352,434.42. 

 In the past two years loans, donations, and spe- 

 cial appropriations were made to 205 congrega- 

 tions. A resolution was passed to the effect that 

 the general body apportion among its district 

 synods $40,000 annually for church extension, be- 

 ginning with April 1, 1900. 



Board of Education. This board reported its 

 total receipts as $19,770.15, which includes a small 

 balance from the last biennium. Of this amount, 

 $19,595.92 was disbursed for the aid of various 

 institutions. 



Deaconess Work. The board having this work 

 in charge reported a large increase in the inter- 

 est of the Church in this important branch of 

 activity. The receipts from various sources for 

 the past two years amounted to $12,106.78. The 

 motherhouse, in Baltimore, Md., has 12 deacon- 

 esses, 13 probationers, and 1 candidate. The 

 course of training has been lengthened to two 

 and a half years. The institution maintains an 

 industrial school, averaging 32 pupils, a school 

 for colored children, with 30 pupils, and a Chris- 

 tian kindergarten, with 9 pupils. Deaconesses 

 have served parishes in New York, Washington, 

 Cincinnati, Harrisburg, Baltimore, and Cumber- 

 land, and in hospitals in Philadelphia and Car- 

 lisle, and were engaged as nurses among the sol- 

 diers of the Spanish- American War. They made 

 1,203 visits to the poor, 1,699 to the sick, and 50 

 to various institutions. 



Publication Board. This board reported assets 

 amounting to $160,520.06. It publishes annually 

 7 periodicals, whose combined circulation is 286,- 

 250 copies. During the previous biennium it is- 

 sued 11 new publications and new editions of 14 

 works. 



The next convention of this body will be held 

 in Des Moines, Iowa, beginning May 29, 1901. 



General Council. This general body, com- 

 posed of English, English-German, and Scandi- 

 navian synods, held its twenty- seventh conven- 

 tion in Wicker Park Church, Chicago, 111., Sept. 

 28 to Oct. 4, 1899. The opening sermon was de- 

 livered by the Rev. George C. F. Haas, of New 

 York city. The following officers were elected: 

 The Rev. Dr. Mattis C. Ranseen, Chicago, Presi- 

 dent ; the Rev. William K. Frick, Milwaukee, 

 Wis., English Secretary; the Rev. George C. Berke- 

 meier, Mount Vernon, N. Y., German Secretary; 

 the Rev. Gustaf A. Brandelle, Denver, Col., Swed- 

 ish Secretary; and William H. Staake, Esq., Phila- 

 delphia, Pa., Treasurer. The 9 district synods 

 were represented by 91 clerical and 49 lay dele- 

 VOL. xxxix. 30 A 



gates. The district synods embrace 1,228 clergy- 

 men, 2,011 congregations, and 352,454 communi- 

 cant members; 551 parochial school*, 073 teachers, 

 and 26,572 pupils; 1,715 Sunday schools, 22,079 

 officers and teachers, and 204,048 pupils. The 

 benevolent offerings of the congregations for two 

 years amounted to $554,850.48. In connection 

 with this body there are 3 theological seminaries, 

 7 colleges, 2 academies, 11 orphans' homes, 5 

 homes for the aged and afflicted, 7 hospitals, 4 

 deaconess institutions, and 3 immigrant and sea- 

 men's missions. 



The principal features of the work of this con- 

 vention consisted in action taken on the reports 

 of general boards and committees, of which the 

 following is a brief summary: 



Foreign Missions. The General Council is car- 

 rying on missionary operations in East India, 

 in the Madras presidency, with the city of Rajah- 

 mundry as its central station. The board em- 

 ploys 149 mission workers, who labor in 7 prin- 

 cipal stations, and have schools in 120 villages 

 and preaching stations in 205 villages. The num- 

 ber of baptized Christians is 5,343, of whom 2,415 

 are communicants. The number of children in 

 the various schools is 2,469. On March 26, 1899, 

 the Rev. T. Joseph, a native pastor, died, and on 

 Jan. 8, 1899, another native, J. William, was or- 

 dained to the office of the ministry. The mis- 

 sionaries maintain a seminary and other schools 

 for Christians and heathen at Rajahmundry, 

 which are attended by a large number of pupils. 

 The zenana workers maintain several schools for 

 girls and women, as well as a hospital and dis- 

 pensary. The mission also has a printing estab- 

 lishment, from which books and tracts are issued. 

 The total receipts of the board for this work were 

 $39,476.64, and the expenditures $36,865.96. The 

 general body also decided to begin missionary 

 operations in Puerto Rico, and since the conven- 

 tion 2 men have been sent to that island. 



Home Missions. The three boards English, 

 German, and Swedish presented encouraging re- 

 ports of their work in this country. The Board 

 of English Missions has 20 stations under its di- 

 rect control in various States from Massachu- 

 setts to Washington; the Board of German Mis- 

 sions has 58 congregations under its care, chiefly 

 in the northwestern territory of Canada; the 

 Board of Swedish Missions reported missions 

 under its direct control in Utah, Idaho, and Mon- 

 tana. Besides these, most of the district synods 

 carry on missionary operations on their own ter- 

 ritories. The home missionary operations of this 

 body, through its boards and synods, embraces 

 41 States and the Dominion of Canada, with 577 

 stations. These are located as follow: 133 in 

 Pennsylvania, 40 in New York, 33 in Wisconsin, 

 31 in New Jersey, 28 in Illinois, 24 in Minnesota, 

 23 in Nebraska, 22 in Michigan, 24 in Ontario, 

 15 in Ohio, 12 each in Colorado, Iowa, South 

 Dakota, and Texas, 10 each in Indiana, Kansas, 

 and Massachusetts, 9 each in Montana and Utah, 

 41 in the Northwest Territories of Canada, and 

 the rest in smaller numbers in various States and 

 Territories. The receipts of the English and Ger- 

 man boards amounted to $40,680.90, and for the 

 entire work $104,175.97. 



Sunday-school Work. In conjunction with the 

 Board of Publication the Committee on Sunday- 

 school Work is developing the General Council 

 graded Sunday-school system, and, in addition to 

 Scripture-lesson quarterlies, is publishing an an- 

 nual Teachers' Commentary, Bible Story for 

 Teachers and Pupils, Bible History, and Bible 

 Geography, in similar forms, as also suitable ap- 

 paratus for the primary department. The total 



